Room For Just A Little Bit More (Cranberry Inn Book 2.5)

by Beth Ehemann

“Wow! This is amazing!” My eyes darted around, wanting to look at everything all at once.

  It was very different than the main part of the store, reminding me more of a trendy New York City loft than a bridal room. The walls were painted a cool, rustic shade of bluish-gray and had funky artwork covering them. A white couch sat in the middle of the room, anchored on each side by hot pink, oversized chairs and a large weathered coffee table in front. The whole setup faced a wall of mirrors that had a small stage in front of it.

  We all filed in and were talking about the room when Kate picked up a phone on the wall. “Send Chloe in here, please.”

  About ten seconds later, a young girl appeared in the doorway carrying an envelope.

  “Thanks, Chloe. Be on standby in case we need you.” Chloe offered a smile before she nodded and walked away.

  “I’m going to be assisting you today, with anything you need. Please, make yourselves comfortable.” She motioned toward the seating area. We all shuffled over and sat down. “Before we begin, can I get anyone anything to drink? Sparkling water, champagne, a mimosa?”

  “Oooo, I’d love a mimosa,” Lauren said eagerly.

  “Can I do a vodka and cranberry?” Mom asked.

  “Sure thing,” Kate nodded.

  “Just water, please,” Alexa groaned.

  I laughed at her pouty face. “I’ll just take water too, please.”

  “Kacie, you sure?” Mom questioned. “Have a cocktail if you want one.”

  “No, thanks. I need to be as sober as possible when I pick out a dress.” I laughed.

  Kate smiled. “Let me go grab those. I’ll be right back. Feel free to start looking at some of the catalogues on the table, unless you already know what you’re looking for.” She winked.

  “Okay, thank you.” I leaned forward to pick up a magazine as she turned to leave the room.

  “Oh, wait. I almost forgot. This is for you.” She handed me the envelope and walked away quickly.

  “What is it?” Mom sat up straight, craning her neck to see.

  I shrugged, staring at my name on the envelope. “I have no clue.”

  Sliding my finger under the seal, I gently pulled to the side. Like a perfect envelope should, it popped open willingly.

  I pulled out the folded piece of light blue paper.

  “Oh my God.” I rubbed the tears from my eyes and read the letter again, hoping my brain wasn’t playing a trick on me.

  “What? What is it?” Lauren asked, gently rocking Max back and forth.

  Unable to form a verbal response, I took a tissue out of my purse and handed the paper to my mom.

  She read it and gasped.

  “Will someone read the damn thing out loud?” Alexa growled impatiently.

  Mom cleared her throat and started reading, “Kacie, roses are red. My jersey is white. Pick any dress you want for our big night. Hey, babe. I hope you’re having the best day with your mom and friends. Like my award-winning poem said, I’ve arranged everything with the shop in advance. All you have to do is pick out your dream dress, maybe something in a nice ice blue. Winky face. Have fun. Love you. Brody.”

  Tears streamed down my face as she read the letter out loud. It blew me away that not only had that crazy man called the salon and arranged the payment of my dress, but he actually took the time out to write that note, and poem, and drop it off before I got there.

  “Awww, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Lauren reached over, grabbed a tissue from me, and dabbed at her eye.

  “Wait. Ice blue? I don’t get it.” Alexa said, blinking quickly.

  I thought back to that night and giggled. “Last year, we went to that charity banquet for Wild Kids, remember?” I cleaned the mascara out from under my eyes as they all nodded. “Well, I borrowed—”

  “Yes!” Lauren pointed at me when she remembered, nearly dropping Max in her excitement. “You borrowed that ice blue dress from me.”

  “Yep, and he loved it… like… a lot.” The look on Brody’s face as he stood in his kitchen said it all that night. I asked him what he thought on a scale of one to ten. I would never, ever, ever, as long as I lived, forget the number he said. Six hundred fifty-two.

  “Obviously.” My mom took Max from Lauren and bounced him on her lap.

  I took out my phone and texted Brody.

