That Wedding (65 page)

I wake up with a start. I look at the clock. It's almost seven, so I wake Phillip up. "Phillip, I'm not sure we should go on our honeymoon. I'm pretty soon the plane is gonna crash."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I just had this dream, and it was horrible."

He doesn't even roll his eyes. "Tell me about it."

"Okay, so we're already married, and all our wedding guests are on an airplane with us. I'm in my wedding dress, and you're in your tux. We're in the cockpit of the plane. You were flying."

"Sweet."

"I take that back, you were not flying. You were crashing."

"Well then, I promise not to fly or crash the plane on our honeymoon."

"What if it's a warning? Like a premonition?"

"I'm gonna be glad when we're finally married, so you can stop with the disaster dreams. And hopefully if that's the case, we crash on the way
back
from the honeymoon."

He smirks at me, and I playfully smack his arm. "Phillip, that's not funny!"

"Okay, fine. If all our wedding guests were on the plane, we couldn't have been going on our honeymoon anyway."

"Oh my gosh, Phillip. I didn't think of that. What could that mean?"

"Did we actually crash and die?"

"What? I don't know. I woke up when we were getting ready to crash, but no, we hadn't hit yet."

"You just didn't see the end of the dream then. I know what happened."

"No, you don't."

"I do. I took control of the plane, pulled up the steering wheel, and safely landed it. The wedding is going to be brilliant, and our honeymoon is going to be like a fantasy."

"I'm pretty sure it didn't end that way."

"My mom used to tell me when I had bad dreams that the ideas were coming from my brain, and if it was scary, I should just use my mind to change the dream. Like all those scary awful ones I used to have where you would attack me." He pretend shudders, so I make a sad face.

"What's with all the dreams?"

"I don't know, I've had vivid dreams my entire life. I guess the good news is they've moved from wedding disasters to honeymoon disasters."

"Our honeymoon is going to be amazing. You in nothing but some skimpy bikinis and some sexy lingerie all week sounds like heaven to me."

"You suck. Why won't you tell me where we're going?"

"Because I wanna surprise you. If I tell you, you'll look at it on the internet and know what to expect. Trust me. It's practically paradise. So hey, speaking of dreams. You ever have any about me?"

"Maybe a few."

"Tell me." He's holding my hand and slowly twisting his fingers through mine. It's like he can't be near me without touching some part of me.

"Remember that night I was out with Mark and whined to you while sitting on the kitchen island? I had a dream that when he brought me home, he turned into this werewolf/vampire creature. I don't remember, but it was scary. You saved me. Opened up the car door, stabbed him, and drug me safely away."

"Sounds a lot like real life. I was always rescuing you for some reason or other."

"Yeah, but unlike real life, after I was safe, I kissed you."

"Now this is getting better."

"Not really. I think it's like an unwritten princess contract of some kind that after you're rescued by a prince, you have to kiss him."

"I think you were just hot for me."

"Ask any little girl, and they'll tell you. It's in every Disney movie. You get rescued, you pay him with a kiss."

"Well that sucks."

"I might have had another one that I had, um, quite often actually."

"Is it a good one?"

"I think so. Remember that flag bikini day when our feet got accidentally tangled up, and we both fell down?"

"Of course, I remember it; however, you tripped me on purpose. Admit it." He tickles me.

"I will say that it was a planned accidental entanglement of our limbs."

"You're such a liar."

"Regardless of how we fell, remember how you rolled me over, sat on top of me, then leaned down to yell at me?"

"Like this?" Phillip rolls on top of me and leans down close to my face.

"Yeah. Only when you leaned in, you kissed me."

Phillip leans down and kisses me. A lot. Eventually, he stops. "Then what?"

"Then you kissed my entire body, took off my bikini, and we kinda did it right there in the grass."

"See, I knew you wanted me all along." Phillip pulls off my nightie and kisses down my body.

"Well, no. In the dream, you wanted me. You know, that was the first time I ever did that, like in a dream."

