Trouble in Loveland Read online

  “What’s this?”

  “Your maid of honor dress, of course.”

  “It’s in already?”

  “Yes …?” she said very oddly.

  “What was that?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Liar.”

  She smiled and giggled.

  “Seriously, what’s up?”

  “It’s a surprise. I’ll show you once we get in.”

  “Just show me now. You don’t want to take my dress into the restaurant.”

  “Of course I do. I want you to try it on.”

  “Where?”

  “In the bathroom. Where else?”

  “Krissy, I’m not changing in a public restroom.”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the restaurant. “Oh come on, it will be fun.”

  “Public nudity in a filthy bathroom … um … fun is not the word I would use.”

  She laughed at me. “Come on, CJ. It’s your duty as my maid of honor to do whatever I say.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Ok, bridezilla, but you owe me like five strawberry lemonades.”

  “Deal.”

  She hauled me and the dress into Chili’s and talked the enamored seating host into a booth right by the bathroom. I guess the guy didn’t notice the huge sparkler on her ring finger, or he didn’t care. I had a feeling everything we ordered tonight would be on the house. Krissy had this way with guys.

  With seating reserved, she hauled me into the bathroom. I didn’t even like to pee in public restrooms, I couldn’t believe I agreed to strip down in one. As soon as we walked in, I instantly wished for the musty smelling locker room at our old high school. I thought changing in there was bad, but this took the cake.

  I’m sorry to say, I used the handicap stall. Yes, I felt guilty about it, but it was the cleanest and by the far the roomiest. Besides, Krissy insisted on coming in with me because it was ok if I touched the dirty, germy floor, and walls, but heaven forbid the dress did.

  I started by unrolling practically a whole roll of toilet paper on the floor while Krissy laughed at me. Yes, I would heavily tip to pay for the wasted toilet paper. There was no way my bare feet were touching that floor. Then I stripped down to my skivvies. Thankfully I wore the cute lacey undies.

  “Ok, now hand over the dress before someone comes in here and exposes me.”

  She grinned evilly. “I don’t know why you care, if I had your body, I would probably walk around like that.”

  “Seriously, Krissy, look in a mirror. You have a rockin’ bod. Now hand over the dress.”

  She slowly unzipped the garment bag to my irritation. I barely saw the beautiful deep red satin before she turned to me. “Now before you see the dress, just know this was for the best.”

  “What are you talking about? I’ve already seen the dress.”

  Krissy had chosen a dress from a chain bridal store, that way, even in Kansas, I could go in and get fitted for it. For a bridesmaid’s dress, I thought it was tasteful—definitely not dreadful, and the color totally worked for me. The style was flirty, A-line, and almost to the knee with a sweetheart neckline. Probably nothing I would wear again, but for a day, completely doable.

  “Well … I got to thinking that I wanted something a little more sleek and sophisticated, and since we already had your measurements, I chose a different dress.”

  I tried not to be annoyed. I mean, it was her big day, but a heads up would have been nice and even polite. “Fine, show me what you’ve got, and hurry.” I was covered in goose bumps. There was a vent directly above me, blasting cold air, and let’s just say my ladies were awfully perky.

  She turned around and pulled out the dress. I thought what a weirdo, it’s just a dress. She turned back around and held out a dress made for, let’s just say, those that frequented Colfax. Colfax Avenue in Denver had the reputation for those that like to get paid for their night-time services. I don’t know if that was actually true, but everyone said it growing up. For all I knew, Colfax was a lovely street, but anyway.

  “I thought you said sophisticated, not hooker.”

  Her face faltered. “So you don’t like it?”

  I reached out and touched the red satin. “There’s not a lot there to like, if you get my drift.”

  “All the other girls like it, and it covers them plenty.”

  “Krissy, all of your other bridesmaids are tiny like you. I’m like five to six inches taller than the rest of them.” Krissy was a cheerleader in high school and then for CSU. Three of her bridesmaids were on her old squad, then there was her sister, and they all looked like her.

