She said, “Oh good. I was afraid I’d started the popcorn too early.” She gave me a searching look. “Are you okay?”
I flopped down on the couch beside her. “Better now.”
“I’m sure you have a million things to do, but just for tonight, we’re going back in time.”
I liked this idea already. “Let me change into my sweats. I’ll be right back.”
I ran upstairs and washed my hands and face thoroughly, just in case anything had attached to me from an alchemist’s workshop where she kept the symbol of arsenic prominently on the wall. I came back down, and I swear my tread was lighter, as though I were thirteen again. On the table in front of the couch were two huge bowls of popcorn, laden with butter exactly the way we both liked it. Beside that was a bowl of mixed American candies that made me laugh out loud.
“Peanut butter cups? Hershey’s Bars. And are those gummy worms?”
“You bet. All the things we used to love as kids. I’ve even got licorice.”
“This is so awesome,” I said, even sounding like I was back in the nineties.
She went to the small kitchen and poured two big mugs of hot chocolate from a saucepan she’d had heating on the stove. “I could have done this by magic, but it was more fun to do it the old-fashioned way.” She popped marshmallows on top of the hot chocolate and came over.
We both put our feet up on the coffee table and grabbed a bowl of popcorn and a tea towel.
“Are you ready for my surprise?”
“There’s more?”
She laughed, turned on the TV, and there was an episode of Friends playing. “I had to do a compilation for you. I was going to just play the episodes where they go to London for Ross’s wedding, but he never actually marries that girl. It seemed like bad luck.”
I couldn’t believe how much effort she’d gone to. “This is going to be so much fun.” And so, for one evening, I didn’t think about alchemy or witches or even wedding planning. I turned my phone off, settled back with my best friend in the world, and chomped popcorn and traveled back in time. At the end of two hours, we were both sniffling a little bit as the cast of Friends said goodbye to their apartment.
She said, “I can’t believe how quickly time is passing. Lucy, we’re going to be thirty.”
“I know. I thought I’d know who I was by now.”
“Well, we know a lot more than we did when we watched this show.”
This was true. Though life had been much simpler life back then, when marrying Chandler had been the sum total of my hopes and dreams in life. Jennifer had always been more Team Joey, so we didn’t even have conflict in that department. In fact, it was scary how compatible we were. Of course, now it made more sense. We’d probably been unconsciously using our magic all the time. I bet when there’d been a movie I’d wanted to see and she hadn’t and then suddenly she’d changed her mind, I’d unconsciously manipulated her. And when she wanted Ugg boots and I claimed they were too expensive, we suddenly found ourselves at the store buying matching pairs of Ugg boots in slightly different colors. She’d probably cast a spell on me. Ha.
“Don’t forget we’re shopping for bridesmaid dresses tomorrow,” I reminded her.
She groaned and grabbed her stomach. “I forgot. You never should have let me eat all that junk food. We’ll have to get up early and jog.” And both swearing we’d jog tomorrow, which we’d also used to say when we were thirteen and very rarely did, we both went upstairs to bed.
Chapter 17
Saturday morning Jen and I both forgot about the jogging. Scarlett and Polly arrived in plenty of time to take over Cardinal Woolsey’s. I’d made an appointment at a local bridal shop where the woman who owned it promised she had enough dresses in stock that she could have any alterations done in plenty of time. “Though you have left it a bit late,” she chided. I knew a week wasn’t a long time in the world of wedding planning, but I’d wanted to wait until the bridesmaids could go shopping together.
We met at the bridal boutique, and all of us were in a happy mood, even Violet.
Tara, who ran the shop, was about my age, and within five minutes of arriving, I knew we’d come to the right place. She was dressed stylishly, and her gowns were beautiful.
She asked about the venue, and Jen, brilliant friend that she was, pulled out her phone and showed Tara photos of the garden and veranda of Rafe’s house.
“What a stunning location,” Tara said in a posh girl accent. “I do love a garden wedding.”
I showed her a photograph of my dress, and she praised the handiwork and said the style was perfect on me. Which was nice, seeing that she was in the business. “Right,” she said, “I’m going to pull out a few things that I think will suit all of you and look lovely with Lucy’s dress.”
She and an assistant brought three gowns into the front showroom: a patterned floral dress with a sweetheart neckline, a long dress in lavender with short sleeves, and a pale green sleeveless column, also floor-length.
I knew immediately which one I liked, but looked at the others, waiting for their opinions.
“I like the green one,” Vi said.
“Me too,” Jen agreed.
“It’s my favorite, too, but what about the tummy?” Alice asked, then explained in a shy but very proud voice that she was expecting.
“Let’s try them on and see,” the very practical Tara suggested. “Why don’t you all try the green one on and we’ll go from there.”
“I’m a size six,” Jen announced.
“Not in the UK, you’re not,” Tara informed her, handing her a dress.
She eyeballed both the other women and handed them dresses, too. Oh, she was good.
I
