Life at Best

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Junior opened the door to a very distressed looking Martin standing on the other side. "How bad is it?" Martin groaned, "How mad is she?"

"She as in Brynne?" Junior asked.

Martin quickly nodded his head, "Yeah, of course."

"Well I can't really answer that because she's been in her room since I got home, but Julie was pretty damn pissed. And I had to hear it from her when she found out I invited you to dinner. You went from best friend to enemy #1 in .2 seconds buddy."

Martin walked in and sat down at the bar in the kitchen as Junior opened the door to the refrigerator and grabbed two beers. "I thought you were done with Kaleen?"

"I am," Martin replied, sighing when he saw the look Junior was giving him, "Listen, you just don't understand what a conniving bitch she is man. I'm doing everything I can to keep away from her, but it's just not as easy as it sounds..."

The timer for the oven went off and Junior turned around and pulled the chicken out before looking his best friend dead in the eyes, "Believe me, I trust that there's more to the story and it's not easy for you whatever is going on, but it's not me that you have to convince."

"What am I going to have to do?" Martin asked, more rhetorically than expecting an answer from his best friend.

Julie and Brynne turned the corner into the kitchen and the tension in the room escalated. "Hi Martin," Julie said quietly.

"Hi Julie," Martin replied just as quietly, watching Brynne as she walked into the room, eyes down cast to the floor. He swallowed the lump in his throat at the fact that she wouldn't even look him - or anyone for that matter - in the eyes. "Hi Brynne."

"Hi," she breathed quietly, barely raising her eyes up to meet his, but the little bit that she did sent his heart to his throat. Her eyes were puffy and red, obviously showing that she had been crying - over him - again. It gave him a little hope that he'd made some head way with her, but also made his stomach drop knowing that once again his stupidity, gullibility and Kaleen had set him back again.

He knew he needed to get Brynne alone soon and tell her everything... every little detail and every nasty little thing about Kaleen and everything Kaleen had ever done, and hope once he did that then maybe she might understand where he stood right now.

Their future depended on it.

Junior broke Martin out of his trance, hoping to ease some of the tension, "Let's eat!"

*

Julie and Brynne walked into Hayden Olivia Bridal the next morning with about as much energy as a slug. Brynne had been trying to be as upbeat as possible for Julie all morning, but it was hard with so many questions floating through her mind.

Martin had texted her three times since dinner the night before, all three times begging her to talk to him and give him a chance to explain. But that was the thing - there should be no reason for him to have to explain anything in her opinion, and frankly she was getting sick of his excuses.

But that had nothing to do with today; today was about Julie and her big day and no matter what happened, Brynne needed to push the whole Martin thing aside and focus 100% on Julie and the wedding.

"Welcome to Hayden Olivia Bridal," the blonde behind the desk chirped as Julie and Brynne entered the little boutique, "How may I help you?"

Julie smiled happily at the blonde and clutched her purse closer to her body, "We have an appointment to look at wedding dresses this morning."

"Julie?" she asked to which Julie nodded her head eagerly. The blonde smiled wider and stuck her hand out to Julie, "Well Julie it's great to meet you! My name's Allison and I'm going to be helping you in your search today." She turned towards Brynne with a smile, "And who are you?"

"Brynne, maid of honor," Brynne grinned, feeling her spirits lift in this environment immediately, her happiness for her best friend skyrocketing.

"Well ladies, we're happy you're here today! Ready to get started?"

"I've been ready for what feels like ever," Julie giggled, grabbing Brynne's arm and looping hers through it as Allison took them further back into the bridal shop and got them set up outside a fitting room in front of a set of floor to ceiling mirrors.

Allison pulled a clipboard out, ready to begin. "Do you know what style dress you're looking for?"

Julie nodded eagerly, "I saw some I was interested in. I'm looking for something more fitted in the top, but open and flowing on the bottom. I'd like a train also, nothing like ten feet long, but a classic train to the dress. I'm not big on a lot of lace or beading, I'd like to just stay simple in that aspect. And I'm definitely interested in a contemporary veil." Julie took a breath and laughed, "Sorry, I've been dreaming about this day since I was a little girl..."

Alison smiled and shook her head, "Honey don't you worry, I've seen some real Bridezillas in here, so yours is nothing compared to any of them... you're just a bride-to-be who knows what she wants and we appreciate those here, trust me.  Makes my job a little easier.  Give me a couple minutes to go browse the racks and I'll pull a couple off because I've got a couple ideas for you, and if we can't find something from those that you like, the three of us will go looking then and see if anything catches our eye out on the floor."

"Sounds like a plan," Julie grinned. She waited until Alison was out of sight before turning towards Brynne and giggling. She was absolutely glowing and Brynne couldn't help but think how good this all looked on Julie... and she couldn't have been happier for her friend.

"Can you believe this?" Brynne asked, "Can you really believe we're sitting here right now?"

"Nope," Julie answered, popping the "p", "This feels absolutely other-worldly. I feel like I'm in someone else's shoes right now."

The girls talked absent-mindedly back and forth until Allison came back, the excitement in the room kicking up a few notches due to the three garment bags draped over her arm... wedding dresses!

"Are we ready to get started ladies?"

