The Thousand Mile Love Story

by Natalie Vivien

  “You’re beautiful. Don’t worry about it,” said Andee quickly, stepping forward and hugging her best friend. “Seriously. You look great in vintage fashions. Like a redheaded Marilyn Monroe.”

  “You’re just trying to make me feel better because of my inexplicably larger boobs,” said Tiffany sadly, but then she winked. “All right. Everyone fits in their stuff, yeah?”

  “Yup,” said Robin, tugging at her sleeves. From downstairs came the sound of rummaging boxes and Heather whistling something unintelligible.

  “So, we’d better change and get going,” said Tiffany, tugging at the zipper behind her, trying to pull it down. “Rehearsal’s in an hour and a half!”

  “We’re going to the Grange with the brides. There’s no way we could be late,” said Andee, tugging down on Tiffany’s zipper. Again, it wouldn’t budge.

  “We are going to be late if this damn dress has anything to say about it,” sighed Tiffany.

  “Here, let me try, ” said Robin, grasping the zipper. Together, she and Andee tugged the unyielding bit of pink metal until finally—and, again, miraculously—it budged and slid down.

  “I’m going to need, like, two hours to get ready tomorrow morning,” Tiffany sighed, stepping out of the dress as she twirled, resplendent in her vintage slip.

  “Hey, Tiff!” shouted Heather from downstairs. “Elizabeth’s back from the airport with someone very special to see you!”

  “Emily!” Tiffany screamed, and then she vaulted out of the bedroom and down the stairs in her stockinged feet. Still only wearing a slip.

  “Baby!” came the sound of Emily’s voice, and Andee and Robin wandered to the railing around the second story hallway to watch the reunion. Tiffany jumped into Emily’s arms, and Emily spun Tiffany around, holding her so tightly, it looked as if she would never let go.

  Kimberly was downstairs, carrying one of the boxes, and she angled around Tiffany and Emily, not even glancing in Emily’s direction. Andee frowned, watching her take the box out the front door. She didn’t even say hello.

  Things felt strange. Like Andee was only clearly seeing them for the first time. But they still didn’t make much sense.

  And Andee really needed them to make sense.

  This was not the Kimberly she’d always thought she’d known.

  Robin glanced sidelong at her, brows up. Andee bit her lip, backed into the bedroom again and shrugged out of her dress. She set it gently on the side of Tiffany’s bed, picking up the dress that Tiffany had left crumpled on the floor.

  “Are you all right?” said Robin, walking into the room and undoing her tie. Her brow was up as she watched Andee, Andee now wearing only a slip, too. Andee felt her skin become gooseflesh as Robin’s eyes raked over her body.

  “I’m all right,” she whispered, head still preoccupied with how strange Kimberly was acting. She smiled up at Robin, placing a hand on Robin’s chest.

  Then Andee felt something turn in her stomach as she heard Joanna’s voice below, Joanna snapping at Kimberly for something that Andee couldn’t quite make out.

  Things were definitely strange. And Andee was determined to get to the bottom of them.

  ---

  “Oh my goodness,” Andee breathed, shifting the cardboard box to her hip as she paused in the doorway, staring upward. One couldn’t help but stare upward. “This place is gorgeous…”

  “Right?” said Elizabeth, gushing as she hugged Andee around the shoulders and sighed happily. “It’s everything we could have wanted in a venue—can you imagine how gorgeous those pictures are going to turn out?”

  “I can’t even imagine…” Andee admitted, breathless, as she carried the box of table decorations into the Green Mountain Grange.

  The center of the house, like a massive Victorian mansion that Andee had seen in period movies about very rich people having very rich parties, was open, and upward were open hallways that looked down onto the open center, where an industrial looking bar was set up. Dance floor spread all around the bar, dance floor being filled in with tables and chairs as people bustled to and fro, bringing them from a side room.

  “Where should I put these, Liz?” asked Andee as Elizabeth trotted by again.

