What do you do when the woman you love is marrying the wrong man? Sabotage the wedding!
Anna is planning the perfect wedding, but she doesn’t anticipate her future mother-in-law’s offer of help’ which translates into take over. Her groom-to-be avoids her and insists their growing problems are just ‘bridal nerves’. Worst of all, her best friend, Robin, begins to act strange. Everyone around her has his or her own agenda. What’s a girl to do when she begins to realize the perfect life she envisioned is all a lie?
Robin has two great loves in his life: his best friend Anna and his motorcycle. Not one to make a scene, he supports Anna in her plan to marry the wrong man and regrets she can’t accept his ‘dare devil’ lifestyle. But when push comes to shove, he’s more than willing to make the necessary sacrifice and prove he is the man she needs.
As the wedding date grows closer and plans shift into high gear, Robin and Anna grow closer and not just as friends. Each must decide what the perfect life truly means while trying to negotiate the maze of wedding plans, secrets, and hidden motives. Will someone be left singing the blues?
*The bridal shop where Anna goes to look for a wedding gown at the demand of her future mother-in-law in modeled after 'bridals by lori' in Atlanta, the nation's largest full service bridal salon.
*The Legends Collection of gowns Anna falls in love with is an actual wedding gown collection. This is her favorite:
*The ginger cookies Anna bakes to meet her future in laws are an old family recipe passed down in my family over seven generations.
*The hibiscus flowers Anna receives in college and that become are favorite flower have the meaning 'delicate beauty'.
*The most popular wedding cake flavors are: lemon, vanilla, chocolate, spice and carrot.
*Anna drives a Toyota Camry, dark blue in color. Robin has a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
*There are indeed nonrefundable deposit and fees to get married at the Duke Chapel in Durham, North Carolina. The sum for Reservation deposit, balance for the chapel and Organist fee is $2,100 dollars. This does not include amplification services, flowers, or any other aspect of the wedding, including the minister's fee, cake, gown, etc.
* The requirements to be a public school teacher in the state of North Carolina are: successful completion of a minimum bachelor's degree in education; successful passing competency exam PRAXIS I (reading, math and science); and PRAXIS II (in specific area to be teach; such as elementary, math, English, etc.); and submitting the request for Educator's license with at least one professor's recommendation.
*Anna favorite Doctor Who mug looks like this:
The apron Robin borrows for his first meeting with Louise looks like this:
* The garter Robin gives Anna looks like this:
“Chasing you would be a wasted effort.” Robin waved the half eaten slice before he set the crust back in the box.
Anna slammed the lid on his hand. “What do you mean? I’m not worth the chase?”
“Hey, starving teacher here.” He knocked on the inside of the box and glared at her. “And don’t be ridiculous. Of course you’re worth a chase, but even I can recognize a no win situation regardless if I can’t fully give up on it or you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He was hiding something besides his hand in the box. “Robin?”
The liquid blue fire in his eyes singed her as he spoke. “I didn’t give the let’s-forget-this-ever-happened-and-just-be-friends speech. I didn’t stay too afraid to see where our relationship might have gone. No win situation.”
Stunned, she gaped at him. “I thought…but you never said…I mean we’d…”
He just stared at her, face unmoving, his chest rising and falling as his breaths increased. He was, she realized, getting angrier by the second.
She swallowed and tried to find words, any words, to defuse the tension. “I couldn’t bear to think of losing you as my friend. We did the best thing for us.”
“We did the best thing for you.”
“But you…you agreed with me. You said you didn’t want to risk our friendship either.”
“What the hell could I say?” He shot to his feet, knocking the pizza box to the floor. “You didn’t give me a choice. Either be your friend, only your friend, or leave your life.”
“I never said we couldn’t be friends or you had to leave my life.” She whispered the words. Yet it had been close.
“Even now you won’t face it.” He muttered a curse which shocked her with the anger behind it. “Will you? You won’t admit maybe we could have—”
“I faced it the morning after. I’m not an idiot, Robin. When you date a woman, it’s like your skydiving adventures. You have a thrill, anything goes, and it’s awesome and you’re on the high of it all. Then you land and it’s over. You never talk to the woman again, let alone have a friendship with her. I didn’t want our friendship to be over. I still don’t. I can’t give more than I am. I can’t.”
“Why, Anna?” He stopped right in front of her, hands on his hips balled into fists. “Why can’t you give more? Because of Doug Dufuss?”
“No. Because I can’t just have sex with you and then watch you leave!”
Anna slammed the lid on his hand. “What do you mean? I’m not worth the chase?”
“Hey, starving teacher here.” He knocked on the inside of the box and glared at her. “And don’t be ridiculous. Of course you’re worth a chase, but even I can recognize a no win situation regardless if I can’t fully give up on it or you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He was hiding something besides his hand in the box. “Robin?”
The liquid blue fire in his eyes singed her as he spoke. “I didn’t give the let’s-forget-this-ever-happened-and-just-be-friends speech. I didn’t stay too afraid to see where our relationship might have gone. No win situation.”
Stunned, she gaped at him. “I thought…but you never said…I mean we’d…”
He just stared at her, face unmoving, his chest rising and falling as his breaths increased. He was, she realized, getting angrier by the second.
She swallowed and tried to find words, any words, to defuse the tension. “I couldn’t bear to think of losing you as my friend. We did the best thing for us.”
“We did the best thing for you.”
“But you…you agreed with me. You said you didn’t want to risk our friendship either.”
“What the hell could I say?” He shot to his feet, knocking the pizza box to the floor. “You didn’t give me a choice. Either be your friend, only your friend, or leave your life.”
“I never said we couldn’t be friends or you had to leave my life.” She whispered the words. Yet it had been close.
“Even now you won’t face it.” He muttered a curse which shocked her with the anger behind it. “Will you? You won’t admit maybe we could have—”
“I faced it the morning after. I’m not an idiot, Robin. When you date a woman, it’s like your skydiving adventures. You have a thrill, anything goes, and it’s awesome and you’re on the high of it all. Then you land and it’s over. You never talk to the woman again, let alone have a friendship with her. I didn’t want our friendship to be over. I still don’t. I can’t give more than I am. I can’t.”
“Why, Anna?” He stopped right in front of her, hands on his hips balled into fists. “Why can’t you give more? Because of Doug Dufuss?”
“No. Because I can’t just have sex with you and then watch you leave!”
Mia Epsilon lives with her enduring soul mate hubby in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, USA. She’s an avid reader of almost anything but particularly romance, a never-miss-an-episode viewer of Doctor Who and Sherlock, and happily suffers a coffee and chocolate addiction. She can most often be found at her computer, spinning new stories, or in a quiet padded nook with her e reader. Look for more stories in the ‘Weddings by C & C’ line.
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