Three Thousand Miles - Forever, (book #3 of Three Thousand Miles, Series) (8 page)

I am glad that you’re safe. Now please spend time with your family. I will call
you later, I love you…

 

I smile at his words and my mom notices my emotions.

 

“What is he saying to you?” I blush.

“Um, just that he wants me to spend time with my family and that he loves
me.” I am blushing at my words but at the same time, I feel amazing saying
them.

“He is perfect in every way, Alanna.”

 

“I know,” I agree.

 

“Now, tonight is your bachelorette party.” I feel a sudden pang of fear.

 

“Mom, please tell me that it’s going to be a quiet night?” My mom chuckles
and that alerts me that it will be far from quiet.

“We are having dinner at the Stone Creek Inn and then I think that your friends
have arranged for us to go to a club or something. I can’t say that I am looking
forward to that part of the evening, but if things get to wild then I will be
leaving you girls to it.”

“Mom things won’t get that wild, will they?” I really hope that they don’t. I
want to spend my last nights as single girl having a nice, quiet time with my
friends and family. Not wasting time with male strippers and drunks.

“Sophie has told me to except a few surprises.” I roll my eyes as I don’t like the
sound of this. “Alanna, I have been meaning to ask you how your dinner went
with Adrian’s mom.” I take a sip of my coffee as I begin tell my mom about our
dinner.

“Well I guess that things went well then?” My mom says as soon as I finish
explaining.

 

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong things are far from healed between them, but I
think that in time, they can have a relationship.”

 

“And she is coming to the wedding?” My mom says as she picks at the food
that lies onto the counter.

“I think so, to be honest Mom, I don’t know how Mr and Mrs Jenkins will react
to Alice to being here. When I told Michael that Adrian and I were going to
have dinner with her, he flipped out. I am terrified that something will happen
to ruin our wedding.” My mom moves closer to me as she takes my hand in
hers.

“Sweetie, don’t worry everything will be fine. Now go and get ready for you
night out, the girls will be here soon.” I smile at my mom as I jump up from the
seat. I make my way into the hallway and I lift my bags from the floor. I slowly
climb the stairs taking in the beauty as I pass. When I reach the top, I stop to
look down on the house. I smile as I bask in the beauty.

Later that night as I prepare myself for tonight I decided to give Adrian a call. I
haven’t filled him in on the fact that tonight is my bachelorette party and I
know that he will want to know what I am getting up to. I start to apply some
make-up as I hold my phone to my ear. Adrian quickly answers.

“Hello,”
he says in a scattered voice.

 

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing, is there something wrong, Alanna?”
Adrian’s voice is shallow and he
seems as if he is out of breath. My mind starts towonder about what he is
doing.

“Nothing is wrong, you seem out of breath is everything okay?”
Adrian laughs
at my question and I slowly begin to ease my worry.

 

“I am at the airport and I was running to catch up with Michael.”
Why are
Adrian and Michael at the airport?

 

“Airport?”

“Michael and I are collecting Charles and Tabatha, remember?”
Of course I
remember - now that you mention it to me - for the first time. I gently roll my
eyes as I reply.

“Of course, anyway I need to tell you something.”
“I am listening.”
“Tonight is my bachelorette party.”
The phone is silent and my heart begins to
race. What will Adrian say?

 

“I see,”
“Is that all that you have to say?”
The phone is silent again and now my palms
are beginning to sweat.

 

“What do you want me to say? If I asked you not to go, would you do it?”
“No,”
Adrian laughs.

“Well then all I can say is please be safe, stay away from pervy blokes and call
me regularly so that I don’t worry. Is that understood?”
I laugh as this is more
like Adrian.

“I understand and I love you, Adrian.”

