Everyone had their thing, after all. If the worst Brandelyn got was when she planned her first wedding, then that wouldn’t be so bad. She’ll be planning every anniversary party until we die. This would still be the worst, and it would soon be out of the way.
“I had heard there was a big wedding happening in town this month,” Fleur said. “I had no idea it was yours.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. There are always a few every summer. Mostly tourists.” No, it was definitely hers. Nobody else was a local inviting over three hundred people. “We’ll be having the wedding here, so the B&B will be closed for a week while we get things ready and house some of our extended family.” Brandelyn’s mother and sister’s family would be staying with her at the house on Florida Street. Sunny didn’t have as much family coming to stay at Waterlily House, but she had plenty of room for some of Brandy’s cousins… and her father, making his first grand appearance from Manhattan in God knew how many years. “She originally wanted to have the wedding at the ‘cutest church in town,’ but we aren’t members, and that would’ve been a little weird.” Luckily, Brandy’s mood was saved when Sunny suggested they get married at Waterlily House. The views were to die for, and the weather was usually amicable every late June. The only reason she wants to get married in a church is because that’s what she’s always imagined. Brandelyn was far from religious – for shit’s sake, her relations were Jewish! – so it had nothing to do with the sanctity of marriage or presenting it before God. She wanted the picture-perfect imagery that would go down in Paradise Valley history as unforgettable.
“Do you have your dress picked out?” Fleur’s girlish giggles lulled Sunny out of her complicated thoughts. “That’s always my favorite part. Seeing what the bride is wearing!” She paused. “Or is that the brides in this case?”
“I’m wearing a tux,” Sunny said.
“Ooooh. You’ll be quite dashing! You really have the face for it.”
Sunny snorted. “Thanks, I guess.”
“Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of tuxes in my day. The people who pull them off the most are those with confident jawlines. You can have tits for days and hair down to your ass, but if you have that jaw? You’re the most dapper person in the room.”
Sunny honestly had no idea what to say. No one has ever commented on my jaw before. She was suddenly self-conscious. What if her round face lost its neck on the big day? She’d be drowning in a full tux while Brandy, who was already two inches taller than her fiancée, traipsed down the aisle in her giant princess gown. Not that I know what her dress looks like. She won’t let me see it. The more Sunny thought about what a “traditionalist” her queer fiancée was, the more she either wanted to laugh or sigh. At least it meant Brandy would probably wear a garter, and that would be good fun on the wedding night. That’s the part I’m looking forward to the most… They hadn’t had sex in over a month, thanks to busy lives and the stress of planning a wedding up to the last moment. Brandy may have been doing the bulk of the planning, but Sunny wasn’t immune to the stress.
She had a secret, though. In the midst of the planning and wishing that things would be over soon, Sunny had been participating in some major treats of her own. One currently hung in the back of her closet. Far, far back, in case Brandelyn happened to stumble in there without minding her own business.
When we first got engaged, I imagined something completely different. She knew Brandy would have the most gorgeous bridal gown in Paradise Valley, but Sunny had no idea she would be wearing a tux until her fiancée helpfully informed her around Christmas. By then, Sunny had already bought a dress of her own. A simple yet well-made off-the-shoulder gown that showed off her best feature, her clavicle. The seamstress who took in the dress she got off a sale rack told Sunny that she looked like a “lovely country princess” with her short, blond hair and big smile. I sure did smile a lot when I tried it on after the seamstress was done taking it in. It was going to be a surprise to Brandelyn for their fifth anniversary that past December. Instead, she discovered she was going to wear a tux, because of course she was.
I should have said something. Yet for some inexplicable reason, she didn’t say a damn thing when Brandy looked at her as if it would be her greatest dream come true to marry someone in a tuxedo. How could Sunny say no to that? It wasn’t like she spent a lot of money on her own dress. Not nearly as much as Brandelyn, who went to a boutique in Portland and tried on everything until she reportedly “cried her eyes out” to finally discover the perfect dress.