"Yes!" Julie exclaimed excitedly. She looked at Brynne on her way into the fitting room and grinned, "See you in a few minutes... wearing a wedding dress!"

Brynne sat back in her chair and waited for her best friend to come back out, anticipating what she was going to look like. From within the fitting room she could hear a quiet gasp from Julie and her anticipation went through the roof.

"Brynne," Julie sighed as the fitting room door opened and Alison walked out, shielding Brynne from seeing her best friend, "I know it's only the first dress I've tried on, but I think I've already made my decision... I'm in love..."

Julie stepped out and Brynne couldn't help but gasp at how truly elegant and beautiful she looked. Allison stepped up and placed a veil on Julie's head, the lace covering her face.

"What do you ladies think?" Allison asked.

"You look absolutely beautiful," Brynne whispered.

Looking in the wall to wall mirrors, Julie grinned, "It's perfect."  The dress was strapless, and tight-fitting on top, with a v-cut to show a little cleavage, but at the waist was the most beautiful part... from the waist to the floor the dress flowed out in layers and layers of fabric and waves.

Brynne was in love with it too.

"I also think you look gorgeous in it," Allison told Julie.

"Is it bad to only try on one dress?" Julie asked, "Like should I try on another just to make sure this is for sure 'the one'?"

"Jules, you can try on another if you like, but I don't think we're going to find a dress more perfect for you than that," Brynne breathed.

"Yeah," Julie sighed, "I don't think so either.  I think this is it, why waste time and make it more of a decision than it has to be?"

"So Julie, before I ask you this very important question, we have a tradition here at Hayden Olivia Bridal.  Whenever one of our bride-to-be's finds their dress, we have them ring a bell so everyone in the store can hear that another happy bride has found 'the one' here.  So I am going to hand you this bell, and then I'm going to ask you... Julie, are you saying yes to this dress?"

Julie grinned at Brynne and nodded happily at Allison, "Yes, I'm saying yes to this dress."  And she rang the bell happily.

Mission accomplished.

*

Martin and Junior begrudgingly walked out of Men's Warehouse with slumped shoulders.

"You owe me a beer for that shit man," Martin grumbled. Whoever would have thought a tuxedo fitting for a wedding would be painful, especially with all the commercials and photo shoots they'd done in the past. "And why the hell did she have to pick that color?  Why couldn't it just be black and white?"

Junior chuckled, "I'll buy you lunch. I swear I had no clue it was that extensive to get fitted for a wedding... or that she'd pick such a girly color." He patted Martin on the back with a grin, "But hey... at least you'll match Brynne!"

They slid into a table in the back of the mall restaurant they had chosen, and at the mention of her name Martin shrugged. "Matching isn't going to matter if I can't get her in the same room with me long enough for me to explain my side of the story."

"You just keep trying to get her to see you're not giving up on her and I'll see what I can do, also."

"Thanks man, you don't know how much that means to me."

Junior shrugged, "I just hate to see both of you suffering over a conniving bitch. I saw how happy you guys were before shit hit the fan, and I want to see you that happy again. Julie's convinced if shit didn't go down, maybe we'd be planning a massive double wedding right now."

"The thought had crossed my mind a time or two..."

"Then why let some crazy bitch like Kaleen ruin all that for you, and continue to ruin that for you... you had her comin' back around since she came down here and then that shit in the grocery store fucked it all up again."

"She's using my kid against me June," Martin grunted, running his hands through his hair and yanking on the ends in frustration, "I want nothing to do with Kinsey's mama, but she's using that little girl against me and playing me like a fiddle. She can't get over the fact that I want nothing to do with her, so she's forcing me to have to deal with her by keeping Kinsey away unless I agree to do things her way... to do things the three of us... I can't see that little girl unless I go to her mother's house, and deal with that bitch..."

"There's gotta be somethin' you can do man..."

Martin shrugged, "Take her to court and get court scheduled visitations set. But it could be two months of waiting before all the paperwork is filed. And I don't know if I can not see Kinsey for two months just to avoid her mother until court."

"Does Brynne know all this?" Martin hung his head at his friend's question. "I'm going to take it by that reaction, the answer is no."

"I haven't had a good chance to tell her anything yet..."

"Make any opportunity a good time man, you're running out of chances with her, and Brynne - she's one of a kind and perfect for you."

*

"So we have a dress."

Julie grinned over her lunch, "That we do."

"Now I just need a dress, and we can check that off our list."

"We'll tackle that another day, I feel very accomplished today, no reason to take that feeling away!"

"Agreed," Brynne smiled, "We're one step closer and three months away!"

"I can't believe in three months I'll be married," Julie said wistfully, "Now if only we could get you on the same happiness train, life would be good."

Brynne's shoulders stiffened and her mouth drew into a straight line, "I'm not sure you should hold your breath on that one, Julie."

Julie sighed, "I'm not taking up for Martin or anything Brynne, but maybe you should give him a chance to explain himself. Maybe there is an explanation for it all."

"Even if there was Julie, his life dealing with her... it's too much drama right now..."

"Sometimes true love is worth the drama. It's worth fighting for; and I think you and Martin are worth fighting for."

***

Picture at the top is Julie's dress!!!