  “CJ, just try it on. Please.”

  I huffed and I puffed and I tried on the Barbie doll dress. I wriggled into the tiny dress and held my breath in while Krissy zipped it up. When I looked down, I saw a lot of skin. The dress had the tiniest spaghetti straps, it cut straight across the chest, and it felt like it barely covered my bum. Breathing was also apparently optional. I turned around to a beaming Krissy.

  “You look amazing,” she said sincerely and joyfully.

  It was then I knew I couldn’t object. This was her wedding, and for her I would look like a painted lady of the night. She’s the only person I would do it for.

  “You have to see yourself, let’s go look in the mirror.”

  “I’m good. I’m not walking out there.”

  “I almost forgot,” she said as she reached back into the bag. There she pulled out the red strappy high hooker heels to match.

  I shook my head at her. “Are you trying to kill me on your wedding day?”

  She gave me her pouty look, and I took the dang shoes out of her hand. As I bent down to put them on, I felt a lot of air in the back. First order of business was buying Spanx. Second order of business was looking for the worst bridesmaid dress ever and putting it on hold for when I got married. Payback was going to be painful for her.

  I walked out of the stall and prayed no one would walk in. I had already heard one lady snickering at us in the stall next to us. My ankles already hurt. I was going to have to take the next six weeks to practice walking in the hooker heels. It was a good thing Chance’s best man was his brother and very tall, just like him, or else I would really look like a freak. I was already going to look like an Amazon woman compared to all of the other ladies in the line.

  I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. It was just as bad as I thought. Lots of skin and nothing left to the imagination. I think I would almost be more comfortable in my bathing suit.

  Krissy knew I wasn’t impressed. “I don’t know why you don’t like it. Look at yourself. If I had your legs and curves, I would show them off all the time.”

  I rolled my eyes. I was of the “let’s leave it to their imagination” mindset. I mean, I wasn’t a prude and I sometimes showed some skin, but never like this, unless you counted at the pool or beach. “I love you, Kris.” It was all I could say as I stared at my reflection and tried to yank the dress down a little more. Yes, it showed off my curves and my long legs, but this was so not me.

  “Well, you should thank me for letting you look so hot next to me on my wedding day.”

  I looked at her through the mirror. “Thanks wasn’t the word I was thinking of.”

  “Believe me, you’re going to be thanking me someday that I finally got you to wear a dress that shows off your assets.”

  “I think you should have left off the last three letters of that word. That’s more fitting.”

  We both started laughing, but it was true. I would be doing squats like no one’s business the next six weeks. If everyone was going to see my butt, it was going to be at its finest.

  I carefully redressed and kind of wished the dress would accidentally on purpose fall into the toilet, but Krissy made sure to prevent me from causing any harm to the tiny garment. I wasn’t even allowed to take it home with me. She knew me all too well. I did insist on taking the shoes home. I was serious about practicing wal
king in them.

  I was more than happy to be fully clothed and sitting in our booth. Of course, the service was excellent, because our server was male. And like I said, Krissy had this way with people. I don’t think she’d ever met a stranger, especially of the male variety. Honestly, though, I wasn’t jealous of her. Krissy was the sweetest girl I knew and I loved her—there was no room for the green-headed monster to pop up. It didn’t even bother me that she was marrying my ex-boyfriend. We had discussed at length about how weird it was that she was marrying someone I had made out with on several occasions, but if she was ok with it, I certainly was. And I promised I wouldn’t make mention of it during my toast. Besides, Chance never really did it for me anyway, obviously, since I kept calling him Ryan. Now that was something I wished he would forget. The last time I saw him and Krissy, he’d brought it up. Krissy had given me a knowing look, and like the best friend she was, she didn’t rat me out.

  “So how is it being back home with your dad?” she asked as soon our chips and salsa arrived.