If Sunny had one major fault, it was her inability to say no to people she loved. Before, it had landed her in the kinds of waters that were obnoxious at worst, relatively harmless at best. But now, as she came upon the eve of her wedding, she realized more and more that she had made such concessions that might have put her own tastes in jeopardy.
The knot in her chest every time she thought about the wedding wasn’t from the cold feet of getting married and connecting herself to one person for the rest of her life. It was the thought of being the center of attention of a spectacle she had nothing to do with. Not outside of Brandy’s grand “vision,” anyway.
Chapter 3
BRANDELYN
The turkey burgers sizzled in the pan while the home fries baked in the oven. Brandelyn nibbled on a cherry tomato as she dithered between the frying pan and the salad she tossed in a large bowl made of local myrtle wood. So was the spoon doing most of the tossing. There was something about the smooth texture of myrtle wood, wasn’t there? Even when drenched in dressing, Brandy took great pleasure in running her fingers over the fine wood that cost her a pretty penny to have in the house.
So did the turkey burgers, since God knew the supermarket gouged everyone for beef, let alone turkey. Brandy bought most of her meat in the city and froze it for later. Occasionally, a grateful hunter gave her hunks of deer meat in thanks for treating somebody in the family, but it had been a while since she last had any in her stores. The turkey had been supposedly on sale, and Dr. Meyer was the first one to tell anyone how much better turkey meat was for the body. If they had to eat meat, anyway… but like most people who didn’t practice what they preached, Brandelyn had yet to transfer to vegetarianism.
Although these sweet cherry tomatoes from her garden made a compelling argument!
She picked up the remote from the counter and turned down the stereo playing her old and worn Shania Twain CD. Just in time, too, for the back door only a few feet away swung open and admitted her favorite person.
“Hey.” Sunny dumped a plastic bag full of freshly harvested potatoes onto the counter. “Surprise. The first earlies from the garden are ready. Thought we might like some soon.”
“Excellent. That will replace what I threw in the oven.” Brandy dropped her salad spoon, stepped away from the stove, and offered her fiancée a kiss on the cheek. She has the best cheeks for kissing. Brandelyn still got excited to see those puffy cheeks with the most elastic skin in Paradise Valley. The whole reason she crushed on Sunny, back before she knew about the sweet disposition and affinity for all things wholesome and simple, was because of those kissable cheeks. First time I saw her was the library. I thought, “Who is that beautiful woman in short hair and flannel?” Which is a big thing to think in a town like this… Short hair and flannel was one of the acceptable uniforms about town. Sunny wore it well, although she was shorter and a bit more filled out than some of the other butches in Paradise Valley. So happened the “soft butch” look appealed to Brandy in ways nothing else did. The first time she saw Sunny in a summery sundress made their date to the beach one to remember.
“Yo, Earth to Dr. Meyer.” Sunny snapped her fingers around her fiancée’s faraway gaze. “Your burgers are burning.”
Brandy squealed to hear the grease spitting like it had nothing else to do. She turned down the stove and moved the pan to another burner.
She and Sunny hadn’t as many chances to eat together over the past few weeks. The busy season
at Waterlily House had begun, and when Sunny wasn’t entertaining her guests, she was busy in the garden or running errands all over town. Didn’t help that Brandelyn had her own schedule to adhere to most of the week. Some doctors took four days off a week, but not Dr. Meyer. She only got three at the most. She loved her three-day weekends that included a robust Monday full of sleeping in and lazing about in front of the TV.
Of course, it was better if she could spend her time with Sunny. That’s why a stolen night together like that one was priceless.
Besides! They had much to talk about.
