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Jess Caldwell couldn’t stop smiling. One of her best friends, Kara, was getting married in a few days and she was so happy she thought she’d burst. They met at the dress shop for one last fitting and everything was going smoothly. The white and gold wedding shop had free champagne for them to sip which was a bonus. Also, Jess loved her best friends and having extra time out of their busy schedules to spend it with them was worth it.
She put on the headband with the chunk of mistletoe dangling from it and did a grand curtsy in front of the full-length mirror. It started off with a few glasses of wine after Christmas and a pact that each of them would wear the mistletoe headband until a man kissed them. Kara and Zoe found their men while wearing it and Jess had to play along about being happy with the promise she’d made her girlfriends.
“Since I am the next in line to wear the prized mobile mistletoe, I feel it is my duty to wear it with honor and pride,” Jess stated. “You can all get your laughs in now, but I am not wearing the stupid thing at the wedding.”
“Hey, don’t make fun of the headband. I think there is something magical about it. I wore it and found Carrick, and Kara wore it first and now is marrying Jack. Jack’s the greatest guy in the world. Well, he’s the best guy in the world after Carrick,” Zoe corrected her statement.
“This mobile mistletoe headband has taken on a legendary status. Nevertheless, I hate to break it to you. It’s just some red velvet, a chunk of metal wire and plastic mistletoe. It doesn’t have magical powers,” Jess said.
Kara lifted her dress and looked at her satin ballet shoes. “If you say so. But look at us. We’re standing proof.”
“Listen, ladies, I would like to believe you, but not today.” Jess waved a dismissive hand. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea of having Mr. Right in her future, but there had only been a long line of Mr. Wrongs. She’d spent a year with Brad, but he’d taken a job in India. Obviously, the pay increase meant more than staying with her. He hadn’t even asked if she wanted to come with him. He’d just laid it out on the table that he was leaving in a week and that was that. She was done with dating. She was done with men. “There is no man in my near or the far away future for that matter, so I think you had best pass the headband on to Jane.”
“No!” Both Kara and Zoe said the same word simultaneously.
“It doesn’t work like that. You’re the next in line,” Kara said.
“You just don’t want to wear it next. Does it matter?” Jess grumbled at Jane. “Why does it have to be me?”
Zoe shook her head. “No, you agreed to wear it next. Until you kiss a man, it’s all yours. If you don’t, it might mess up the magicalness-juju for Jane.”
“Don’t suck me into this debate.” Jane laughed and flopped down in a dressing room chair. She hooked her leg over the armrest and rubbed at the newly obtained and healing rose tattoo on her forearm. “No way. I haven’t decided if I’m taking the thing at all. You think there are no men in your future, Jess, you can times that by a hundred for my perspectives. It’s all yours, babe.” She pointed at the headband. “It’s bad enough you got me in this dress for the wedding. Don’t push it about the headband.”
“You don’t like your bridesmaid dress?” Kara’s face drooped. “I tried really hard not to get something gaudy or Stay Puft Marshmallows-looking. I think the dresses are more sundresses than bridesmaid’s dresses.”
Jane popped up out of the chair and wound her arm around Kara. “Hey, that’s not what I meant. You know me. I’m just not used to wearing girly stuff. I love the dress... as dresses go.”
“Look at us.” Jess gazed at herself and the other three girls’ reflection in the mirrors. “We all look beautiful. But not as beautiful as you, Kara.”
“I’m getting married!” Kara squealed in delight as she straightened the satin fitted gown. The dress fit her perfectly. It was simple and elegant for the outdoor wedding Kara planned.
“We’ve been together since we were kids.” Jess felt tears sting her eyes. “We’ve laughed and cried through schools, boyfriends, and college, and we’re still best friends. How will our lives change now that Kara has a soon-to-be husband and Zoe a serious boyfriend? Will we still get together for our girls’ night out?”
“Of course, we will,” Zoe said.
Jess didn’t want to face the possible truth. Life evolved. Friends fell in love. She would have to wait and see if she and her girlfriends’ relationships changed. She didn’t mind being single. She ran her own business, “The Petal Peddler,” a local flower shop and loved her work. But spending her day around women was not the perfect avenue to find Mr. Right. The men who came in were ordered anniversary arrangements or flowers for the women they already had in their lives.
She knew Kara’s older brother, Darrin, was back in town for the wedding and that wasn’t going to be easy. He’d probably have a gorgeous girlfriend on his arm. Jess secretly carried a mega crush on him for years— more like a decade— but there was no way it was ever going to happen. The last time she saw him, they were in high school and he wouldn’t give her the time of day. He’d always thought Kara’s friends were a pain in his rear. He was arrogant and the star of the football team. She was anything but a cheerleader and became a business major.
Sure, Jess kept tabs on him over the years. What she’d heard through the proverbial grapevine, was that one thing hadn’t changed about Darrin. He was still a ladies’ man and had pretty much worked his way through the woman alphabet since college. Not that she should know this, but she did keep track of him on Facebook. Jess heard he’d dated Anna, then Becky, then Caren...seriously, alphabetical. She’d just gotten rid of a man who passed her over, she didn’t need another heartbreaker or a one-night stand.
Darrin was out of the mix, but Jess made a silent pact with herself. If Kara and Zoe thought this silly mobile mistletoe had something to it, then maybe after the wedding, she would put herself out there again and try to date more. Get dressed up and go to... what... the library? She wasn’t a pick-guys-up-at-a-bar kind of woman. Oh well. She slid the headband back over her blonde hair. For now, she would wear the thing to make her friends happy.
Today was someone else’s day for love, not hers.
Jess looked at the large wall clock over the front desk counter. “We need to get out of these dresses, so I can take you to the shop. You still need to make the final decisions for the flowers, we only have two days.”
“You’re the flower gal, and I trust whatever you choose,” Kara said as she swished the satin train back and forth on the carpet.
“I would really like for you to look at them.”
“I’m picking up Jack in fifteen minutes,” Kara stated. “Then we’re meeting Darrin. Come with us, and we can go to the flower shop after we get the guys. Like I said, I trust your choice for the flowers. We don’t even really need to do this. You know it doesn’t matter to me.”
“I want your approval, but that will work.” Jess tried not to sound tense. “I think I have most of the flowers chosen.” She knew she was anal about details, but this was Kara’s big day. There was pressure to make it the best for her friend.
Kara’s bouquet should be mainly peonies... no ranunculus... more peonies. Jess ripped the mistletoe headband off her hair. She couldn’t think with the thing on, it was pressing into her brain.
She didn’t have time to think about finding a man, there was a wedding to plan.