“What plans? When?” Ella asked, looking at each of them. “I’m confused.”
“Instead of our usual lunch tomorrow, we’re going to have lunch at my mom’s. I want to show her the DVD Max made and I figured we’d make an afternoon of it—lunch by the pool and margaritas. What do you think?”
“Ooh…that sounds good,” Ella said. “Any chance there will be someone there to serve us margaritas by the pool?”
“Keep dreaming,” Hailey said with a grin. “Is everybody in?”
“I’m in!” Ella said excitedly. “Dylan’s helping his dad with some painting tomorrow so I have all day.”
“I’m in too,” Angie said. “And I don’t have to answer to anyone so I can come and go as I please.”
“Sean’s not visiting this weekend?” Hailey asked. Ever since his arrival on Angie’s doorstep, Sean had been true to his word—doing his best to win Angie over. Hailey assumed since it was the weekend he would put in an appearance.
Angie shrugged. “He asked if he could come and visit, but I put him off.”
“Why?” Ella asked. “If you’re serious about giving him another chance, then you are actually going to have to see him and spend time with him. You can’t have a relationship via text, Ang.”
“It’s not just texting,” Angie said defensively. “We’ve talked on the phone a couple of times.”
“But…?” Hailey prodded.
“But…I don’t know. He’s busy with work, I’m busy with work and I just wanted him not to be here this weekend.”
“Yeah but next weekend we’ll be in Charlotte at another expo,” Becca reminded her. “Or are you inviting him there since we’re getting hotel rooms?”
Angie blushed.
“Nice,” Hailey said approvingly. “That’s a good plan.”
“Plus, it puts us back—sort of—the way we were before. We used to meet up on the weekends on neutral territory.”
“Maybe that was part of the problem,” Ella said. “If this relationship is going to go anywhere, you’re going to have to let him into your world a little bit.”
“I know. I’m working on it.” She paused and took a sip of her wine. “Which reminds me…what about you, Hailey? Are you going to take advantage of our lodgings next weekend and make your move on Logan?”
Hailey choked on her drink. “What?”
Angie chuckled. “You heard me. We’ve all given you a little time and space with this, but it’s time for you to make a decision. Are you going to make your move or not?”
“I…I’m still not sure.”
“Oh for crying out loud!” Angie cried. “Why not?”
“I’ve never had to do that before!”
“Seriously? You never made the first move?” Becca asked.
Hailey shrugged. “Honestly? No.”
“Wow,” Becca murmured and picked up her own drink.
“It did cross my mind to take advantage of our time away next weekend, but I’m not sure how to go about doing it.”
“Well don’t look at me,” Ella said quickly. “The last time I made a move it was to slip a note in Dylan’s locker telling him I liked him.”
“Yikes,” Angie muttered.
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with that,” Ella said defensively.
“I know, I know,” Angie replied. “But that just seems like a lifetime ago.”
“Hello?” Hailey interrupted. “I’m seriously looking for some guidance here!”
“Okay,” Angie said, resting her elbows on the table. “After the show Friday night, you know we’ll all be staying overnight. No one is going to want to make the three-hour drive home so you know that’s going to include Logan.”
“Okay,” Hailey said.
“More than likely, we’ll all end up hanging out at the hotel bar—just like this. You come in, chat with him a little, maybe buy him a drink and then…ask him to join you in your room.”
“Just like that?”
Angie nodded. “Just like that. It’s not that hard to do. You should probably have a glass of wine just because…well…it’s you and you’re going to need to relax a little. And then you pick a room and enjoy the night.”
“I have a feeling it’s a little more complex than that,” Hailey said.
“Only if you make it that way,” Angie said and then looked over at Becca. “And now you. You look even more miserable than you did before the show. What happened?”
Without making eye contact with any of them, Becca told them about her run-in with Danny and his fiancée.
“No!” they all gasped.
She nodded. “I completely froze. Thank God Jack was there because I swear I thought I was going to be sick.”
Ella reached over and squeezed Becca’s hand.
“Did he say anything to you?” Hailey asked.
“No. He just gave me that stupid smirk. And then he kissed her right there in front of me.” She snorted with disgust. Then she chuckled and told them how Jack had done something to make Danny trip. “It was a little bit awesome how he did that—kind of like a ninja. I never even saw him move.”
“So…Jack like…defended you?”
Becca nodded. “He was really sweet. He knew I was already having a crappy night and seeing Danny was the last thing I needed.”
“Why? What else happened?” Ella asked.
Becca told them about Max. “So basically in the last several hours, I’ve had to deal with my ex-boyfriend and his fiancée—who he was probably dating while we were dating—and the fact that my current boyfriend—who may not even be my boyfriend—doesn’t find me attractive either and may very well only think of me as a friend. I’m too hideous to attract anyone!” She was breathless by the time she was done.
The girls all looked at one another silently before Hailey spoke up. “Okay, I know it all looks bad right now, but I think if you go and talk to Max, you may find he’s just shy. Or being considerate.”
“There is considerate and then there’s not interested. He kisses me on the cheek like I’m his sister or his buddy. I’m telling you, I completely read all the signals wrong and now I’m stuck in the friend zone.”