“Candles? Really? What anniversary have I apparently forgotten?” Sunny’s hand lingered on Brandy’s as she leaned in to light the tealights spaced out on her four-person dining table. My God, look at that face in candlelight. Brandelyn had turned off the lights to allow nothing but the candlelight and fading daylight to illuminate the room. Shadows stripped the trees in her backyard, but her south-facing window meant it stayed relatively bright well until sundown. A total boon in the winter. Why I have no intention of selling and moving to Waterlily House. It was close enough to town to be a fine commute to the clinic, but Brandy couldn’t stand the thought of having strangers in her house at any moment. Right now, Sunny lived in the mother-in-law suite at Waterlily House, a property she inherited from her aunt ten years ago. Brandelyn was the one enticing her partner to come live with her in town, yet Sunny claimed it wasn’t good business to stay too far away from the guesthouse. At least live with me during the slower months… She had a lot of repeat customers in the likes of professionals getting away for a few days and artists looking for inspiration. They didn’t need her around all the time, surely. Only during the crazier summer festivals…
…Which kept Brandelyn perfectly busy as well, so it worked out!
“I don’t believe it’s any of our anniversaries,” although Brandy was absolutely the one in the relationship who would keep track of such things, “but I thought it would be lovely to have a little romance. Things are only going to get crazier as the wedding gets closer. Who knows when we’ll have a chance like this again? And on such a lovely day.”
Sunny glanced out the window. That close to the 45th parallel, and with DST in full effect, the evenings in their neck of the woods lasted as long as 8:30 or 9:00 PM. Their plans for a late afternoon wedding and evening reception was perfect for that time of year. As long as the weather cooperated, they looked forward to picturesque lighting and cooler temperatures as the sun set behind a canopy of old growth.
“It was nice today, wasn’t it?” Sunny said, her smile as beautiful as her name. She helped herself to the salad in its wooden bowl. “Slow day at the house, too. I only have one guest right now, and she mostly keeps to herself.”
Brandy struggled to remember who was currently taking up a room at Waterlily House. “Wait, is it that actress?”
“Yes, but you shouldn’t go around telling people that. I had enough problems as it was with her security going over my whole property looking for cameras. I kept telling them we only have a doorbell camera, really, but I guess those Hollywood types deal with a lot of weird crap. She seems nice enough, though. Sold some Wolf’s Hill Jam to her, so, guess you could say she’s driving sales around here.”
“You know, some of my patients have been murmuring about out-of-towners suddenly popping up and taking a lot of pictures before hopping back into their cars and scooting off again.” Brandelyn poked at her food, but the intrigue of what she was about to say was too juicy to ignore. “Heaven said lots of people with big pro cameras keep coming into her café. Some of them snapped pictures. They won’t tell her what’s going on, though. Everyone has this conspiracy that the mayor is involved. You ask me, it’s developers. That Portland gentrification sprawl will come for us sooner rather than layer.”
Sunny chuckled. “We’re a bit too far away from Portland for that to happen.”
“You say that now, but you weren’t there when it started.” Brandelyn was an alumni of Oregon Health & Science University, and survived her residency at one of the Portland metros many hospitals. Those were the days of the gritty, grimy city starting to see developments along the South Waterfront and in the Pearl, a place that has previously held a not-so-shiny reputation. You look at it today and barely recognize it. Brandy had fond memories of stumbling drunk through downtown with her friends. Back then, “Keep Portland Weird” meant guys in tie-dye shirts offering guru advice for the payment of “one of your socks.” Today, it meant that same guy strung out on meth threatening to put people in the hospital for crossing his path.
Real shame. Brandelyn thanked her lucky stars she saw opportunity in a place like Paradise Valley. It was close enough to the metro that they could take care of business when necessary, but far enough away that most of the mess didn’t quite touch Paradise. Yet Brandy wasn’t naïve. As people continued to be priced out of Portland and moved to its outskirts, those goal posts would continue to move until Paradise Valley was incorporated into the continuous sprawl. They were in the mountains, halfway between the Willamette Valley and the coast, but she could see it happening in her lifetime. Assuming we don’t go under with the big earthquake.