  HEY. I JUST GOT THE ENVELOPE. I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

  Within seconds, my phone chirped.

  B: I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT. YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE HOW LONG IT TOOK ME AND VIPER TO COME UP WITH THAT DAMN POEM.

  HAHA! WELL, IT MADE ME LAUGH.

  B: GOOD. I’D DO ANYTHING FOR MY GIRL.

  AND I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

  B: I JUST SENT YOU A PIC. REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME WHEN YOU OPEN IT, OKAY?

  Uh oh.

  The image came through and I stared at the little hourglass spinning round and round, waiting for it to open. When it did, I squinted to get a better view. At first glance, the tiny image just looked like Lucy and Piper making silly faces, but when I blew it up with my fingers, it was a whole different picture. Their sleeves were rolled up and fake tattoos covered their forearms and biceps. They were both flexing, just like Viper was doing behind them, and they had their tongues sticking out. Brody had typed Having fun with my tattooed Twinkies above the photo.

  “Oh my God.” I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

  “What now?” Mom looked at Alexa and Lauren, who just shrugged at her. Clearly, they all thought I’d lost my mind. Without saying a word, I handed my phone to my mom, who angled it so that Lauren and Lex could see too. Watching all of their faces when they saw my tattoo-covered twins only made me laugh harder.

  “Well,” Lauren finally said once we’d all finished laughing, “it’s probably better than the F-word, huh?”

  Just then, Kate came back in the room carrying a silver tray with our drinks on it. “Who’s ready to start looking at dresses?

  Three hours and twenty-seven dresses later, I found it. The dress. Lex and Lauren were right—I put it on and I just knew. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to walk down the aisle in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to say vows to my fiancé in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to dance with my husband in, and I knew it was the dress that would be tossed on the floor at the end of the night when I made love to that husband for the first time, officially.

  Who knew drinking champagne and playing human Barbie all day could be so exhausting? When Mom and I got home, I was ready to collapse, but when you have two little girls excited to show you their tattoos, you have to play along.

  “Mom! Mom! Look!” they both squealed, rolling their sleeves up as they ran to the front door.

  “Oh my goodness, look at you two.” I took turns inspecting each of their arms, which were completely covered in Hello Kitty and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tattoos. “You guys got tattoos? Did they hurt?”

  Piper covered her mouth with her tiny hands and giggled as Lucy corrected me, “No, Mom. They’re not real!”

  “Oh! Thank goodness.” I wrapped my arms around both of them and pulled them against me. “I’m guessing you had fun with Brody and Viper today?”

  “You mean Uncle V?” Piper pulled back and looked up at me.

  “Uncle V?”

  “Yeah, that’s what he said to call him.” Lucy shrugged, skipping off to the kitchen with Piper tailing behind her.

  “Uncle V got really into babysitting today, in case you couldn’t tell,” Brody joked as he came around the corner.

  “Obviously.” I met Brody halfway and melted into his open arms. I felt so tiny and safe and comfortable as I lay my head against his chest, I thought I could fall asleep right there, standing up. “Is he still here? I want to thank him.”

  “Nah, he left a while ago. Got a text from an… available female and off he went.”

  I rolled my eyes against Brody’s chest and
mumbled, “Available female, huh? Interesting word choice. I’ll just text him later. Sounds like you guys had fun though. I’m glad.”

  “I don’t know how much fun Fred had.” His laugh vibrated through me.

  “Oh no, what happened?” I was too tired to lift my head and look at him.

  “Well, he lost a bet. A big one. And Viper made him pay up.”

  “A bet about what? What did he have to do?” I groaned.

  Brody rubbed my back and gave me one last quick squeeze before he released me. “He’s in the kitchen. Go take a look.”

  As we walked toward the kitchen, I could hear my mom and the girls laughing. I turned and frowned up at Brody, who just looked down at the ground, trying to hide his grin. Nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see.

