Guy? Noel coughed to cover her laugh, but Amber’s gaze narrowed in her direction.
“The exciting relationship news is Noel.”
“You made things official with Trip?” Noel heard the disapproval in her friend’s voice. She’d never liked Trip, even in school and hadn’t been shy about letting Noel know.
“No, but—”
“Trip who?” Amber laughed, scooting over and putting her arm around Noel like they were dear friends. “No, Noel is with Nick.”
Gabby swung Noel’s way, scone crumbs flying out of her mouth as she squealed, “What?! How could you not tell me this?!”
Noel shot Gabby a weak smile, hating the hurt in her eyes. Since the minute they’d clicked, there had been no secrets between Noel and Gabby, at least, none on her end. She didn’t want Gabby thinking Noel wasn’t being honest.
She shook off Amber’s arm, fighting the urge to accidentally knock the meddlesome woman out of her chair. “It just happened so fast, I haven’t had time to fully process it.”
“It’s been twenty-four hours, Noelie. Surely you could have made time to share your good news.”
Amber fluttered her falsies innocently, but Noel wasn’t fooled. The evil wench thrived on stirring the pot.
“Nick and I wanted to enjoy some alone time before we told people.”
Amber grinned like a cat toying with its prey. “Alone time, huh? Is that why you made out on the dance floor at Brews and Chews?”
Gabby stared at Noel, blinking rapidly. “Who are you?”
Noel grimaced. Gabby knew she’d never been one for PDA and there was no way Noel could tell Gabby the truth with Amber sitting there watching gleefully as Noel squirmed.
“Can we get back to the reason we’re here, which is planning Gabby’s wedding?” Noel was done being Amber’s cat toy. “Who else are we waiting for?”
“My cousins, Emilia and Sarah.” Gabby raised an eyebrow and gave her an obvious, we are not done with this conversation look. “But we can get started without them.” Gabby flipped open her pink binder, the pages inside bursting with magazine cutouts and notes in sparkling gel pen. “Our colors are going to be red, silver, and green. We’ll have the reception at Lynwood Barn and every table will have a poinsettia in the center. Now, because we have such a short time frame, my mother is planning my bridal shower the week before the wedding and I want my bachelorette party that night.” Gabby looked up from the binder and met Noel’s gaze. “What do you think, Maid of Honor?”
“Sure. We could go to Boise for an overnight and hit downtown and continue on Sunday with a spa day before we come home.”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Why do we need to go all the way to Boise when Mistletoe has an all-male review debuting next month at Brews and Chews?”
“What?” Noel spluttered.
Gabby bit her lip. “I don’t know about strippers. Drew might flip his lid.”
Noel jumped in. “Plus strippers are gross.”
“Oh come on! Do you really think Drew’s boys aren’t going to hire half naked girls to entertain them? There are movies based on the seedy stuff that happens at bachelor parties. We’ll keep it PG-13.” Amber laced her fingers together and leaned on the table, like a super villain revealing her evil scheme. “Here is what I propose! We go to the all-male review and get so fired up that we go back to our men and have wild, crazy sex! We can save the spa for the wedding day when we need to relax. It’s a bachelorette par-tay…you want to go out with a bang!”
Noel shook her head. “I don’t think Gabby wants a bunch of dudes rubbing their crotches in her face.”
“Well…” Noel’s jaw dropped when she caught Gabby’s sheepish grin. “She does have a point about men’s bachelor parties. Why can’t we get a little down and dirty?”
Amber met her gaze and grinned triumphantly. She’d won, yet again. Even in high school, Gabby would convince Noel to tag along with her to something Amber planned. Only Noel would end up rescuing her when Amber bailed. Parties in high school when Gabby got drunk and Amber was too busy hooking up to care. All the nights Gabby called from whatever club they were at because Amber ditched her to head to an after-party. With all the times Amber let her down, Noel couldn’t believe Gabby stayed friends with her, let alone listened to her advice now.
Still, whatever Gabby wanted, Noel was determined to make it happen.
She kept her expression in check and smiled. “It’s your party, babe.”