Copyright 2011, Stephanie HaefnerAll rights reserved, Lyrical Press, Inc. "Meet me for a drink?" I called Rich at the office after leaving the dress shop. My mother had added three dresses to her file, with appointments at two other boutiques the following week. "Sure. I can leave in like fifteen minutes. I'll meet you there. "We didn't even have to specify the place. Happy Hour was always at Cosmos, the same place I'd been going to for years. Before Preston, and all the drama before that, it was where Marcus, Brenda, Rachel and I had gone every Friday. I walked in and miraculously found an unoccupied table. Clearly it was Friday and six in the evening--the place was crawling with people ready to start their weekend. Rich walked in before the waitress even made it over to me. He didn't see me at first, and I loved watching him scan the crowd. Unlike most of the male clientele in business suits and power ties, Rich's job required no dress code. He stood there in a pair of semi-faded jeans and a t-shirt from one of the bands he promoted--its tightness in all the right places. When his blue eyes found mine, a smile bowed his lips. I loved the way my heart still sped a bit when he walked toward me, the eyes of most of the female patrons on him. But his were only on mine. He leaned down and kissed me square on the mouth. "Everything okay? You sounded stressed on the phone. ""Little bit. I went dress shopping with my mom and Abby today. ""I can see how that would be stressful. ""It wasn't too bad, but I told her I want the bridesmaids to wear black cocktail dresses. ""Ouch. How'd she take it?""She didn't say what was on her mind, then anyway. But she's not happy. ""I know your parents are paying for a lot of stuff, but when it comes to dresses, shouldn't your opinion be the one that matters most?"God, I loved him so much. "Oh, I wanted to tell you. Marcus picked up a ton of honeymoon brochures. He's pretty sure they're going somewhere European. Paris would be so romantic, don't you think?""Yeah, of course. But I don't think we can take a honeymoon. ""Why not?""We can't expect your parents to pay thousands of dollars for the wedding and then drop another ten grand on a honeymoon. ""Yeah, probably not. " They'd paid for Abby and Daniel's wedding, but the honeymoon to Antigua was a gift from Daniel's parents. "But I'm sure we can save up and at least do something, even if we stay stateside. ""I don't know. Wouldn't you rather save our money so we have a down payment on an apartment?""Why?""Don't you want to get our own place someday?""Not really. I love our weird family, don't you?""Yeah, but it gets. . . cramped sometimes. "I laughed. "Cramped? Are you losing your mind? Our place is huge!" I laughed again and stood. "I'm ready for a drink. What do you want?""I'll get it," he barked as he stood and walked toward the bar. What a crab. He needed to do a few shots and wipe out that mood.