  “What’s going on? What’s this big bet thing?” Fred’s back was to me when I got to the kitchen, but as he turned slowly, I saw just what everyone was laughing at. Right there, smack dab in the middle of Fred’s forehead, was a Hello Kitty tattoo. “Uh… what… why?” I put my hand over my mouth, trying to hold it together, but it took about six seconds before I was laughing just as hard as the girls.

  “I lost a bet.” He frowned.

  Brody walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, the perfect height for me to rest my chin and heavy head on. “We were talking about the nickname Twinkies, and that led to talking about the food Twinkies, and that led to Fred betting Viper he couldn’t take down an entire box of Twinkies in two minutes. Viper doesn’t turn down a bet—ever—so he ran to the gas station and bought a box. The rest, as they say, is history.”

  I shook my head back and forth in disbelief. “How long do you have to keep that on?”

  “Just two days.” Fred sighed. “But he’s coming back tomorrow to take me to lunch. He’s really rubbing it in.”

  I tapped Brody’s arms so he’d let go. I needed some water. The girls were retelling the story to my mom in great detail as I grabbed a bottle from the fridge. “Wow. You guys are crazy.” I laughed.

  “Is this the mail?” Mom picked up the pile off the counter.

  “Yeah, and Kacie, that huge pile over there is yours.” Fred pointed.

  “Really?” I was surprised. “I never get mail.”

  The stack of envelopes for me had to be two inches high. Once I started sifting through the stuff, I realized most of it was brochures from banquet halls and photographers, ring makers, and so on. One after the other, most of them with my name spelled wrong. “How did they even get my address?” I asked to no one in particular.

  “I’m so sorry,” Brody apologized as he watched me flip through the envelopes.

  “Hey, stop it. This isn’t your fault.” I kissed his cheek as I continued flipping.

  “Yeah, but I was afraid this would happen. As soon as word got out that we were engaged, I worried people would start hounding you. I should have warned you.”

  “I can handle some lame brochures. No biggie.”

  “Look, that one spelled your name right,” he cheered, “and it doesn’t look like a solicitation.”

  He was talking but I couldn’t hear his words past the blood rushing through my ears. That one did spell my name right. It would be pretty ridiculous if it were spelled wrong.

  That one was from my dad.

  Kacie was frozen like a statue, staring at the envelope in her hands. I lowered myself, trying to get a better view of her eyes. “Babe?”

  She blinked but didn’t respond.

  “Kacie?” I asked again, my heart racing as I looked at the envelope.

  “Honey, what is it?” Her mom took a couple steps toward us as Fred and the girls turned too.

  When Kacie still didn’t answer, I slid the envelope out of her hands and took a closer look. “It’s from Don Jensen?” I read the name out loud and looked up at Sophia. As I said the words, it hit me. Don was Kacie’s dad’s name. We hardly ever talked about him, but I remembered her mentioning it a couple times.

  Sophia moved in slow motion. Her hands crept up to her mouth as her eyes widened, staring at her daughter. Fred walked over and put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders, pulling her from her moment of shock. She cleared her throat. “Are you gonna open it?”

  Kacie’s eyes moved from her mom’s to mine. “I don’t know. Should I?”

  “I can’t answer that for you, baby.” I shrugged.

  Reaching for the envelope, she took a big breath and ripped it open. I didn’t want to rush her in case she didn’t feel like reading it out loud, but from what I could see through the thin piece of paper, it wasn’t a very long note. Sophia walked over to the fridge, opened the door, and started moving containers around, clearly trying not to stare at Kacie’s reaction to the letter from her dickhead father, who’d walked out on them fifteen years ago. I’d obviously never met the man and shouldn’t be calling him names, but just knowing that he’d left his wife and daughter was enough of a reason for me. Shit, at this point I’d have a hard time walking away from Lucy and Piper, and they weren’t even biologically mine. Speaking of them…

  “Hey, what do ya say the three of us go in the living room and draw pictures of Fred with that tattoo on his head?” I had no idea what that letter said, or what was about to happen in that kitchen, but I felt like maybe the girls and I should go in the other room.

