Part 5 (1/2)

Bayleigh Adams.

That's going to be me in a just a few weeks. I blink back tears that can only be explained as crazy Pregnant Person Emotions and go back to being excited about the cupcakes. Carol has been talking this whole time, but I hadn't heard a word of it. Also, there's two plates in front of Becca and me, along with a fork. I hadn't noticed those arrive, either.

I tear my eyes away from my name on the paper and look for the cupcakes.

”Have you decided on a color yet?” Carol asks as she pulls two cupcakes from the box. ”Becca and I discussed purple and turquoise but she wasn't sure if you'd like light colors or dark, so I made both.”

Becca and I practically start drooling as Carol gives us each a cupcake with lavender icing swirled high. Next, she gives us its pastel blue equivalent. They're both wrapped in silver foil cupcake papers and have a light sparkly sheen on the icing.

”Beautiful,” I say, picking up my fork but feeling like there's no way I'll be able to stab it into such an elegant creation.

Next, Carol takes out two more cupcakes for Becca and me. Only these have a deep rich coloring to the icing. A turquoise-blue and purple that is so stunningly beautiful that I instantly say, ”This one! This color. Oh my G.o.d, it's perfect.”

Carol and Becca laugh at my reaction but I don't care. I sit back in my chair and clap my hands in front of my mouth. ”They are so perfect! So beautiful.”

Instantly I can imagine my entire weddingthe flowers, the decorations, the invitations. Turquoise and purple. Weeks of being indecisive and unsure about everything now fold into one perfect moment where I feel that this wedding will be a breeze. It will be turquoise and purple and it'll be beautiful and wonderful.

”Bayleigh!” I look up to see Becca leap off her chair and come to my side of the table. ”You're crying!”

Carol hands me a napkin, which is also purple, and I take it and dab my eyes and start doing this laugh-cry thing because I'm so emotional I can't help it. ”I'm fine,” I say after a moment. ”It's just all so perfect.”

”I'm flattered, darling,” Carol says, sliding the plate closer to me. ”But you haven't even tried them yet!”

Despite my natural instinct to keep something so beautiful intact, Becca and I dive into our cupcakes and it is immediately evident that we should have both double chocolate and French vanilla flavors at my wedding. We make it easy by requesting the chocolate ones to have turquoise icing and the vanilla to have the purple icing.

It becomes very clear that Becca and I only halfway know what we're doing when we decide we want to reserve these cupcakes for the wedding and Carol asks a question we hadn't even thought of.

”How many cupcakes will you be needing?” Her pen hovers over the order slip and my lips squish to the side of my mouth.

”Um,” I say, looking at Becca. ”We don't exactly know yet.”

”A general rule of thumb is to order as many servings as people you are inviting, plus a dozen just in case. It's always better to have leftovers than to come up short.”

”Yeah, that's a good idea,” I say, feeling my cheeks turn red because I am a total idiot who doesn't deserve to plan a wedding if I am this stupid about it. ”But I'm not even sure how many people we're inviting.” I lower my forehead into my palm and stare at the floor. ”I can't believe we didn't think of this,” I mutter, so embarra.s.sed that I never want to look up and meet Carol's eyes again.

Becca shuffles through her oversized purse and produces a small pink notebook. The one she calls her Bridesmaid Planner. I know I've made fun of that thing, but I am so glad she has it now. ”We're inviting forty-three people. So I guess we should order about five dozen?”

”Perfect,” Carol says, penning the number onto the order sheet. ”Would you like these picked up or delivered?”

”Delivered, please,” I say, grateful for a question that I can actually answer. Well, sort of. ”Becca will have to give you the address because it's some huge secret from me.”

”Really?” Carol asks, intrigue dancing across her eyes. ”The wedding location is a secret from the bride? That's a first.”

I nod. ”It's kind of a long story.”

Carol relaxes in her chair. ”I have plenty of time.”

I glance at Becca and she nods encouragingly. Tiny b.u.t.terflies fill my stomach as I prepare to tell them the story about my wedding location. It's not that I'm nervous or anything, it's just that every time I think about that night I get b.u.t.terflies. I take a deep breath. ”It was the day after Jace proposed and we were both super excited about the engagement, so we spent all day talking about the wedding. We knew we wanted it to happen as soon as possible because,” I pause, not wanting to say the real reason. I'm not sure if Carol knows I am pregnant or not, and just in case she doesn't, I'd rather her not know. I swallow and continue, choosing my words carefully. ”Because we've already been together for a long time and most of that time was long distance and we just really want to be married. We didn't want to wait. So, that was in May, and we choose August ninth to get married just because it felt like the quickest time we could get married while still having enough time to plan a wedding. Then, it was like two in the morning and I had spent all night searching online for the perfect place for the wedding. I wanted somewhere beautiful but it couldn't be far away because my family and friends can't exactly afford plane tickets and hotel expenses just to come to the wedding, so it had to be in Texas. There are like no pretty places in Texas, by the way.”

