Woman Up (Port Ranch Book #2)

Chapter 12

BEV

“Hey Bev, get down here!” 

Brielle’s screeching voice isn’t helping this horrible headache like I have. I rub my temples and yell back at her. “Hold your horses!”

I can already hear my mom giving us a verbal lashing over screaming at each other through the house, but I barely got out of the shower and Brielleis already screaming at me to get ready like I don’t know we need to leave. I slept like shit last night, which isn’t that different from every other night lately. Not only am I extremely tired, but I have this headache to boot.

Brielle’s final fitting for her wedding dress is here. I was able to attend the appointment when she found the dress, but this will be my first time seeing it in her size and perfectly tailored for her. Bringing her dress home today just means that we’re one step closer to her wedding. Although it still stings that I’m not planning a wedding alongside my sister, I love Brielle and Mitch and I want their day to be perfect.

I toss on some jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt and make my way downstairs to my impatient sister. She’s sitting at the kitchen table with her coffee and breakfast. I pour my own and grab an English muffin from what was leftover from the cabin’s continental breakfast options and slather some peanut butter on it.

“I thought you were in a hurry,” I gesture to the blueberry muffin sitting in front of her.

“We have an hour before we need to leave.”

“Then why were you screaming at me to get down here? Geez.” 

“Oh because of that.” She points to the kitchen island where a large fruit bouquet sits. I go over and start looking around it and can’t help but laugh a little. There are pineapples shaped into flowers with grape centers and strawberries cut into little roses.

“This thing is so cute, where did it come from?”

“I don’t know the delivery guy dropped it off for you.”

“For me?”

“Uh-huh. Who would be sending you special deliveries?”

My stomach sank and I started to feel a little sick. Charlie was the only person I could think of who would send me anything. He was never the guy who would send flowers or special deliveries, but maybe this was his final attempt since I’ve been ignoring all other modes of communication with him.

In fact, I have ignored so many of them, that they have all but stopped. I got one Saturday night around midnight and I assumed that he was probably drunk. I deleted the voicemail without even listening to it. I tortured myself for the first few days listening to the messages. After that I just deleted them right away.

Brielle frowns, “You look like you’re going to throw up, what’s wrong?”

“What if they’re from Charlie?” I admit to her.

“That was kind of my first thought, but if they are I’ll help you chuck it into the pond. What does the card say?”

I hadn’t noticed the white envelope sitting behind the vase until now. I opened it up and glanced through the writing and then started laughing. The card reads, ‘The lady said the strawberries were super tart today, so I thought of you. Can you believe this thing was free? Enjoy! W. Lee.’

“Who is it from and why are you laughing so hard?”

Brielle grabs the card from me and reads over it. She gives it back to me and crooks her eyebrow up at me. “What is going on between you and Walker?”