"I was your first sexual dream partner. What an honor," Phillip teases.

"I should tell you I didn't like the dream."

"Why not?"

"I felt very conflicted about it. I liked the dream, but then, you know, you were kinda like a brother to me. It felt a little wrong."

"But you kept having the dream?"

"Yeah. And I kept wanting to have the dream, which is even worse."

"You should've just attacked me."

"Maybe I was waiting for you to attack me. Like you did in my dream."

"You're right, I should have." He kisses down my neck. "I'll try to make it up to you."

Lots of people have been arriving at the hotel today, and we have fun welcome bags waiting in each room. I love the bags. They are adorable creamy colored totes with our wedding monogram printed on them. Inside the bag is a map of the Plaza, the weekend itinerary, water bottles, a Chiefs pennant, cookies, nuts, cheese and crackers, and chocolate truffles. Also waiting in each room is a bucket of locally brewed Boulevard beer.

I've already eaten the truffles out of my bag, and Joey and Nick quickly robbed me of my beer. The rehearsal went well and was followed by a casual barbecue dinner for everyone in town. There were lots of toasts, and we gave our wedding party their gifts. The guys went crazy over their custom Nikes and are beyond excited they don't have to wear the shoes that came with their tuxedos.

Phillip and I are on one of the trollies his parents rented to take people on a tour of the Plaza Lights. The Country Club Plaza is pretty anytime of the year, but it is amazing during the holidays. It was one of the first shopping centers in the country and was modeled after Seville, Spain, so the buildings have great architectural details. Like beautiful Spanish domes, towers, arches, and columns. The Plaza Lights are eighty miles worth of lights that highlight those architectural features.

I snuggle into Phillip's arm. "It's really breathtaking, isn't it?"

Phillip looks straight at me, ignores the lights, and says, "You are."

"Phillip, I mean the lights, silly. I'm so glad I looked through that holiday album, and we decided to get married here. It feels practically magical."

He nods his head, pulls me closer to him, and kisses the top of my head. "Our whole wedding is going to be magical, Princess."

After the trolley ride, we headed back to the hospitality suite, where we're serving warm gingersnaps and adorable snowflake shaped sugar cookies. There's a coffee and hot chocolate bar to compliment the cookies, and Phillip's mom also decided to serve her son's favorite gingerbread martinis as well as the chocolate peppermint martini I loved.

Just when it feels like the party's getting started, and I've enjoyed a couple tasty martinis, Amy says to me, "It's the bride's bedtime."

"Really? It's only like ten-thirty!"

"You want to look gorgeous on your wedding day, am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I can party tomorrow."

"Exactly." She turns to Phillip and says, "That goes for the groom too."

Phillip says, "No problem. I'll walk her to her room, make sure she's a good girl."

The way Phillip slides his hand slowly down my back, I doubt that his version of me being a good girl and Amy's are the same, but either way, I'm pretty sure I'll be in bed soon.

Outside my hotel room, Phillip says, "So, tomorrow is the big day."

I smile big. Again. I think my mouth has been in a permanent grin all day. "Can you believe it's finally here! I can't wait for you to see my dress. I hope you love it as much as I do."

"I'm sure I'll love it. I mean, I love you." He leans one hand against the door above my shoulder. It reminds me of how he used to lean against my locker when he had a secret to tell me.

I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. "Goodnight."

He gives me a long sweet kiss. I can tell he doesn't want to go, but we're supposed to, right? Like everyone says we're not supposed to spend the night together before our wedding day.

"Make sure you don't let the guys talk you into partying with them tonight. I want you looking all handsome tomorrow."

"I didn't tell them my room number. They'd be banging on my door all night." He touches my face and looks lovingly into my eyes. "Good night, Princess."

I shut my door, wishing I would've invited him in. I mean, I don't really require that much sleep, and I usually only get baggy eyes when I'm hungover. Which I obviously won't be.

I'll call him and tell him to come back down.

But first, I wanna change into some comfy yoga pants and finish up a couple things.