This makes Carol laugh. Maybe she thinks I'm joking, but I'm not. ”So anyway, I was freaking out about trying to find a place that's both small and beautiful and not too commercial and a place that kind of feels like home. Like the perfect place to marry someone. And Jace, meanwhile, hadn't been helping me at all. He was playing Xbox all night and just nodding when I'd show him stuff online. Then, when I was really discouraged about it, he suddenly sits up and drops the Xbox controller and is like Oh my G.o.d, I've got it. I know the perfect place!' So I asked him where and he just shook his head like a big jerk and said it was so perfect that it would have to be a secret. He said it'll be better that way.”

Carol's eyes light up and Becca smiles devilishly because she already knows the answer to Carol's next question. ”Well, where is it?” Carol asks her in a fake whisper. Becca pretends to zip her lips closed. ”I'll write it down for you but I can't say it in front of Bayleigh.”

I roll my eyes and don't even try to hide my goofy smile. I have to admit that not knowing the location of my own wedding until the day it happens is kind of awesome. Carol excuses herself to the back so she can put in the details of our order and Becca and I dive into the rest of our cupcakes.

My phone vibrates and I take it out of my pocket to find a text from Jace.

Jace: Still doing stuff with Becca?

Me: Yup!

Jace: Mind if I hang out at the track and ride a bit?

Me: Of course not. Have fun, babe. I love you.

Jace: ILY more!!

When I look up from my phone, Becca is staring at me. ”What?” I say, shoving it back into my pocket. She just shakes her head. ”What?” I say again, only this time it's not a question but more of an annoyed remark.

”You always get that goofy smile when you're texting Jace,” she says. I can tell instantly if you're talking to him or someone else by the way you look at the phone.”

”So what? I can tell when your mom texts you because you look p.i.s.sed off,” I retort.

Becca groans. ”Tell me about it. One of these days I'll make enough money to move out and be on my own like you. That will probably take forever, though.”

I lick the remaining icing off my plastic fork and then point it at her. ”Or you could find yourself a rich boyfriend. Preferably a motocross guy like Jace.” My eyes light up. ”Ooh! Or his friend Park! He's probably rich since he's semi-pro. You need to meet him, marry him and then be my best friend-slash-motocross wife bestie forever!”

She sighs. ”If only life were that easy...”

I sigh, too, but for a different reason. ”You never know,” I say. And it's true. You really never know what life will bring you. Even when you think you've got it all figured out, you're wrong. And then, months later, when you think you really do have control of your life, you're even more wrong than you were the first time.

That's not always a bad thing. There have been times in my life where I felt that every single decision I had made was wrong and detrimentally stupid. But then somehow, everything works out. I've screwed up way more than Becca ever has, and yet here I am with Jace and a happy life and a future family. I can't imagine what kind of great things will happen to Becca when it's her time to find true love.

While we're saying our goodbyes to Carol, she takes my hand and squeezes it. ”I love that you aren't doing everything strictly by the book,” she says, smiling. ”I can't think of a better way to start a marriage than by doing things your own way.”

For some reasonokay, it's probably the hormonesI feel myself tearing up at her kind words. ”Thank you.” I turn away quickly so I won't have time to let the fresh tears fall down my face. Today is a good day, I remind myself. There's no reason to let crazy hormones jump in and ruin it.

Becca lowers the volume of her car stereo at exactly the wrong moment. Taylor Swift just belted out the loudest part of the song, and unfortunately, so did I. I slap my hand over my mouth and slump lower into the pa.s.senger seat. ”You can warn a girl next time you're going to do that,” I mutter, but I doubt she hears it over her maniacal laughter.

”Okay, okay,” she says, after laughing so hard she almost started crying. ”I actually turned off the song for a reason. We need to plan your wedding announcement photo before I go home. That way I have time to edit the photos and have some printed so we can design the invitations.”

”Good idea.” My phone buzzes and I notice Jace's name flas.h.i.+ng across the screen, but I let it ring so I'm not rudely interrupting my conversation with Becca. ”Mr. Fisher won't mind if we use the track and we still have a few hours of daylight. Think we could do it today? Jace is probably still in his gear so he'll already be dressed. I need to do something about my hair and makeup though.”

My phone stops ringing and then starts back up a moment later. I glance at the screen. It's Jace again. ”Go on,” Becca says, taking one hand off the steering wheel to motion for me to answer the phone. ”Don't make your sweetie pie wait forever.”

”h.e.l.loo-ooo,” I sing into the phone. I hope Jace isn't too worn out from riding to want to take photos with me this afternoon.