  “Oh, anywhere, honey!” she said over her shoulder, angling toward Heather. Andee shrugged and set the box down on one of the tables, stretching overhead afterward and yawning. The table decorations were gilded antique birdcages filled with old books. Andee was sure there was symbolism behind the centerpieces, but they also looked very pretty, though they were, unfortunately, very heavy. The two birdcages in the box that Andee had just brought in were filled with classics from old hardcover copies of Little Women to My Antonia.

  “Lesbian authors,” said Heather, then, with a grin as she deposited her own box of centerpieces next to Andee’s. “That’s the connection on all of these.”

  “Louisa May Alcott, really?” asked Andee, but Heather chuckled.

  “You wouldn’t believe it, even if I told you,” she winked and turned to go back out to the car for another load, her long, flowing blue skirt trailing out behind her like a flag.

  “Hi,” said an older woman then, walking up to Andee with a quizzical expression. She had her long white hair in an elaborate updo, and she wore only purple as she clutched a black binder to her. “I’m here for the brides…have you seen them? I’m the officiant, Merryweather.”

  “I’m one of the bridesmaids, Andrea,” said Andee, shaking the woman’s hand as she glanced around, trying to spot Heather. She’d just been there, too. “I’ll try and find them for you,” promised Andee, and turned and headed back out toward the parade of cars that had taken them there.

  Kimberly stood on the sidewalk outside, cell phone to her ear as she muttered into it. “Hey, Kim,” said Andee, placing a hand on Kimberly’s arm. She hadn’t exactly walked quietly up to Kimberly, but Kimberly still jumped when Andee touched her. “I’m sorry…” Andee muttered as Kimberly turned with a pained expression, shaking her head back at Andee.

  “Oh, it’s okay—just an important phone call,” she said, then shook her head again, walking away. “No, no, I’m here, babe,” said Kimberly softly into the phone.

  Andee sighed, but didn’t get much of a chance to think about it as Elizabeth and Heather bustled up to her, carrying a large box filled with the table centerpieces between them. “The officiant is here…” said Andee, taking Elizabeth’s place and holding up one half of the box.

  “Oh!” Elizabeth practically sang and trotted inside with a very wide grin.

  “I have a feeling that she’s going to be very sad after the wedding’s over,” Heather chuckled lowly as they carefully carried the box up the three steps and into the venue. “She’s going to be very sad she doesn’t have anything to plan anymore…”

  “Maybe she can help Tiffany plan her wedding,” said Andee in a soft voice, glancing over to Tiffany and Emily who were both carrying in another big box of table centerpieces. The way that Emily looked at Tiffany, and the way Tiffany laughed and blushed—Emily made Tiffany actually blush—it seemed that the wedding wouldn’t be that far away.

  “Isn’t it weird?” said Heather softly as they set their box down on one of the empty tables. She stood, her hands at the small of her back as her eyes seemed to lose focus, staring out at the bustling venue filled with people preparing for the wedding, but not really seeing them. “You know, back in college, we didn’t think this could happen ever, that legal marriage for all of us could even be a thing. Do you remember that?”

  “We didn’t even want it, really. I know that I didn’t really care about it,” said Andee, and Heather nodded thoughtfully, crossing her arms as she sighed.

  “I used to think it was such a patriarchal institution. Down with the man and all that shit,” she said, words soft as she glanced at her soon-to-be wife, talking animatedly with the officiant by the bar. “But then I did want it. Because it wasn’t about that, anymore. It was about the rights we could be aff
orded.”

  “It was about love,” Andee murmured softly, glancing down at her feet. She’d never thought she would marry. She’d never even given it any thought after Robin and…well, everything.

  But now Andee wondered. If things went well. If they could rebuild their lives together…

  Her stomach turned happily at the very thought, and Heather gave her a knowing look, her brows up.

  “What?” whispered Andee, tucking her hair behind her ear as she blushed and looked down at the ground again.

  “I just like seeing you happy,” said Heather, smiling softly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you happy, And.” Heather stepped forward, then, and hugged Andee tightly. Andee grinned, returning the hug. It was true. She hadn’t been happy, not for the longest time.

  And she had finally given herself permission to be.

