Free Glamour by Melody Carlson

some opinions.”
    She turns to Leah. “Why don’t you get them scheduled for next week?”
    “I’m on it.” Leah gathers her things and leaves.
    “So are you girls excited about your mom’s big day tomorrow?” Helen asks as the four of us linger in the conference room. Paige gives her a blow-by-blow of everything we have to get done by then. Hearing the to-do list, I’m actually feeling overwhelmed.
    “Maybe we should let them get on their way,” Fran says to Helen.
    “Sounds good.” Helen nods. “I think we’re done here.”
    “Are we still okay with JJ getting some footage
after
the wedding?” Fran asks us. “During the reception?”
    “Absolutely,” Paige assures her. “In fact, I’ve hired JJ to tape the wedding ceremony as well.”
    “We’ll combine it with the wedding dress shopping as well as the wedding dress fashion show,” Fran explains to Helen. “For a wedding special that will play in late June.”
    “Wonderful!” Helen claps her hands.
    “You’re both still coming to the wedding, right?” Paige asks them.
    “You bet.” Helen smiles. “I’m a sucker for a good wedding.”
    Fran nods. “I’ll be there.”
    We all head our various ways, but as Paige and I are about to split up in the parking lot (she insisted we comeseparately because there’s so much to do today), she hands me a list.
    “What’s this?”
    “Your to-do list for the day.”
    “Okay … “ I glance over the list, which isn’t too overwhelming and is mostly what I thought I was going to be doing anyway. And then I see it ends with Acapella’s. I know Acapella’s is a swanky salon, but I’m not sure why I’m going there at four thirty. “Am I supposed to pick up something at Acapella’s?” I ask.
    “I scheduled appointments for all three of us several months ago.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes! Won’t it be fun?”
    “Sure. But will we be late for the rehearsal?”
    “My plan is that we’ll go directly from Acapella’s to the rehearsal. So make sure you take what you want to wear with you.”
    “Okay.”
    “Maybe you should tell Blake to pick you up at Acapella’s. I’ll just take Mom with me.”
    We reach her car, and I just don’t want to go into the recent events with Blake and why he won’t be with me tonight. So I nod and smile instead. I can explain later. Besides, Paige will be going stag, or whatever girls call it, tonight too. Maybe she and I can get in some sister time together.
    I run around town, doing last-minute things that should’ve been done last week. When it’s nearly four, I’m thinking a couple hours of pampering at Acapella’s is sounding pretty sweet. So I swing by the condo, grab my dress and shoes for tonight, and just as I’m going down the stairs, Grandma Hebo is coming up.
    “Grandma!” I shriek happily.
    We hug, and she explains that she’s on her way to the hotel where some of our other relatives are staying and where tonight’s rehearsal will happen. I tell her I’m on my way to the salon and that Mom and Paige are there too.
    “Well, come on down and meet someone before you go,” Grandma tells me. She leads me to a car where an older man gets out, and my grandma introduces me to Howard Stack —
her boyfriend!
    I try not to act shocked, but I cannot believe my grandma has a boyfriend. This is so out of the blue. “Nice to meet you,” I say as he shakes my hand.
    “I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of your family,” he says politely. “I’ve heard such good things about you.”
    “And he watches your TV show,” Grandma tells me. “In fact, I’ve actually seen it a few times myself.”
    “But you don’t have a TV,” I point out.
    Howard chuckles. “That’s how we got connected. She wanted to come over and use my TV.”
    “So we could say that you and Paige brought Howard and me together.”
    “Interesting.” Then I apologize and tell them I have to run. “But I’ll see you tonight at the rehearsal dinner.”
    They wave and I