“I hate the friend zone,” Angie agreed and picked up her wine.
“But you’re going to talk to him about it, right?” Ella asked.
“I don’t know,” Becca sighed.
“Oh no…” Hailey said quickly. “You all pushed me into going out with Logan and now possibly seducing Logan…”
“Not possibly,” Angie corrected, “you’re doing it.”
“An-y-way,” Hailey said tightly, “you have to talk to him. There really is a good chance he’s just treading slowly with you. That doesn’t make him a bad guy.”
“Maybe,” Becca said. “But what if I’m right? What if he only sees me as a friend?”
“Then…you’ll be hurt for a little while and you’ll move on,” Ella said. “I’d rather find out now than go on and invest any more time in a relationship.”
“She has a point,” Angie said. “Rip off the bandage now and get it over with.”
“But not tomorrow,” Hailey said. “Tomorrow we’re going to sun ourselves by the pool and relax and show my mom her gift.” She looked over at Becca with a sympathetic smile. “And I’d rather we all still like Max while we’re doing it rather than cursing him. He really did a great job on the DVD and Mom is going to gush.”
“Fine. I think I’m supposed to see him on Sunday. I’ll wait and talk to him then.”
“Good girl,” Angie said and then yawned. “Let’s get going.”
“You okay to drive?” Hailey asked as they stood, motioning to Angie’s glass.
“I only had half a glass.”
Together they walked out to the parking lot and waved as they went their separate ways.
****
Later that night, Hailey lay in bed thinking about her conversation with the girls.
Seduce Logan.
Two little words and yet they seeme
d to carry a lot of weight. Ever since their lunch date, they had talked a couple of times on the phone and he had texted her twice, but all of their interactions had been fairly…generic. Logan never hinted at wanting to go out again and most of his conversations seemed to center around upcoming shows and maybe doing some other modeling gigs.
She supposed that was something. He was good-looking and if he really put an effort into it, Hailey didn’t doubt Logan could get some print work in magazines or catalogs, maybe even a commercial or two if he was lucky. He asked for her advice and her opinion and while it was nice it was still…generic.
Sighing, she rolled to her side and turned out the light. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard, was it? All of her life, relationships had come easily to her. Not that she liked to brag, but she was the first out of her friends to have a boyfriend—Kenny Miller, seventh grade—and since then, she’d never gone for long without one.
Until she met Logan.
“Well damn,” she murmured. Hailey knew it wasn’t a coincidence. Logan had started modeling for Enchanted not long after Hailey and her boyfriend of two years had broken up. The timing had been perfect.
Or so she thought. Had she known that almost a year later she’d still be waiting for Logan to make his move, she might have re-thought things.
She shook her head. No. That wasn’t true. She would most likely still pine for him silently. This was all new territory for her. And unfortunately, she no longer felt like her normal, confident self. Ugh…now she could understand how Becca had been feeling. And she sure as hell didn’t like it.
“Note to self, apologize to Becca tomorrow.”
Not that Becca would hold it against her.
For the most part, Hailey’s previous boyfriends had all been the ones to ask her out and they tended to end on good terms. That was a good thing, right?
Or…
Or maybe she just hadn’t cared enough to be upset when the relationship ended. Crap. Where the hell had that thought come from? Hailey knew she was a very caring and empathetic person. Racking her brain, she tried to think of an ex-boyfriend who she was really upset over breaking up with.
None came to mind.
“Yikes,” she groaned. “Second note to self, ask the girls about that one.” Surely she had to have been upset about a breakup at some point. Was she just blocking it out? After another minute or two she had her answer. No. Not once could she remember crying over a breakup or even being the one to get dumped. Normally she was the one to end the relationship. “Oh God…I’m that person.”
How was she supposed to feel confident about going after Logan now? What if he rejected her? What if he told her he simply wasn’t interested? Now everyone was going to know about it because she’d been so damn vocal about her feelings for him.
“Okay, calm down,” she told herself as she rose from the bed. All this negative thinking had given her a headache and she needed to take some Advil or something.
Padding to her bathroom, her mind raced. Why did thoughts and ideas like this have to hit when all she wanted to do was go to sleep?
Five minutes later, she was back in bed but her mind was still swirling. There was nothing she could do about her previous relationships. They were done and over with. And if she was honest, there wasn’t anything wrong with going after what she wanted. And that was Logan. For weeks she had been encouraging everyone else to be brave—Ella with her mom over the wedding, Becca with her breakup with Danny, and Angie with her relationship with Sean. Shouldn’t she be practicing what she was preaching?
Pulling up her blankets, Hailey shifted around until she was comfortable and then let out a very loud sigh. It was going to take effort to get to sleep now, too.
“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “I have direction now and starting tomorrow, I am going to start putting it all into action. This time next weekend, I won’t be alone in bed.”
The thought put a smile on her face. Closing her eyes, she let herself dream of how wonderful it was all going to be.
****
“This is the dream. I think we need to do this every weekend. Forever,” Angie said.
