Chapter Three

San Francisco

“Looks like you survived the meeting of family and friends back in merry old England. At least there aren’t any visible scars.”

Tessa grinned at Julia across the small corner table. “I wouldn’t have expected there to be, actually. Every one of Ian’s family and friends have the same sort of perfect manners he does. Well, except for his younger brother, that is,” she added with a little scowl. “He can be a bit of an ass at times.”

Sasha took a sip of her herbal tea - some concoction of rose hips, lemongrass, and ginger that Julia had wrinkled her nose at in mock disgust - and smiled at Tessa in her usual serene manner. “I’m sure all of them adored you,” she assured. “How could they not like someone as kind and caring as you are, Tessa? Your aura always gives off such positive and soothing vibes that I’m sure they all felt it, too.”

Tessa smiled back at her yoga teacher/masseuse - who was now also one of her closest friends. “I knew I could count on the two of you for support. But, honestly, everything went much better than I expected. And with the trip over with, now I get to start planning the wedding - which I have no idea where to even begin.”

Julia raised her hand. “Well, after throwing my wedding together in barely six months - which I definitely do not recommend - and now helping my sister organize hers in six weeks - which goes way beyond insanity - I can definitely claim some expertise there. Once we get Lauren married off in a couple of weeks, I’m more than happy to help you, Tessa.”

“Me, too,” added Sasha. “Not that I’ve got the slightest idea about planning a fancy wedding, but I’m happy to help where I can.”

Tessa beamed at the two women seated at the table with her. She and Julia had persuaded Sasha to join them for a light breakfast after they had attended her Sunday morning class, something Sasha didn’t always have time for, given her overbooked massage schedule. But a client had cancelled late yesterday due to a cold, and Sasha fortunately had the rest of this morning free.

“Well, I’m very glad to hear that,” replied Tessa. “Because I understand that’s the sort of things matrons of honor and bridesmaids frequently do for the bride. That is, if you’re both willing to be my attendants?”

Julia practically squealed in delight, reaching over to give Tessa a fierce hug. “Omigod, of course I am! I would be honored to be your matron of honor - no pun intended! And I already know you’ll be much easier to work with than my sister. Did I tell you guys that she actually bought her wedding dress from a vintage clothing store – a used dress? It gives me the heebeegeebees just to think about wearing someone else’s clothes.”

Tessa tactfully didn’t comment, not wanting to fess up to the fact that for most of her life, at least until she’d turned eighteen, nearly every article of clothing she’d worn had been pre-owned. “Well, I can assure you that my wedding gown will be brand new. Ian gets peeved at me when I wear a cocktail dress more than a couple of times. I could just imagine his reaction if I told him I wanted to buy a vintage wedding gown.”

Sasha offered up another of those serene smiles, the kind that made her exotically lovely features glow with some secret, inner beauty. “I’m honored as well, Tessa,” she replied. “You’ll have to be sure and tell me exactly what it is I’ll be expected to do. I haven’t really been to a traditional wedding before. At least not since I was a little girl.”

Julia sipped her foamy cappuccino. “Should we take this to mean you’ve attended, uh, some non-traditional weddings before?”

Sasha gave a small shrug. “I suppose you could say that. I was one of the best men when my gay roommates got married last year. And one of the women I attended massage school with decided on a fantasy theme for her wedding - you were asked to dress like your favorite mythical character. Like a wizard or an elf.”

Tessa resisted the urge to smirk or give a little eye roll as Julia was doing. “And what sort of character did you go as?”

Sasha’s unusual green-gold eyes were sparkling with mirth. “Why, a fairy, of course. Complete with gossamer wings and a wreath of flowers.”

“Sounds an awful lot like Lauren’s upcoming nuptials,” muttered Julia darkly. “She’s getting married on the beach, you know, and she actually expects Angela and I to walk up the aisle barefoot. But the real clinker is that she’s being married by some shaman she knows down in Big Sur. Ben - my future brother-in-law - doesn’t know how to say no to her about much of anything, and especially not this particular issue. He’s afraid the guy is going to show up wearing full ceremonial headdress and robes with a string of shark’s teeth around his neck or something.”

Tessa laughed at the picture Julia painted, while Sasha - calm and reasonable as always - pointed out that most of the shamans she’d met mostly dressed in street clothes, even for ceremonies like weddings.

“Well, I’ll put your fears to rest right now, Julia,” replied Tessa. “Ian and I don’t plan to be married by a shaman or a wizard or anyone else out of the ordinary. One of Ian’s executives has a brother who’s a minister.”

She placed a hand on each of her friend’s forearms, telling them quietly, “Thank you both for agreeing. I - the two of you are really the only close friends I have, you know. And I’m so pleased that you’ll be able to share my special day with me.”

“Honey.” Julia’s green eyes misted over with unshed tears as she gave Tessa another hug. She held out one arm to Sasha, whispering, “Group hug”, and then all three women were embracing.

“Well,” declared Julia after everyone had returned to their respective seats, “I’d say this calls for a little celebration. I tried, Sasha - honestly I did - to have something healthy to eat this morning after class. But somehow oatmeal and fruit just aren’t doing it for me. That cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting has been calling my name ever since we walked in, and I’m done with ignoring it. Either of you feel like sharing it with me?”

Sasha gave a delicate little shudder. “You mean that monstrosity that’s probably loaded with sugar and white flour, and has zero nutritional value? Julia, you’d have to sweat through four of my classes in order to burn off all those calories.”