9. Clarissa

Lightfrom the window shines on my face. The warmth is not yet glaring but persistent on my skin. I blink and groan as I roll over. The events of yesterday come back, and I jolt upright and look around.

My bedroom is quiet and looks the same as I remember it.

My bedroom?

I push the covers back and move to stand. The other side of the bed is empty, but the sounds of water running from the bathroom are persistent. I pick up my phone, and the date lights across the screen before it goes black—January 18.

January?

I move my focus to the bathroom as what sounds like Tyree singing in the shower drifts through the door, and I let out a breath.

I dial Marissa’s number and put the phone to my ear.

“Hello.”

“Marissa, what’s today’s date?”

A faint yawn drifts over the line.

“What? Lis, it’s five in the morning.”

I was so busy looking at the date I didn’t bother to check the time. Rissa is a true creative and normally is a natural clock type, meaning whenever she wakes up, she starts her day. It could be nine or twelve. She doesn’t tie herself to a set schedule.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize how early it was, but I’m currently in the middle of a crisis,” I say, allowing the panic to filter into my voice.

“What? What’s the matter?” There’s a shuffling of blankets on her end and a pause before she’s back.

“Did Tyree do something? I really wasn’t prepared to kill somebody today,” she huffs, and I laugh.

“This isn’t funny. If I tell you what just happened, you won’t believe it.”

“Tell me already.”

“First, what is today’s date?”

“It’s January—” She pauses, and her voice gets further away from the speaker. “18. January 18. Why?”

Falling back on the bed, I stare at the ceiling as I’m trying to wrap my head around what happened. The faint sounds of Tyree in the shower filter through, but not fully into my psyche.

Rissa’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “Lis. Lis, are you okay?”

“I—I’m about to tell you something.” I go into the story of how I woke up on July 18, my wedding day. How she and my family were there helping me get ready, and finally, how I walked down the aisle to a groom who was not Tyree.

“Girl, what did you eat last night?” She laughs, and I run my hands over my face.

“I swear it really happened. Like I feel how I felt. The worry. The confusion…his lips.” I whisper that last part to myself.

“Lis, calm down. It sounds like you just had a nightmare.”

I close my eyes, and the image of those dark eyes comes to me. A nightmare? As I mull over her words, the weight of them sits on my chest. A nightmare. It was so vivid, and my gut still churns at the events.

“A nightmare?” I ask.

“A nightmare. You said even in the dream, the doctor attributed it to stress. Probably just your body signaling for you to slow down and delegate.”

The water in the shower turns off, and I clutch the phone tighter.

“Sorry for waking you, Rissa. You’re right. I think I woke up confused. It still feels so real.”

“Hey, you’re the only person I would answer for this early. Send me a list of tasks you need, and I’ll have my assistant take care of it. You have been under a lot of stress trying to manage everything on your own.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. Thank you, Rissa. I love you.”

“Love you too. Now I’m going back to bed,” she says, and a click sounds in my ear. I pull back the phone, and my screen is dark. I smile to myself and move my attention to the bathroom door. A second later, Tyree is walking through, wearing low-slung sweats and no shirt as he hums.

“Clarissa, you’re up early. Is your head feeling better?”

“My head?”

“You were getting a migraine last night, remember? You went to sleep early when Tam and August left.” He walks over and places his hand on my forehead. He turns on the lamp, and his face is illuminated. His amber-brown eyes reflect the light, and I let out a breath.

“You don’t feel warm.”

I lean back and smile. “I—had the weirdest nightmare. I don’t even know how to explain it.”

“What?”

“It was our wedding day, and things went so wrong. It got canceled, and—” I pause my words as he stares intently at me. “Just didn’t go as planned,” I trail off.

“It’s probably the stress of everything. We can still go to the courthouse.”

I close my eyes and press my hands to my head.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Rissa is going to help me delegate some of the smaller tasks, so it won’t all fall on me.”

He pulls me into his chest and kisses my temple. “That’s a great idea.”

His cologne drifts under my nose, and I frown. I can actually still smell the cologne from my dream. How is that possible? My dreams typically consist of mundane tasks like helping a friend move, or me back in high school, taking a test I didn’t study for. I release a breath and shake my head.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just the nightmare.”

He nods and stands up straight.

“The fellas and I are meeting after work for a few drinks. Tyson should be flying in this afternoon and is meeting us at The Spot. You want to come?”