  “Rehearsal’s in five minutes, everyone!” Elizabeth called out, and the women began to move faster, bringing in the boxes from the car as the venue employees continued to bring out chairs and drape them in the white seat covers, arranging them around the round tables already covered in sweeping white tablecloths that reached the ground.

  “All right!” said Merryweather, stepping back with an encouraging grin. “Let’s all meet upstairs in the dance hall, ladies!”

  Everyone trooped upstairs, Elizabeth practically bouncing beside Heather as the two brides-to-be followed Merryweather up the steps and into the sweeping dance hall that sprawled before them. There were stained glass windows filled with grapes and flowers, the sunlight filtering through them turned to a riot of colors that coated the pretty maple floors.

  “Okay,” said Merryweather, checking the first page of her binder. “How is everyone going to walk down the aisle?”

  “Well, we don’t have maids of honor,” said Heather, “so we figured we’d pair everyone up and just have them come in how they want.”

  “I can go first,” said Tiffany, standing next to Jill as Elizabeth ushered them together.

  “Kim, if you can go second with Tricia, my sister,” said Elizabeth, pairing the two women together. Tricia, a slight blonde woman with thick glasses nodded and put her arm through Kimberly’s. Kimberly sighed and looked at her watch.

  “And, of course, Robin and Andee will bring up the rear,” said Elizabeth with a wide smile, cooing. “I’m so glad you guys are ending it! This’ll be perfect!”

  “Okay! Let’s do this!” said Merryweather. She waved at the sound guy at the edge of the room, and pretty classical strains of violin playing an unfamiliar piece filtered delicately into the room.

  The rehearsal went off without any major hitches, though Merryweather did drop her binder twice. “Nervous fingers,” she said, and promised they’d be better by tomorrow. She’d also have a podium, so probably the binder would stay in place.

  After the rehearsal, the women went back downstairs to get the last touches of everything ready. Andee helped set up the birdcages in the center of each table, angling them artistically (or so she hoped), as everyone ran back and forth, finalizing everything.

  “Honey, would you do me a big favor?” said Elizabeth then, breathless as she came up, dropping a sheaf of papers at her feet. “Crap,” she muttered as she and Andee crouched, retrieving all of them.

  “Sure, what do you need?” said Andee, flashing her friend what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Elizabeth was starting to look a little frazzled.

  “So there’s another bar beneath this building, down in the basement, called the Blue Glass. It’s really nice, and that’s where they store all of the liquor that they use for events here,” said Elizabeth, rattling off all the words quickly as she handed Andee a piece of paper. “You go out this door, around the corner and down the steps—you’ll see the sign for it. Can you take this paper to Henry—he’s the guy in charge. Just have him double, triple check that all of the wines on this list are still available for tomorrow. It’s super important,” said Elizabeth, still not taking a breath, “because we have so many friends who are wine snobs, and it’d really give me piece of mind, pretty please? I have to go talk to the sound system guy and the cake guy and…” Elizabeth inhaled deeply and sagged a little.

  “No, no, I got this, promise!” said Andee, saluting with a wink. Then, before Elizabeth could utter anything else, Andee turned on her heel and trotted out the front door to get it done.

  The late afternoon in Vermont was so balmy. As far as Andee was concerned, it was the perfect temperature, and even though they were in the heart of the old section of the city, there were still flowers everywhere in small outdoor gardens lining the old street and in front of the sprawling Victorian mansions, lending a quality of perfume to the air.

  Andee trotted down the front steps and went around the side of the building. There was a large painted sign with a big arrow pointing down an alleyway, and—as promised—there was a set of stairs down, and a lit, pulsing sign that read “the Blue Glass.”

  As Andee went down the steps, the air got a little cooler. When she opened the door and entered the little bar, shivering a little from how cold it was inside. She shut the door behind her, and looked around, surprised to see the bar was already filled up—but it was a Friday. Who knew Vermonters were such partiers?

  And the Blue Glass did seem like a party sort of bar. There was a dance floor and colored, strobing lights and a deejay setting up as house music played loudly over the speakers.