“Are you thinking about the earthquake again?” Sunny asked. “You always get that look on your face when you’re thinking about dying to the elements.”
“I didn’t know I had a face specifically for that.”
“I’ve known you long enough that I can see it. You get the same face every time we go to the beach and you start fantasizing about tsunamis.”
“Fantasizing? Is that what it is?”
“I know you like to swim, Brandy, but that really isn’t the way…”
It took Brandelyn a moment to realize her fiancée was joking. One nudge of the arm later, they were back to eating their dinners while Brutus the Pomeranian trotted into the kitchen to beg for a snack.
“No,” Brandy curtly said, albeit in her cutesy puppy voice. “You’ve already had your dinner, Brutie.”
Sunny ripped off a piece of her turkey burger and tossed it beneath the table. Brutus instantly went to her, little tail wagging so happily that he was compelled to bark before snarfing up the meat.
“Don’t do that!” Brandelyn scolded her fiancée. “You’re instilling bad manners!”
“Lighten up, hon. It’s not like he’s a real kid you can reason with. He’s a dog. Let him live a little.”
“Says the woman who…”
“Grew up on a farm?” Sunny’s droll voice was accompanied with an eyeroll. “Let animals have some fun. I’m not gonna give him my whole burger.”
That’s not what Brutus assumed, though. He plopped down on his butt and stared hopefully at Sunny, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. See? He thinks he’s getting more. Now he’s going to keep doing this every time there’s a whiff of meat at the table. Brandy was grateful she and Sunny had decided on no kids, although they were not opposed to hosting the teenagers from their extended families for summers and breaks. Sunny’s younger cousins were interested in helping out at the B&B over summers, and Brandelyn had a few nieces and nephews who could stand to get out of New York and have some real fresh air. (That was her expert, doctorly opinion, by the way.) But Brandy didn’t have the patience for small children, and Sunny was such a quiet introvert that her fiancée couldn’t imagine the smallest brood of kids running around underfoot. Thank God menopause is coming up. According to Brandelyn’s family history, she had three years at most to enjoy menopause-free life. She already had gray hairs and crow’s feet. Sunny, with her youthful glow, must have found them attractive, though. She looks younger than I did at her age. Sunny was thirty-seven, but most people took her for twenty-five at the oldest. Maybe thirty if she were tired.
“By the way,” Brandy said, ignoring her begging fur-child. “Did you get that appointment set up with the tailor in Hillsboro? You know this is the busiest time of year for them, and…”
Sunny cut her off. “Y
es, I did. I have an appointment next week for my final fitting.”
She said it so stoically that Brandelyn couldn’t help but cock her head, half-eaten turkey burger hovering in her hands. “If you’re worried about the cost, Sun, you know I can…”
“It’s fine.” Sunny sniffed, eyes downcast to her plate. “Everything’s fine. You know I hate driving to the metro, though.”
Hillsboro barely counts. It was so far away that she had considered it a non-entity before she left Portland. Now she knew so many friends who had moved there as it developed more and more that it was like a different place.
“Well… I have my final wedding dress fitting next week, too.” Brandy took her fiancée’s hand and gave it a tight, affectionate squeeze. “I can’t wait to show it to you. You’re gonna adore it, Sun. The photographer will simply melt, too!”
A smile returned to Sunny’s face. “I’m sure I will, hon. You always look beautiful when you dress up. Hell, you look like a million dollars right now.”
It was a throwaway comment, yet Brandy blushed and tittered into her burger. She’s the first person to ever make me feel special. Others had made her feel smart, even beautiful. She had been complimented from there to Timbuktu over the years, but Sunny was the first to look into her eyes and like what she saw. Brandy had spent her whole life waiting for the perfect woman to come along who would bring that love and serenity to her existence. After a life of go, go, go, Brandelyn was more than ready to settle down.
June Bride (A Year in Paradse Book 7) Page 2