“We do. They’re black, which is going to be great against all the pink, and the style is pretty classic. I’m going to take mine to a tailor after the wedding to get it cut off. I can use a knee-length dress a lot more.”
They were having dinner at Audrey’s on the Pier, a nice seafood restaurant on the waterfront. Sienna was doing her best to relax. Over the past few days, she’d had a sense of impending doom. If she had to guess, she would say it started when David’s mother had shown up so unexpectedly.
“Did it kill you to pay retail?” he asked, his voice teasing. “I know you love a bargain.”
“I do. I can’t help it. Plus, I work right next to an amazing thrift store. Why not take advantage of that?”
They’d already ordered, and the server had brought them each a glass of chardonnay. She sipped hers.
“I was thinking,” David said, leaning toward her. “We should go wedding gown shopping together.”
“What?”
“Hear me out. I want you to know what I like. I’m going to want your opinion on my tux, so it’s only fair.” He smiled engagingly as he pushed up his glasses. “You’re going to be beautiful no matter what, but I’d like a say.”
In her wedding gown? “I thought it was supposed to be a surprise.”
“It will be. I don’t want to know which dress you buy. Just maybe offer some guidance.”
He thought she needed guidance? “Okay,” she said slowly. “As long as we don’t deal with this until after Mom’s wedding. There’s so much going on. I want to be available to help Courtney.”
“She’s probably going to need it.”
Her gaze sharpened. “What does that mean?”
He looked confused. “What? You’re the one always saying she’s incompetent and clumsy. I’m just repeating what you said before.”
“Oh.” He probably had a point. Until recently, she’d seen her younger sister as something of a disaster, but all that had changed. “She’s got her act together, believe me. We should all be doing so well. As for the wedding, it’s not that Mom’s changing her mind so much as she’s adding things. Regardless, I want to be around to help.”
“I always knew you were more than a pretty face.”
She smiled at him, knowing he meant the words kindly, but on the inside, she felt the need to slap him. Did everything have to be about her appearance? Of course, she could be overly sensitive. Maybe he didn’t mean it that way at all, and she was reading too much into his words.
“We are going to have to talk about where we’re having the wedding,” he said as the server brought their salads. “St. Louis would be really nice.”
“Except for the tornadoes and floods,” she murmured.
“We can work around those. I have a big family. It would be easier for them to have it there.”
She wanted to point out it would be easier for her family to have it here. Not to mention her. If the wedding was in David’s hometown, she had a bad feeling it would be planned by David’s mother. Which meant Sienna would be fighting Linda on every detail. While the other woman had been perfectly pleasant during her visit, she seemed to have a lot of firm opinions.
“Let’s talk about this after the wedding,” she said. “There’s a lot to consider and I can’t deal with that now.”
“Not a problem.” He winked. “How about an easier topic? The honeymoon. I’ve been thinking we should go somewhere exotic. Jennifer and Justin went to the Four Seasons in Bora Bora. We could go there. You’d look just as good in a bikini and we’d have great pictures to show everyone.”
She knew her mouth had dropped open. She consciously closed it, then put down her fork. “Who are Justin and Jennifer?”
“Jennifer Aniston. I can’t think of his last name. Didn’t you see the pictures in People magazine?”
“I honestly can’t remember.” She took a steadying breath. “David, why do you care about going to the same place some celebrity did?”
“I thought it would be fun. Something we could talk about with our friends.”
They didn’t have any mutual friends, and her friends wouldn’t care about a celebrity honeymoon. Why on earth did David? “I think it’s kind of far. There are a lot of really nice tropical resorts much closer.”
“I guess. We have time to discuss it. But I do want to honeymoon somewhere by the beach. Everyone needs to see how hot my wife looks in a bikini for sure.”
She frowned. “That’s about the fourth time you’ve mentioned my appearance tonight.”