  “Hi!” said Andee, wandering up to the bar. The man behind the counter flashed her a smile until he saw the list in her hand.

  “Oh my God, seriously? I just checked this yesterday,” he groaned, rubbing at his eyebrows. “I mean, I’ll check it again,” he sighed, snatching it out of her hands with a measure of dramatics, “but this needs to be the last time, okay?”

  “This is um…for the wedding?” said Andee, mouth open a little.

  “Oh my God, what wedding? Oh my God, the wedding!” he said, gasping. “I’m so sorry! No, no, honey, I was talking about the corporate party…oh God, this is for the wedding tomorrow?”

  “Yeah,” said Andee, confused, and the guy shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, I got you confused with another party. It’s great, it’s okay, I’m so sorry! Here, have a drink while I go check. What would you like?”

  “Vodka on the rocks,” said Andee promptly, and he poured her one while uttering more apologies. He did look severely overworked, what with all of the patrons at the bar, so Andee assured him it was no problem at all and took her free drink, sipping it happily as the man ducked out from behind the bar and went back toward the restrooms and what Andee was assuming was the storage room.

  Andee held the cold glass in her hands and sighed, taking a seat at the little stool at the bar.

  “I’m sorry,” muttered a woman, elbowing her a little. It wasn’t even hard enough to make her drink move.

  “It’s no problem,” said Andee, turning.

  And her entire world fell away from her.

  The two women stared at each other for a long moment, seated on stools next to each other.

  “Do I know you?” muttered Monica.

  Monica. The woman who had been in Robin’s bed. The naked woman. The star of a million and one of Andee’s nightmares. Andee would have recognized her anywhere in any time or place.

  Andee breathed out slowly, her world spinning. She took another sip from her vodka, feeling her heart knocking so loudly on her ribs, it was in danger of falling out.

  “I’m Andrea,” said Andee then, clearly. She was so proud of how her voice didn’t shake.

  “Monica,” said Monica, flashing a brilliant smile. She really was beautiful, and she was wearing a pretty little red number that seemed to cling to every curve.

  “I’m…I’m here for a wedding,” said Andee then, hearing her voice as if from a million miles away. “What about you?”

  “Oh,” said Monica, glancing down at her drink—a scotch—and smiling a little.
She also blushed, Andee noticed, feeling her stomach twist. “I’m here meeting someone,” said Monica softly, lifting the glass up to her ruby lips.

  Oh my God, oh my God, thought Andee, but everything in her cried out against leaving, cried out against assuming. Not again. Not now. She’d come so far. Andee took another deep breath and another sip of vodka.

  “Oh, really?” she said, desperate to sound nonchalant, and not very certain that she’d pulled it off. “Who are you meeting?”

  Monica glanced up sharply, full lips turning into a downward frown. “Um…an old friend. I’m sorry, you said you were here with the wedding?”

  An old friend.

  Monica says she wants to see you again.

  Andee took another deep breath, felt the cold glass against her hands as she stared down at it. She swallowed, worked up her courage, and she said:

  “Are you here meeting Robin Barnes?”

  Monica did a double take, and then chuckled. “Oh my goodness, no, no,” she said then, sighing, and seemingly a little relieved. “Robin Barnes—my goodness, I haven’t heard that name in years. She was such a gorgeous lady,” sighed Monica, “but she was way too hung up on this one girl…I can’t remember her name. She was madly in love with her—never gave anyone else the time of day,” there was a tone of bitterness to Monica’s voice as she took another sip of her scotch. “No, I have an…arrangement with my friend, Kimberly. Do you know her? She’s here for a wedding, too…”

  Andee breathed out. Andee glanced sidelong at Monica.

  It was as if the entire world had been shattered into a million pieces.

  And then put back together again as glorious. As perfect. As everything she’d ever dreamed it could be.

  “I’m sorry,” spluttered Andee then, rapidly trying to understand. “But…”

  “Hey, beautiful,” said Kimberly, appearing through the crowds to put her arms around Monica from behind and kiss her bare shoulder.

  That’s when Kimberly noticed Andee.

  “Shit,” the woman muttered, her eyes darkening.