~*~ Chapter 73 ~*~
NEW YORK CITY, NY – STARBUCKS – APR.16th, 2002 – TUESDAY
It was a little past 3 p.m. when Kirstin entered Starbucks and immediately saw Grace and Tom sitting at a window table waving to her.
“I’m so sorry guys, but I just got a break from work.” Kirstin apologized while sitting down.
“That’s alright. Where were you, anyway?” Tom called.
“Working! Where else?”
“You gotta go to class, girl. You’ve been missing too many classes.” Grace informed her friend.
“I know! Tell me about it. I’m screwed! I’m gonna have to talk to all the professors or to the dean or something. Argh… I have soooo much to do!” Kirstin brushed her eyes with both her hands, trying to wash the tiredness away from her.
“K, don’t worry. That’s why we are here. We’re here to help you, remember?” Tom caressed her arm.
“Thank you.” Kirstin pouted and kissed him on the cheek “You two are angels. Heaven sent angels!”
“We know…” Grace grinned “So, ok. Give me the guest list. It’s all ready, right?”
“Yes. It was checked, and rechecked, and checked again by me and Ashley over the whole weekend.”
“Ok. So now, about the invitations.” Tom started “They are only gonna be ready on Sunday. That’s the fastest they could deliver them.”
“So we’re gonna prepare the labels now that we have the list with us and mail them as soon as we have the invitations with us.” she remarked her maid of honor duty. Tom was gonna help her with it the work.
“That’s ok. That’s actually sooner than I thought it would be.”
“And, now… about the cakes… I’m taking samples from this place my boss from Luna knows. You said you and Ashley want chocolate, right?” Tom asked her, while Grace was taking notes of everything in a little black notebook.
“Yes. Chocolate.” Kirstin nodded.
“Fine. I’ll talk to the guy and see when he can give me the samples, I’ll tell you and then I can go to your house so you can taste them.”
“That’s excellent!” Kirstin couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have both her best friends helping her with her marriage arrangements. If she was the only one to take care of it, she’d be screwed. She loved the idea of getting married and making the necessary arrangements, but she needed help because she had work and college to worry about too.
“And… the dress picking. We gotta start, girl!” Grace said and Tom didn’t say a thing, mostly because he knew it was a girl issue. But there was something else that was bothering him and making him quiet at that particular moment.
“I know! I want to start ASAP! I can’t wait!” Kirstin was really excited about choosing a wedding dress.
“Ok. So, what about Saturday? We can start looking on Saturday and there will be enough time to make the arrangements and all.”
“Ok. So, Saturday. Let me take note of that.” Kirstin picked her daily-planner out of her purse and wrote the date for the dress fitting down “So, invitations arriving on Friday and dress fitting on Saturday. Anything else?” she asked, looking through the daily-planner “The cake!” she exclaimed, turning to Tom “Tom?” she asked. When he didn’t answer “Tom?” she asked again, this time slapping a finger in front of him.
“I’m sorry, what?” Tom asked, absentmindedly.
“The cakes. When are you gonna have them?” she said, preparing to take note of that too.
“Oh…” Tom shook off his thoughts “I told you I still have to talk to the guy. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
“Ok. Fine.” Kirstin said, closed the planner and placed it back in her purse “Anything else that you guys have to ask me?”
“Hm… let me see…” Grace went through her notebook “Nope. That’s pretty much it. Oh! About Ashley’s tux. Is he gonna take care of it or are we gonna have to do that as well?”
“No, he’s doing it. He says that’s the only thing he wants to worry about, because he wanted to make sure he’d be perfect for our perfect day.” Kirstin grinned and Tom’s gaze turned to the people passing by.
“Ok. So let me cross this off my list. Hm… guess that’s it, girl. For now, of course. We’re gonna have lots to do afterwards. You still don’t have the date for the wedding?”
“No. Ashley’s gonna schedule it, because he’ll be going to Redding soon, so…” Kirstin wasn’t really thrilled with the idea of having the wedding in Redding. But Ashley had enough arguments to convince her that was the perfect place, because it was the city where they met and fell in love with each other.
“Ok. Don’t forget to inform me of that too, alright?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
“So… I have to go.” Grace placed her notebook in her purse, grabbed her things and stood up.
“I’m gonna stay and have something to eat. I’m starving, didn’t have lunch today.” Kirstin said, getting up too.
“Are you staying?” Grace addressed to Tom “Tom?”
“Sorry!” Tom abruptly stood up when he noticed the two girls up.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Grace asked.
“Nothing, just tired.” he answered with a small grin.
“Ok.” Grace frowned, but decided to let it go “So, I’m gonna go and Kirstin’s gonna stay to eat something. What are you gonna do?”
“I can stay.” he said, turning to Kirstin.
“Good. I could use the company.” Kirstin gave him a big smile.
“So, I’ll see you two later. Bye!” Grace kissed both of them and left the place.
“I’m gonna go order something to eat. Do you want something?” Kirstin asked when Grace disappeared into the crowd.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Ok. Be right back.”
Kirstin returned with a muffin, a croissant and an orange juice.
“Want some?” she asked with a grin when she sat down across from Tom.
“No, thanks. Already ate.”
“Hm… I’m starving.” she said with a big chunk of muffin in her mouth.
“I can see that.” Tom grinned kindly then went blank again, looking at the people passing by through the window.
“Tom…” Kirstin took a sip from her juice “what’s wrong?”
“Oh…” Tom shook his head again “Nothing.”
“Please, don’t lie.”
“It’s…” Tom didn’t know how to tell her that.
“Yes…?” she asked, after a moment of silence.
“It just… brought me back some feelings hearing you and Grace talking about… the… wedding dress…”
“Oh…” Kirstin was embarrassed now. Why did she have to ask him what was wrong?
“Yeah…” Tom looked down.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t…”
“Oh, no!” Tom cut her off “You don’t have to apologize or anything. You shouldn’t. It’s just… we had everything settled, you had already chosen the dress for our wedding, everything was going so right, and I had to screw it up.”
“Tom… Just… let it go.” Kirstin took his hand on hers “If it happened, it was because it was suppose to happen. We weren’t supposed to get married. That was the way of, I don’t know, God telling us we were doing the wrong thing.”
“But it didn’t feel wrong, K!”
“I know! It didn’t feel wrong for me either, that’s why it hurt so much when I found you with…” Kirstin decided to stop, because the image of that night was starting to form in her mind and she didn’t want that now.
“I’m so sorry, K.” now Tom took both her hands in his own “I am so stupid. I hurt you so much without wanting to. I didn’t want to, K., I swear. I didn’t…”
“Sh…” Kirstin stopped him “That’s alright, baby. I know you didn’t.” she grinned “It’s just what I said. If you did it, it was because you had to, something had to tell us we were wrong about getting married. That’s alright. I don’t blame you anymore.”
“I’m so glad, K. So glad you understand. I love you so much as a friend now that I still feel so bad about ruining our wedding. But I guess it turned out to be the best thing for you. Now you’re marrying the guy you were supposed to marry from the very beginning.”
“Aw… Thanks so much, Tom. It’s so nice hearing it from you, baby. I love you so much, too.” Kirstin sat in a chair near him and hugged him tight. She pulled back a while later “Don’t feel bad anymore, alright?”
“I won’t.” Tom grinned.
“Pinky promise?” Kirstin showed her pinky for Tom.
“Oh, man…” Tom chuckled and crossed his pinky finger with Kirstin’s “I pinky promise.”
“Good.” she pecked him on the cheeks “Now let me eat, for Christ’s sake!”
* Thanx Taryn, Thea, Hannah and Sammi for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 72 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 74 ~*~
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