Oughta Be a Movie: a Sugar-&-Spice romantic comedy by Susan Hammond Read Free Book Online

you invite us, we’ll be there to dance at your wedding.”
    Bree motioned with her head for Ali to move out onto the floor with the other singles, but Ali shook her head. Then the bride and groom turned their backs to the crowd. Bree threw the flowers first and a lawyer from Josh’s firm grabbed them and handed them to his fiancée. Then Josh launched the garter high in the air. Ali lifted to her tiptoes to see who would catch it just as Ben reached out his long arm and snagged the blue lace.
    The orchestra leader took the microphone. “Now if you two holding the bouquet and garter will find a partner and join the bride and groom to start off the last dance.”
    Ben turned in her direction, placed the garter on one finger and pulled it back with his other like a sling shot aimed straight at her. He took one step in her direction but a woman he and Josh had gone to school with stopped him. Cyndy something. Ali couldn’t remember her last name. She’d been popular and had always chased after the hot new thing when she wasn’t chasing Josh. Her hand was on Ben’s arm, then her open palm moved to his chest. He was smiling at something she said, then shrugged slightly. Ali held her breath as the woman slid her hand to his shoulder as if he’d agreed to dance with her.
    Closing her eyes she could almost hear herself yelling “Pick me!” How pathetic was that? Like some high school girl hoping the cute guy she was crushing on would invite her to the prom.
    “Making a wish?” Ben was standing right in front of her. Oops. Thank goodness he didn’t read minds. His arm was sliding around her waist as he asked, “Dance with me?”
    “Sure, but you had a…another offer.”
    “Good thing you didn’t say ‘better offer.’”
    Her blush probably gave away that those were the exact words she’d almost said. “But I didn’t.”
    “No, you didn’t. And nothing Cyn Crawley has to offer would be better.”
    “Sin?”
    He laughed. “C-y-n, not s-i-n. She was Cyndy in high school, Cynthia for a while after college, and now apparently it’s Cyn. I doubt that the homonym is an accident.”
    “You’ve kept up with her?”
    She could’ve counted out the beats of his hesitation. “Not for a long time.”
    As everyone was invited onto the dance floor to finish the last dance, Ben maneuvered them over near the lobby doors. Minutes later Josh and Bree were leaving in a shower of lavender blossoms. Ben held the elevator doors open, and Bree was waving goodbye when Josh picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Her shrieks and the guests’ delighted cheers blended together as Ben let the doors close. And Ali’s eyes were burning again.
    “Hey.” Ben stepped in front of her and tilted her chin up. “You’re crying.”
    “Not quite. And you’re supposed to pretend you didn’t notice.”
    “Not much about you I don’t notice, Ali-Cat. What’s wrong?”
    “Not wrong. Just happy for them. This has been Bree’s fairy tale as long as I can remember. When we were little girls, her favorite game was Bride. Our mothers gave us their fancy old clothes to dress up in.”
    “You think Bree’s happy with the way it’s gone?”
    “Ecstatic. She’ll give Josh grief about the undignified exit, but knowing Bree, she loved it.”
    He brushed a tear off her cheek. “Were you ever the bride in this game you played?”
    “Oh yeah.” She laughed. “But Bree didn’t always approve of my wedding plans.”
    “You didn’t want all this?” He gestured to the guests still mingling in the lobby. “Not your dream?”
    Her dream? A groom that looked at her the way Josh looked at Bree. “I guess most little girls dream about being princess-for-a-day, but…”
    “But?”
    She scrunched up her nose. “When I was little, there was this story on TV, probably the local news, about a couple who…it’s silly.”
    “Tell me.”
    Her face heated. I’m such a dork. Why couldn’t she be as sophisticated as Pippa or