  I eyed the chips, wondering now if I should eat them. I could barely breathe in the loin cloth I was going to have to wear for her wedding, but I threw caution to the wind and grabbed a chip and double dipped. “So far, better than I thought. He isn’t as bad as I made him out to be.”

  She smiled at me sadly. “He told my parents how excited he was for you to come home.”

  I tucked my hair behind my ear on one side. “I know, and I’m trying.”

  She reached across the table and touched my hand. “I’m glad you’re home.”

  I smiled wide. “Being close to you is the biggest perk of all.”

  She arched her eyebrow slyly. “Really? What about your dad’s other neighbor? That has to have you pretty perky.” She laughed at how funny she thought she was.

  “You mean Ryan? As in my dad’s partner and divorcee Ryan?”

  “No, I mean the hottest man on the planet Ryan that you were totally in love with that’s now single.”

  I rolled my hazel eyes at her. “Ok, first of all, I was young and immature and I wasn’t in love with him, I just had a crush on him.”

  It was her turn for eye rolls. “Ok … so now that you’re mature, what do you think?”

  “He’s still very handsome,” I said nonchalantly, but the butterflies in my stomach were saying liar, liar, pants on fire.

  She smirked at me. “Is that all?”

  “Of course. I mean, the guy’s a dad now, and when he saw me this morning, all he could say was, ‘You look grown up.’”

  “I’m sure he meant it as a compliment.”

  “Ha ha. It’s fine. I know there will never be anything between us other than being neighbors and co-workers for the next few months.” And I’m sure he would show up from time to time in some of my sultry dreams of the night, but that didn’t need to be said out loud. In fact, if he didn’t, my mind and I were going to have a serious discussion.

  Her demeanor dropped. “Are you really only staying for a few months.”

  I sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I really don’t want to be an accountant.”

  “I still don’t understand why you ended up with a degree you hate, and then to top it off, you got an MBA.”

  “I know, but at the time I just needed something I didn’t have to think about, something I knew I would be good at.” That, and I had applied to grad schools for Psychology and was rejected. I never told anyone. It wasn’t because of a lack of excellent grades, it was because I didn’t have enough psychology classes under my belt, but still, to be rejected wasn’t something I wanted to admit to anyone. Not even Krissy.

  “Maybe you’ll like working for your dad and Ryan.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe.”

  She grinned evilly. “Come on, CJ.”

  “So maybe the scenery will be nice at work.”

  “Are you kidding me? If I wasn’t engaged and I was working with Ryan, I would make sure I wasn’t only looking.”

  “Well, I’m sure if it was you, and not me, Ryan would be amenable.”

  “You really don’t get how gorgeous you are, do you?”

  “This is why we’re best friends.”

  “I think you may need to clean off your mirrors because your vision is cloudy. CJ, you need to get over the way your mom’s issues messed with your head. You’re gorgeous inside and out. I bet even Ryan Carter has noticed.”

  We both giggled way too loud for twenty-five-year-olds, but she was right. I needed to get over my issues. Not that I needed to think I was gorgeous, but I needed to remember who I was. I looked at Krissy and was so grateful for our sixteen years of friendship. If it hadn’t been for her, I don’t know where I would be. She was the one that convinced me to move out of my mom’s place, or more like she threatened she would tell my dad the whole truth if I didn’t agree to it. It was hard for me to ask my dad for the help, especially because it seemed selfish and like I was just some spoiled brat wanting my own place, but I had to get out, and I couldn’t tell my dad the real reason why. I probably should have gotten a job and taken out student loans and done it on my own, but I just couldn’t think about it. Emotionally, I had been totally spent at the time.

  Chapter Four

  I woke up early Sunday morning. I needed to run off chips and salsa and strawberry lemonades. My incentive was that stupid dress. I still couldn’t believe Krissy changing dresses like that; and this close to the wedding. She was already behind. I was meeting her at her parents’ house later for brunch and an invitation addressing party. I loved how she called it a party, like it would make it more fun. The invitations were supposed to go out two weeks ago, but Krissy abhorred how the pictures turned out, so she talked the photographer into redoing them, all free of charge, of course. The girl had a gift. Hence I would be wearing a hoochie dress for her wedding.