I have changed into my pink, Nina Ricci dress and my white Jimmy Choos. I
have decided to wear my hair up tonight as Adrian is nowhere in sight, to pull
out my hair tie. I apply a final touch of bronzer and then I make my way down
into the crowed lounge. As I enter the room I am stunned and happy to see all
of my friends. Sophie, Emma, Katharine, Portia and who is that? I walk further
into the room and sitting on the large, brown leather sofa is, Jessica. I run over
to her and give her a massive hug. I am so surprised to see her. I had called her
several times and invited her to the wedding, but every time I asked her she
had always said that she was too busy with work andcollege. I wrap my arms
around her again and then I pull back.
“When did you get here?” I gush. Jessica smiles at me as she gently pushes her
hair away from her face. I take in her looks as I wait for her reply. Jessica is
stunning in a low cut, black mini dress. Her hair is flowing down her back and
her make-up is perfect. I have never seen her look so amazing.

“I flew in last night, but your mom wanted me to stay a surprise until tonight.”
I laugh at her as I gently hug her again. I turn to face the other girls as I begin to
greet every one of them. Firstly I make my way overto Sophie, who is dressed
to kill. I stare at her confused, isn’t she pregnant?

“Hey Sophie, nice dress,” I say sarcastically as I look her up and down. She pulls
me in closer and whispers.

“I wanted to wear this dress as I won’t be able to fit into it for a while.” I give
her a soft kiss on her cheek as I realise that she doesn’t want everyone to know
about her pregnancy –just yet. I give her a wink as I move away from her. I find
Katharine who looks stunning in a floor length, red maxi dress. Her golden hair
is pulled high in a tight bun and she has a roman goddess look about her as she
shows off her large diamond hoops.

“How are you?” I ask as I gently hug her.

“I’m great, Alanna and congrats on your wedding.”
She beams and I make my
way over to the last two girls, Emma and Portia. Emma is gorgeous in green
and Portia is dressed in a very figure hugging, purple dress.

“Alanna, you look stunning, girl.” Portia says as she greets me with a kiss on
each cheek.

“Thanks and you don’t look so bad yourself.” Portia and I laugh and then I turn
to face Emma. Her eyes are glowing and she instantly reminds me of Adrian. I
rush over to her and I plant a kiss on her cheek.

“You look amazing, just like your brother.” Emma smiles at me and I cannot
help but beam as I look at her beauty.

The girls and I arrive at The Stone Creek Inn to showers of champagne and
appetizers.
“Which one of you lovely ladies is the bride to be?” The male server asks once
we are settled at our table. I try to make myself invisible as I begin to panic. I
don’t have much chance of hiding away as Katharine outs me.

“The one in the pink dress,” she says as she points me out. I narrow my eyes at
her and then I turn to face the man. He is smiling at me as he makes his way
over. I start to feel uncomfortable as I don’t know what he is going to do. He
reaches me and he kneels down to my level. He begins to rummage in his back
pocket and I wait to see what he will reveal. I cannot hold in my laughter as he
produces a pair of bunny ears. The girls burst into laughter as they force me to
wear them. I reluctantly place them onto my head.

“Now, what can I get you girls to eat?” The server says as he bounces to his
feet.

 

Now that our dinner has been brought to our table the conversation begins to
flow.

 

“So girls, let’s talk about our men!” Katharine says as she sips her champagne. I
laugh at her.

 

“Only if you go first,” I say sarcastically.

“With pleasure,” Katharine rattles on for ages telling us all about her amazing
time in London with Jeff. She has told us every single detail of their lives –
leaving nothing unsaid. At one point Katharine described a certain situation too
accurately, and my mom literally covered her ears so that she couldn’t hear
any more. Although Katharine’s brutal honesty is not to everyone’s taste, you
can’t deny that she knows exactly what she wants from life. Katharine is the
first to admit that she loves a guy with money and that she wants a certain
lifestyle and she will stop at nothing to get it. All this being said I truly feel that
she does love Jeff. I have never seen her so happyand I am happy for her. Jeff
is a nice, loving guy who can provide for her and keep her satisfied.

“Well what I want to know is how Adrian and Alanna met?” Portia adds. I shyly
smile.

“We met in London and it wasn’t the most pleasurable – at first.”
“Oh do tell more!” Portia squeals. If I am going to explain how Adrian and I
met, I need another drink. Therefore, I pour myself another glass of
champagne as I talk.

