Taken by Audra Cole, Bella Love-Wins Read Free Book Online

cousin, and family friend to come live with us and she would exclaim “lovely” and throw her hands up in the air like it’s the best idea she’s ever heard.
    I’m beginning to think that she missed her calling, and would be more fulfilled as a circus ringleader. Then again, I probably only feel that way because the last two days have basically been a circus.
    I have spent two full, ten-hour days working on wedding planning all alone because Brandon has been back at work. Well, I’m never actually alone. It looks something like this: Kira sits across from me and unpacks the virtually endless options for place settings, gift bags, chair ribbons, candles, blah, blah, blah.
    My mother and Valeria would have a party-planning orgasm if they were here, “oohing” and “awwing” over every single sample.
    Luckily, none of this has been filmed. I guess Kira decided me sitting alone at a table, smiling and nodding along as she babbles on endlessly, isn’t great entertainment. That, and the fact that Brandon hasn’t been home for any of the ’fun’ due to his filming schedule, and it kind of defeats the purpose of the whole show if he’s not here too.
    So after two days of being slowly buried alive in an avalanche of wedding stuff, I am more anxious than ever to have Ashley’s help. I should have told her to bring a forklift.
    I try to act natural when I hear the doorbell and stride across the foyer to let Ashley in, but I am well aware of the three cameras focused on me.
    All I can hope, is that my Spanx are doing their job and I don’t have a VPL.
    “Ash!” I exclaim as she bursts through the open door. It takes every single ounce of will, not to crack up at the sight of her. Not that she looks bad…but actually because she looks really, really good. Like going to the prom good. She always looks well put together, no matter what she’s wearing, but tonight she is in full hair and makeup. I think she’s got on false lashes. Her jewelry is completely blinding it’s so shiny, and it lays against the black dress she is wearing to show it off to full advantage.
    I guess this means she got my text message that informed her that her entrance would be filmed.
    “Charity, dahling!” She beams as she enters the room.
    Dahling? A little smile twitches at the corner of my mouth as I desperately try to keep it together, but she does some kind of sashay into the room and I bust up laughing. Ashley starts to laugh too and soon we dissolve into a pile on the entryway floor. All the stress of the past weeks catches up to me and I just let loose into the ’can’t breathe, gasping for air, as tears roll down my cheeks’ kind of laughter. At one point, Ashley snorts and we start all over again.
    “Cut, cut, cut!” Kira shouts out above us.
    I know I should care. I should try to stand up and get it together. But I don’t. It just feels way too damn good to lie here, bellyache laughing with my best friend.
    After a good and proper lecture from Kira, we allow the filming to proceed, as I help Ashley unpack her bags in the guest room. This is less like a conversation, and more like an improvisation based on prompts from Kira. She throws out a question and then lets the camera roll as we follow through with the topic.
    We film a “reaction shot” where we act like Ashley is seeing my ring for the first time. Kira urges me to tell the back story about how the ring is actually custom created using the ring Brandon gave me when he proposed to me years ago. Then we girl talk about the wedding for a while, but I try to brush past that as quickly as possible, since my brain already feels like it’s saturated.
    Ashley drops her ’dahling’ act midway, and it begins to feel more natural. It’s almost like the cameras aren’t even there. However, I don’t let myself fully relax until the crew stops filming to take a dinner break and Ashley and I are left alone.
    “So, where’s your mom? I thought I was here to play referee?”