  My dad was already up when I made it upstairs. He was one of those old-timers that still had the Sunday paper delivered. Seeing him sitting there drinking coffee and reading the paper reminded me of the day my life changed forever. I tried to shake off the crushing feeling. Breathe, Charlee, I told myself.

  “CJ … CJ … Charlee.”

  I shook my head when I realized my name was being called. “What?” I said way too harshly.

  My dad cocked his head. He looked concerned. “Are you ok, baby girl?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You know, when a woman says she’s fine, that’s always a good indicator she’s not.”

  I plastered a fake smile on my face and decided to ignore his comment. “Did the Rockies win last night?” I asked.

  He took off his reading glasses and peered into my eyes. “Honey, tell me, what’s wrong?”

  I stood at the counter and looked back at him. For a brief moment I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn’t. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m going to go for a run.”

  His look said he knew I was lying. I could tell he considered calling me on it and then thought the better of it. He smiled closed-lipped. “Ok, kiddo. Make sure to take some water and your cell phone.”

  “I will.”

  “Do you want to shoot some hoops when you get back?” he asked with hope.

  “I can’t. I promised Krissy and her mom I would help with addressing her wedding invitations.”

  My dad smiled sadly. “I remember now. But you’ll be home for the fish fry, right? Ryan and Josh are coming.”

  That thought made me smile. “I plan on it. Do you want me to make dessert or anything for it?”

  I think he was going to say he no, but he changed his mind. “That would be great.”

  “Ok. See you in a bit.” I turned to walk out the back door.

  “By the way, Ryan wanted me to tell you he was surprised by the invite,” my dad said as I was just about to the door.

  I shook my head and smiled. “See you later.”

  “Love you, kiddo.” He didn’t even wait for my response; he turned back to his paper.
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  I stood there for a second and grappled with whether I should reciprocate. In the end I didn’t have the courage. I turned and walked out the door and across our perfectly lush green lawn to the back of the yard where we had a gate that led back to the greenway. As soon as I opened the gate, I felt this wash of happiness come over me. I looked at the leafy trees and grass and even the well-worn concrete path. I loved it all. So much so, my eyes welled up with tears as I stretched the muscles in my legs.

  I thought back to the many hours I had spent running on the greenway conditioning for basketball. My dad used to run with me on occasion. We had a schedule of long distance running and sprinting and would alternate. My dad made sure I could endure a full game of running up and down the court. At first I balked at him, but it had paid off. My coaches always remarked how impressed they were with my ability to play hard for all four quarters. I was rarely taken out of a game. Really, the only time I was taken out was when we were so far ahead that the coach felt comfortable sending in the second string.

  I wasn’t in that kind of shape anymore, but I still enjoyed running, and I planned on doing plenty of it the next several weeks in preparation for the wedding. I normally put on my running playlist on my phone and threw in some earbuds, but this morning I found I just wanted to take in nature, the sounds of the birds singing and the bubbling of the little brook that ran along the path. I started off slowly, but quickly sped up. It was like my body became more and more alive the farther down the path I got. I felt free, as well as a sense of belonging. I hadn’t felt like I belonged in so long.

  Kansas never became my home. I always felt out of place and nothing ever fit there, but here everything was in sync with me. Well, except my dad, but maybe we would get there. I used to be more in tune with him than anyone.

  After a good thirty minutes of serious running, I was feeling the runner’s high (or Rocky Mountain high, take your pick). I was reveling in it, lost in my thoughts, and not paying attention to my surroundings, which probably wasn’t the best thing for a woman out running by herself. Thankfully, my perpetrator was innocent, or at least I think he was. He did save me once from his handsy brother.