“This is North Carolina, not Key West. We would have to contend with winter weather,” Ella replied.
“So we’ll move,” Becca added.
“Then I vote for Hawaii,” Hailey lazily chimed in.
Judith James came out of the French doors that led to her yard and smiled. All four of her girls were sunning themselves on the chaise lounges beside the pool. It was the perfect day for it—sunny but not too hot—and they all look completely relaxed. Carrying a tray of margaritas, she walked over to them. “Here are your drinks, ladies.”
Hailey sat up and shielded her eyes from the sun. “Thanks, Mom. You totally didn’t have to do this. We would have come inside eventually and made them.”
“Yes, well…you said that an hour ago and I wanted one too,” Judith said with a sassy grin. She sat down on one of the empty chaises and got comfortable. “It’s times like this I really wish we had a pool boy. Or at least someone to just make the drinks and serve us.”
“We should totally do that one weekend, Mrs. J. I think we’d all chip in for it,” Angie said.
“Maybe we’ll have to do something at the end of the summer. A big party here at the house so everyone can swim and we’ll have it catered,” Judith said, thinking out loud. “I’ll invite all of the models and everyone who helps with the bridal shows. Oh, it would be so much fun!”
Then, just as quickly as she had sat down, she was back up and walking toward the house with her drink and murmuring about caterers and party rentals.
“Does she ever sit still?” Becca asked from her chaise.
“Never,” Hailey replied.
“She has no idea what she’s missing,” Angie said with a sigh. “Because this is glorious.”
“I think I’m going to go in the water. Anyone want to join me?” Ella asked. Two minutes later, she and Angie dove into the pool.
“Can I ask you something?” Hailey said quietly, turning to look at Becca.
“Sure.”
“Do I seem…cold or unfeeling to you?”
Becca lifted her sunglasses and looked at Hailey as if she were crazy. “What are you talking about?”
Turning slightly in her seat, she faced Becca a little more head-on. “I was lying in bed last night and it came to me how I’ve never been upset over a breakup.”
“That’s not true,” Becca said. “Is it?”
Hailey nodded. “I was up half the night trying to think of a guy I truly was broken-hearted over and I couldn’t think of one.”
“And that makes you think you’re cold and unfeeling? Maybe those guys were just jerks.”
“No…that was the other thing, all of the guys I dated were good guys. They never cheated and they weren’t bad in any way, shape or form. I was the one who ended all of them and it was normally over silly stuff.”
Becca studied her for a minute. “Maybe now your reasons seem silly, but at the time, I’m sure it didn’t feel like that.”
“Maybe,” Hailey sighed and sat back on the chaise.
“Hails, you are a great person. What’s this all about?”
“It’s bothering me that I am having to work so hard and think so much about this whole Logan situation. I’ve never had to do that before. Then that got me thinking about why I’ve never had to do it before and…you know…it just snowballed.” She sighed. “Why is this so damn hard?”
“It normally is. You’ve just been fortunate. The rest of us have to work at it. Look at how long I worked at getting Danny to notice me.” Then she stopped. “Scratch that. Bad example.”
“No,” Hailey said, sitting back up. “You’re right. What if…what if Logan is like Danny? What if I finally get this guy who I’ve built up in my mind to be so fantastic and it turns out he’s a real jerk?”
Becca sat up and shook her head. “Not gonna happen.”
“How do
you know?”
“Because everyone warned me about Danny. Everyone saw he was a jerk and wasn’t good for me and I ignored them. Everyone who meets Logan can see he’s a great guy. Your mom is a great judge of character. She wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t a quality guy.”
“She hired Jackson too,” Hailey mumbled.
“Hey,” Becca said firmly, pointing a finger at her. “Need I remind you how Jackson came to my rescue last night? In my book that makes him a quality guy too. You’re not allowed to pick on him. Ever.”
Hailey rolled her eyes. “You can’t say that. Just because he did one nice thing…”
“He does plenty of nice things. You just choose to focus on the things you—and only you—seem to think aren’t nice. And to be honest, I think you overreact to most of them.”
“I don’t see it that way, but for the sake of an argument, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” Hailey reached for her drink and took a sip. “Oh, that’s good. Someday Mom is going to teach me how to make a margarita this delicious.”
Becca chuckled. “She does have a gift with them.” She stood and stretched. It felt good to be out in the sun in the privacy of the James’ backyard. It was the only place she would allow herself to wear a bikini. Adjusting the bottoms, she did a little shimmy and turned toward the pool. “I think I’m gonna…”
“Girls! Look who’s here! Max!” Judith called as she came back out to the yard arm in arm with Max.
“Oh shit!” Becca cried as she spun and reached for her cover-up and quickly slipped it on. When she straightened, she couldn’t make herself look directly at Max.
Hailey—thankfully—jumped in. “Max! So glad you could make it!”
Becca’s head snapped to the side. “Make it?”
Nodding, Hailey smiled. “I called him this morning and invited him to join us. He’s the reason we’re here today and I thought it would be great if he could be here.”
Judith looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
Angie and Ella climbed out of the pool and grabbed their towels after greeting Max.
Friday Night Brides Page 12