True Choices Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough with guys..." Tracy shoots me a look.
    "So, the usual then?"
    We yell, "Yes," in unison. She stops before going to give our order to her cooks though. "Is that...are you engaged, Lucy?!"
    I smile and put out my hand. It's about the thousandth time I've done this today. "Yes. Max and I are getting married next month." I've gotten used to saying the whole thing too.
    "It's really nice. Congratulations, sweetie! Max is a really nice guy!"
    When she walks away, "If he's so nice, then why were you so scared of him Saturday?" Tracy is eyeing me over her glass of Chianti.
    "I wasn't scared of him," hopefully she’ll believe this technicality, "I was scared of disappointing him. I shouldn't have let another man touch me..."
    "Why the hell not?! Who cares?!" Tracy remains leaning back in her chair, but she's getting louder. Laura thankfully just remains quiet, looking between our tennis match.
    "Because." I don't want to get into everything with her, so I opt for an easy answer, "Because Max is a jealous person and I know this. And I love him. I shouldn't have pushed him on this."
    "Jealous? Try insane, Luce!" She takes another big drink. I'd like to get drunk as usual on our Wednesday nights too, but I promised Max that I wouldn't. "He grabbed your arms and looked like he was going to rip them off for God's sake!"
    Laura finally speaks up. "Lucy...we're just concerned that Max...well...he's...he's very controlling and...seems to have a temper..."
    "Well...I'm fine. All in one piece." I shake my arms at them. "See...nothing to worry about."
    We all sit back in our seats, avoiding looking at each other for a minute. Rosa comes over with our breadsticks. "Hey...what's with the long faces...my girls are usually laughing so loud I have to remind you that there are other paying customers here..."
    We all smile up at her and I say a small, "Thanks," before she walks away shaking her head. "Look..." and surprisingly they both do, "I'm marrying Max. I love him and this is happening. So I need you two to get on board and be happy for me... Please ?!" I start to cry. I told myself that I wouldn't, but I'm a wimp!
    Laura moves her chair closer to mine and puts her arm around my shoulder. Tracy grabs my hand from across the table, squeezing hard. "We've always got your back, Luce!"
    "Geez...I hope this isn't what you're planning for the bachelorette party!" Rosa sets our spaghetti and meatballs down in the center of the table.
    We laugh and I wipe my cheeks with my napkin while she serves our plates. The rest of the dinner is lighter. I tell them about how Max proposed and how our families reacted. Tracy doesn't make any more snide comments, just tries to be happy for me. She says she would never think of marrying anyone before she's thirty..."the Mark Twain-approved age for knowing thy true self" as she puts it. Laura said she was thinking of breaking it off with Tad and we talked about that for the next hour. It felt really good to be just normal and just us for a night.
    "Max already took care of the check...you really are one lucky girl, Lucy...he's a keeper!" Rosa walks away after leaving our tiramisu for us. I look at my watch guiltily at the reminder of Max. Still plenty of time. The diamonds from the watch sparkle up to match my ring...two big reminders that I'm "Always" Max's just like the engravings on both.

Chapter 3 HIM
    Smoke rings above our leather club chairs, filtering the low light more, tendrilling around the bookcases of wine behind us.
    "I gotta say, I'm enjoying myself," Paul Sr., puffs a small circle in the air, "When you kids said you wanna get married next month, I thought you were crazy. Your Mom just about through a fit of crazy!" He gestures with his cigar towards Paul Jr., who only nods, trying to make a ring himself. "But seeing how much you've already got done...well...I'm just glad that we can sit back like this and not be running all around town trying to figure out the craziness."
    "I'm glad you can be