Getting over your first crush seems impossible - especially when he's the star of the world's biggest movie franchise.
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Jess Wheeler is happily single and perfectly content with her simple life in Hemlock Landing, South Carolina, where all she kn...
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"And then you fell in the water?" Teresa says, a hand flying up to cover her mouth so that I can't see her grin of disbelief, but she's a second too late. I wish I found the memory as amusing as she does.
"I know," I groan, slumping so far forward in the car seat that my head bumps against the glove box. "I am the most tactless person on planet Earth."
"But I bet he jumped in after you, right?" Teresa is nearly bouncing in her seat with excitement, and despite my stoic silence she still somehow reads it accurately as an admission. She clutches her heart and melts back against her seat. "How romantic."
"Will you stop?" I snap, only half joking. This is exactly why I knew I shouldn't have told Teresa about the entire campsite incident, or the alarming new feelings that are creeping up inside me about Bay. But there we were last night, curled up under blankets in my room like thirteen-year-olds at a slumber party, about to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets to each other, and the truth just kind of ... flopped out of me.
Worst of all, though, is that it felt good to speak my feelings out loud, the way it feels good to tell a secret that you've kept so long it's even hidden from yourself.
I shake my head. "Besides, he's dating someone else, remember? He doesn't feel the same way about me, so none of it matters."
"There, there." Teresa pats my back. "The denial phase is always the hardest.
I roll my eyes and grab the door handle. "Can we go in, now?" Despite my horror at being teased mercilessly about my more-than-crush for Bay Connor, it's been a really good day overall. The first day with Teresa, in fact, that went exactly as I'd hoped it would.
With my mother tied up taking care of renovations at the B&B, and Bay and Nigel on a strict hand-shaking and baby-kissing schedule before tonight's Homecoming Dance, we were finally able to focus solely on the preparations for my friend's wedding. She already decided on the venue in the morning, with more than a little prompting from me since she finds it hard to make up her mind about anything. And now, it's time for the most important part–
"The dress." She gulps, her face growing paler, as though she's nervous about the prospect. Or maybe it's because she catches sight of her mother standing outside of the boutique, her arms crossed over her chest as though she'd never waited longer for anything in her life.
"It will be fine," I mutter, realizing that Teresa needs a best-friend pep talk more than ever as she slowly slides down in her seat. "Your mother will be there, and it will be fine. You'll see."
"I know it'll be fine, but I just don't get why she demanded to come along."
"Are you serious right now?" I stare at her. "You're shopping for your wedding dress. Of course your mother would want to be there!"
