Engaged in Embellishments: Tulle and Tulips, Book 5.5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

wedding day.
    He’d missed proposing yesterday, and she’d been shattered. Then she’d listened to his voicemails. All ten of them. The last one, when he’d said he was waiting for her at the beach, had brought forth her tears.
    Every tear was purifying.
    Every tear was stimulating.
    Every tear was empowering.
    Tess, their food-planning goddess, chuckled. “Lori’s scheming.”
    Lori felt before she saw all their gazes turn to her. She heard the clicking of Kayla’s shutter and tentatively registered the snaps of the flash. Shaking her head, but doing nothing to dislodge her plan, Lori shrugged off her distraction as if it held no importance. “Just thinking about Trevor.”
    “Anything in particular?” Isabella’s eyes lit with interest, but she didn’t miss a step in tweaking Brittany’s up-do.
    “Like your own wedding?” Misty was probably more eager than any of their other friends to see Lori accept Trevor’s proposal. She had been the one to send Lori to Trevor for help when she’d wanted to start Tulle and Tulips. Then she’d been the one to help Lori see that Trevor still wanted her despite everything she’d almost cost him. “Tell us you’re ready to accept his proposal!”
    “I don’t know. I guess watching you guys walk the aisle makes me wonder what my day would be like.”
    “Oh my God.” Darci swung her feet to the floor and stood in a swirl of golden silk. “You’re going to propose to him.”
    “What?” How could she have guessed Lori was thinking about doing just that?
    “You are.” Darci beamed, completely unbothered that a friend might do something to take the focus from her. “You’re going to propose to him, and you’re thinking about doing it soon.”
    “You’re crazy.” She glanced between her friends. Even Vic’s sister, Lindy, seemed eager to hear some good news. “And how did this become about me and Trevor? This is Darci’s day.”
    Darci shook her head. “You being ready to tell Trevor yes, or ask him instead, is a big damn deal. And totally worth a little focus.”
    “No. This is your day and that’s what we’re going to focus on. Every one of us.” She shot her fiercest look at her friends, but wasn’t sure it would cut them off. It had taken her more than a year to get to this point and her friends wanted to share it. They’d talked about it so often they all felt like they were waiting as eagerly as Trevor.
    After several moments of looking like they were going to argue, each friend nodded agreement and turned back to talking about Darci’s skirt slit.
    Aleshia, their music planner who had a knack of selecting the perfect piece of music for any moment a couple wanted to share, cast a side glance at Lori. The glint in her eyes said she too knew exactly what Lori was thinking and that she had a plan of her own to help. The last person who’d looked at her that way had been the empath who rescued her from the captivity that had taken her from Trevor.
    Seeing the look in Aleshia’s eyes was disconcerting. That she didn’t mind a friend seeing through her façade was even more disconcerting.

Chapter Seven
    Sheree, Tabatha’s assistant, slipped through a small opening in the double doors at the back of the ballroom. Lori caught a quick glimpse of the crowded room and of Victor standing at the altar.
    In her mind, Trevor was standing in Victor’s place. His amazing smile encouraged her closer and his gaze triggered the coding he’d snuck into her subconscious, making it impossible for her to refuse him.
    “Ready?”
    Darci looked up at her dad and smiled. “Ready, Daddy?”
    “As ready as I can be. At least you hit the winner jackpot this time.”
    “You never liked Doyle.”
    “I didn’t like that he treated you more like a servant than a partner.”
    “Vic’s nothing like Doyle.” Darci leaned into her dad and smiled. She’d told her friends about her former fiancé and breaking off the wedding a month before. There’d been no love lost