Chapter 3

After Tanner left, I showered and shaved my legs and underarms. I picked out what I was going to wear tonight. Since it was going to be at Tiffany's house, I figured casual was fine, some shorts, a blouse, standard bra and panties, strappy sandals. I would put my shoulder blade length hair in a pony tail and add a little make-up, nothing much, a little lipstick and mascara. Yvonne was going to pick me up and take me to Tiffany's. Since there was going to be a lot of drinking, we all planned to spend the night at her house so no one would drive drunk, so I had a some pj's picked out as well. I even had some food to ameliorate the effects of the alcohol I knew I'd be having later, but not too much as I expected lots of snacks.

Yvonne was there at seven. "Hey, girlfriend, you ready to go?" She gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Let me grab my overnight bag and I'm ready."

I snagged it off the kitchen counter and followed Yvonne out the door, locking up behind me. Climbing into the passenger seat, I asked, "Do you have any idea what Tiffany's got planned for tonight?"

"Not a clue, honey, but I do know it will be fun. Tiffany knows how to throw a party."

"How many people will be there?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just ten of us," Yvonne said. "Tiffany, and your other three bridesmaids, including moi. Let's see, Erin and Shizuko from the volleyball team, your swimming buds, Maria and Cheyenne, Tanner's sister, Sydney and you."

Tiffany was my Maid of Honor. She was the wealthiest of my friends, though she never lorded her money over us. She was my closest friend; I'd known her since high school. The rest I'd met in college. Yvonne and Donna had been my dorm mates my freshman year of college. They were two of my bridesmaids, along with Taylor, who'd lived across the hall. When we finally outgrew the dorms, we all shared a run-down house together off campus.

Erin and Shizuko played on the volleyball team with me, plus they were openly gay and lovers. Erin was a year ahead of me, Shizuko a year behind and Erin was the only one of my friends taller than I was, nearly 5-11. She was the primary spiker on my team, Shizuko, or Suki to her friends, the setter. Maria and Cheyenne swam with me in college. Maria's family had some money, but she was as relaxed about it as Tiffany was. I suspected she might be gay, because I never saw her with any guys. On the other hand, I never saw her with women either, so maybe she was asexual. I guess the rest of us would be considered middle to upper middle class except Cheyenne, who was at the lowest end of the middle class spectrum, getting to school only because she got a swimming scholarship. Erin, Donna and Cheyenne were African-American, Suki was Japanese-American and the rest were WASP's except for Maria, whose family was Catholic and Italian-American. It was a fairly eclectic mix of people, but we all got along well with each other, laughing and joking about our differences.

Sydney was the one I knew the least, since I hadn't met her until I started dating Tanner. She was my age, though she hadn't attended school with us, going to Bryn Mawr. She had joined our group about two months before Tanner and I got engaged and got along with everyone like she'd been with us from the beginning.

Tanner's family had a substantial amount of money too, so both he and Sydney were accustomed to the creature comforts. He had a good paying job at an architectural firm and didn't need additional income from me, so he convinced me to quit my low level job at the accounting firm where he met me to concentrate on being a wife and mother. We'd talked it over and thought three children would be the perfect number. I figured I'd give it about a year or two to get used to married life before adding our first baby to the mix.

Tiffany had a 2800 foot condo on the top floor of a Midtown building overlooking Piedmont Park and the Downtown Atlanta area. I know it had cost over 1.7 million dollars. It had two story windows and was absolutely gorgeous. When Yvonne and I got there, we were to last ones to arrive. Everyone else was there and already working on their first drinks.

"Brooke, baby. You decided to join us. Good thing, since you're the guest of honor," Tiffany said. "Come on in."

I walked in to what would become the worst nightmare of my life.

As soon as we got there, Tiffany held out an empty pillow case, saying, "Okay, all phones and cameras in the bag, ladies. No texting or chatting up your friends, we've got serious partying to do tonight. No photos or videos either. You know my motto, 'What happens at Tiffany's..."

"Stays at Tiffany's," we all finished for her.

"That's right. Our monkey business is nobody else's business. Fork 'em over." She started collecting phones and cameras.

"Brooke won't have a record of her party," Taylor protested, pulling her phone away.

"Believe me," Tiffany said, "this party will be indelibly recorded in her little lizard brain. She won't need a photographic record. She'll have memories to last a lifetime. Give it up, Taylor." She shook the bag.

Taylor added her phone to the pile. "Is that all of them?" Tiffany asked.

"I think it's everyone," I said, "but I have to wonder what you have planned if we can't keep a record of it."

"Nothing more than the usual bachelorette games and activities, Brooksie, but it might get a little risqué, so no record."

She disappeared with the pillow case, stashing it away some place in her bedroom. When she returned, she got some jello shots from the fridge and handed them to Yvonne and me.

"Three each, please. You have to catch up to the rest of us."

What the hell; I was game. It was all in fun. I grabbed two reds and a green to downed them quickly, feeling them slithering down my throat with a cold burn. Yvonne did the same.

"Now the preliminaries are out of the way, what do you want to drink. I've got vodka martinis made or you can go with some bourbons and something, or wine, red or white."

"I'll go with a pinot if one is open," I said.

"Martini for me," Yvonne added.

Tiffany poured Yvonne a drink out of a pitcher and handed me a delightful, crisp, Pinot Grigio she'd been crowing about finding.

"Everybody gather round in the living room now," Tiffany said. "The first thing we're going to do is get to know the prospective bride a little more and a lot more about the groom. Everybody gets to ask the bride a question about herself, and a question about Tanner. Donna, why don't you start."