I’m already shaking my head. “No, you go hang out. I’ll probably catch up on sleep or something. Mom is taking me to lunch, and we’re going by a floral shop later.”

“Okay, don’t do too much.”

He kisses me a final time and works on getting dressed for work. I’m surprised he’s up so early. It looks like he’s really focused on being on time today. Once he’s out the door, I lay back in bed. As more time passes, I realize how ridiculous the dream was. The feelings still feel so real, though. I get up and go about getting ready for work.

I pull up to the small bistro across from the flower shop. My mom offered to treat me to lunch, and that was okay with me. Luckily, work has been slow, so taking a little bit of a longer lunch won’t be an issue. The street is bustling with people, and cars honk as I slip into the shop.

In the corner, looking at tulips, is my mom. Her hair is cropped and tapered along the back and sides with gray and silver sprinkled throughout. She’s not very tall, standing at average height. I get my height from my dad, so I’ve been towering over her since I was fourteen. “Mom,” I say, giving her a side hug.

“Oh, Clarissa! You startled me.”

“Sorry. I love your hair. I see you’re letting the gray come in.”

“Yeah, it got to be too much trying to fight my roots. I’m letting it do what it wants to do.” She shrugs and moves to the back of the shop.

The place is mostly empty, aside from a woman in an apron with the shop’s logo off to the side. She’s moving dirt in large packages from one corner to the other. The sweetness of light rose wafts under my nose. The shop is so fragrant, but not in an overpowering way. The subtle notes of something green in combination with sweet earth make me smile.

“So, where are you on the list? Do you know what arrangements you want?”

We stop at a table full of perfect blooming arrangements. “Yep, I already ordered everything.”

“Girl, why are we meeting here if you already picked the flowers?”

I shrug and make a slight grimace. “Because it’s cute. Flower shops don’t get enough foot traffic,” I say, running my fingers over the soft petals of a flower I’ve never seen before. “I’m looking at computers for most of the day, and sometimes I want to stare at something beautiful. Plus, I was going to buy you an arrangement.”

“Lead with that next time.” My mom laughs as we continue to walk. She fills me in on all things around my dad’s retirement. He’s worked in finance for the last fifty years and is finally calling it quits.

“So what are y’all planning for the retirement?”

“I’m thinking a trip. We always talked about going to Paris, and there’s no time like the present.”

“Wow, that sounds nice. Rissa was there last year, I think, on one of her quarterly trips. I think she liked it. I’ll ask where she went. I think she had a better experience with the local spots versus the tourist hot spots.”

“Oh, please do. I’m trying to iron out all the details, but any help I can get would be great.”

“I got you, Mom,” I say with a wink. We spend the next twenty minutes looking over the most beautiful arrangements until she finds the one she wants. I pay, and we walk across the street for lunch. The bistro is not that busy. It looks like we missed the lunch rush since it’s well after one o’clock.

“Hey, Mom, have you ever had a dream that was so vivid you thought it was real?” I ask while stirring my soup.

“Hmm, yeah, I guess. Actually, your grandmother did that.”

“Really?”

“Yep, but her dreams would come true. She once dreamt that Uncle Clarence was going to fall off the roof and break his foot in six places.”

“Did he?”

“Yep, it took a few months, but he eventually fell. In her dream, he’d been drinking and decided that was a good time to check the satellite dish. He was off work for months,” she says, shaking her head as though she’s back in that memory. “What brought that question?”

“No reason.”

She tilts her head and gives me a look.

“I had sort of a nightmare last night, I guess. It felt real, but it was just a dream.”

“What happened?”

“The wedding was ruined. Everything that could go wrong did.”

“Oh no, it’s probably the stress of planning. I’ve been telling you for weeks to delegate. Tyree’s ass needs to be helping more, too. You don’t even have a wedding planner.” Mom huffs and takes a sip of her lemonade.

My mom thought it was a terrible idea for me to plan a wedding with seventy-five guests and no official wedding planner. I figured I could handle it since I know exactly what I want.

“You know Tyree’s schedule is unpredictable. He can’t leave work to handle these appointments like I can, but I have Rissa helping me. She’s letting me use her assistant, which will be nice.”

“Oh, that is nice. Well, if you need me to help, I can.”

“No, I think I’m okay.”

We finish our lunch, and I confirm all the best places to tour in Paris for my parents’ trip. After we say goodbye, I make my way back to the office.