  “I’m tired,” Lucy whined.

  “Me too.” Piper yawned. “Can we just lie on the couch and watch Frozen?”

  “Sure.” I laughed, looking at my watch. “We haven’t seen it in like five hours. You must be having withdrawal. Come on.” Grabbing the bag of pretzels off the island, I led the girls to the family room.

  The girls giggled at Olaf, the goofy talking snowman, as I kept my eyes on the kitchen. Kacie handed the letter to Sophia. It didn’t take Sophia long to read it and set it on the island next to her, where Fred leaned in and read it over her shoulder.

  “What are you gonna do?” Sophia asked, barely loud enough for me to hear.

  Kacie tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged as Sophia reached out and pulled her in for a hug. The second I heard Kacie sniffle, I slipped out from under the girls and told them I’d be right back. As I walked up behind Kacie, Sophia pursed her lips over her daughter’s shoulder, transferring her to me when I got close enough. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight as Sophia grabbed the letter and held it up for me to read.

  Kacie,

  Read about your engagement in the paper and realized how much I’ve missed out on. I was hoping we could do lunch and catch up. We have so much to talk about.

  Love,

  Dad

  763-555-0616

  “It’s not that I don’t want to see him,”—Kacie stood up suddenly, as if someone had asked her a question—“but why now? Why today? I had the best day and this just puts a dark cloud over it.” She sat down at the island and read the letter again.

  “So don’t meet up with him. You’re not required to.” I walked behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

  “I know, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I have so many questions. Where’s he been living? How many brothers and sisters do I have? Why did he have to leave me behind in the first place?” Her head snapped up in Sophia’s direction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—”

  “Honey, you have nothing to apologize for. I made peace with your father walking out years ago.” She cupped Kacie’s damp cheeks in her hands. “If you want to call him, meet up, and start a relationship, you have my blessing. If you want to throw that letter in the garbage and pretend you never got it, you have my blessing on that too. I support anything you decide.”

  “I know.” She sniffed, staring down at the counter. “But he is my dad. What if he’s realized he made a colossal mistake and wants to try and fix things?”

  Fred’s face twisted silently when Kacie used the word dad. He was being respectful and keeping quiet, but I knew that had to be a punch in the
gut for him. His eyes caught mine and I pressed my lips together in a tight, sympathetic smile.

  “You don’t owe him anything. This is solely up to you. It’s about what you want to do,” Sophia responded.

  “I wish I knew what I wanted, Mom. It’s been so long since he’s been gone, I don’t even know what it feels like to have a dad anymore. I don’t think I can pass this up.”

  “What if he’s, ya know, contacting you for the wrong reasons?” I mumbled slowly. The words were barely out of my mouth and I already regretted them.

  Kacie looked up at me with the most beautiful red-rimmed eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. His timing is a little convenient, don’t ya think?”

  “You don’t even know him,” she shot back.

  “I just want you to be careful, Kacie. You don’t know him either.” I didn’t mean to lecture her, but I’d seen people do things like this before. Unfortunately, even my own extended family had crawled out of the woodwork a time or two when they needed something.

  She got up from the island and sighed as she walked over and plopped on the couch with the girls, pulling them to her side as she covered the three of them with a throw blanket.

  “She mad at me?” I whispered to Sophia.

  Sophia glanced past me to Kacie and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think you probably told her what she was already thinking and she didn’t like it.”

  “You think so?”

  “I meant it when I told her that I’d made peace with him leaving me, but that didn’t mean my anger toward Don walking out on her ever went away. He could’ve still taken her on weekends and been involved in her life. I would’ve encouraged it.” She nervously spun her wedding ring. “It was a struggle at times, but I really concentrated on never saying anything bad about him to her or around her. Still, I think even with me keeping my mouth shut, she knew he wasn’t a good man. I’m sure this letter is a big red flag for her, but she’s so desperate to mend fences, she’s just not seeing it.”