“When I first met him, he was rude and obnoxious and he had a presence that
would make anyone feel uneasy. Anyway, I was standing alone at the bar of a
very boring party. He came over and ordered some drinks and I couldn’t help
but stare at him. He was like no one that I had ever seen before and I was
immediately drawn to him.” I trail off mid-sentence as an image of his face
flashes into my mind. I try to compose myself as I stare at my friend’s
expressions. I hold in my laugh as they look mesmerised by what I am saying. I
take another sip of my drink as I notice that they are becoming impatient to
hear my next words. It’s as if they are reading an interesting book and cannot
wait to find out what happens next. Knowing this, I don’t keep them waiting
any longer.

“Adrian noticed that I was staring at him and he quickly made his feelings clear.
He quizzed me on what I was doing there and he used a really rude tone. What
surprised me the most about that first meeting was, the way I had acted
around him. Usually I would have fought back and made my feelings clear but
around him, I was a different person. I had no control over myself and I
couldn’t bring myself to quarrel with him. He confused me and he had a way of
making me feel uneasy. Adrian knew how he made me feel and he soon
apologised for his behaviour. For the rest of my trip I was obsessed with him. I
wanted to see him and I couldn’t help but think about him. The next time that I
saw him, he was different. He was much nicer and he showed that he was
interested in me. I told him all about my time at college and we clicked. But I
can assure you that I never thought for one second that he would be
interested in me. When I arrived back in New York strange things started to
happen.”

“What happened?” My mom asks.

 

“Every day without fail I would be sent a gift.” The girls gasp at my confession;
however my mom doesn’t look too impressed.

“What type of gifts did you receive?” My mom asks as she sips her cocktail.
“Everything from flowers to diamond earrings, at first I thought it was Marco
who was sending me the gifts. But I soon changed my mind when I was sent a
new blackberry.” The girls seem surprised as I tell them more about my
relationship with Adrian. To be honest I am a little shocked at myself. I don’t
know if it’s the alcohol that’s making me blurt out our story or if I just want to
share it with them. Either way, I am opening up about my secret life with
Adrian. I have to be careful though, as I don’t want to share to too much with
them.

“So when did you realise that it was Adrian? It was him, right?” Portia asks. I
smile at her.

“Of course it was him. He had sent me a letter explaining a little bit more about
himself. He told me about his past and about what he went through as a child.
I knew then that it was someone that I didn’t know, but I never expected it to
be him. He texted me to the blackberry that he had given me and that’s when I
found out that my mystery man was Adrian Black.” I watch my friends as they
process this new information. Portia and Katharine look as if they are about to
cry and Sophie isn’t as surprised as everyone else, after all she did know about
the gifts. Emma looks happy as I tell her more about her brother and my mom
still doesn’t look too impressed.

“So he stalked you, until he got you?” My mom says rather bitterly. I feel my
face heat up and I don’t really know how to respond to her words. I take
another sip of my champagne –until it’s all gone. With one swift movement I
refill my glass and I begin to sip again. My mom is staring at me as she awaits
my response.

“It wasn’t like that, Adrian and I had a special connection and he didn’t stalk
me. We met, he sent me gifts and we fell in love that’s all there is to it.” My
mom laughs at my response and I cannot hold back mysmile. Has she gotten
over her annoyance towards Adrian already?

“Okay well who wants dessert?” She says as she signals to the server. He
makes his way over and my mom whispers something into his ear. I stare at
her as I wonder what she has planned. I smile at her as I don’t want to quarrel
with my mom. As I sip again at my drink the girls begin to talk.
“How are things going with your lovely, British dude?” Sophie asks Emma. She
smiles awkwardly as she tries to respond.

“Fine thanks,” Emma says politely. Sophie snarls at her as that’s not the answer
that she wanted.

 

“Come on girl share your story with us.” Sophie insists. Emma begins to look
very uncomfortable and I feel bad for her, so I jump in.

“Sophie, perhaps you should tell us how things are going with James?”
Sophie’s smile fades and she narrows her eyes at me. I can tell that she is
annoyed with me for bringing up her relationship with James. I try to smile at
her as I feel guilty but she narrows her eyes once again. I feel even worse once
Portia begins to question Sophie about her love life.

“Come on Sophie tell us about Dr James.”