Rachel jerks her head away from my hand holding the candle. “You don’t have to shove it up my nose,” she replies, taking it from me and smelling it. “It’s nice but a little fruity. It’ll give you a headache after a couple minutes.”

Sighing, I run my eyes over the huge selection of candles in front of me. Seems like there’s every scent known to man and yet every single one I’ve picked up has been wrong. Or wrong according to Rachel. Normally I would have just ignored her opinion but I kind of need it for this.

Grabbing a vanilla candle off the shelf, I toss it to her. “This one?”

“You could. You should just get a couple of these and some unscented ones.”

“Just a couple?”

“If you get a million scented candles it’s going to be overwhelming. Trust me.” She grabs two candles off the shelf and puts them in the basket I’m carrying. She begins to walk down the aisle and I trail behind her. “What next?”

“Thinking of new sheets. The one’s I have are kind of old.”

“That’s on the other side of the store.” Rachel switches directions and as we walk by a massive selection of shower curtains, she gives me a sideways glance. “I would just like to state for the record that I’m a little creeped out that I’m helping you pick out stuff to make your sexual experience with my friend more enjoyable.”

“Do you think you could say that a bit louder?” I ask, rolling my eyes. “I’m not sure everyone in the store heard you.”

“Seriously. Why am I the one you pick to help you get all this shit.”

“Cause you were the first person I saw this morning. And you know Cassie.”

“It still creeps me out. After helping you pick out all this stuff I’m going to like be able to picture it.”

I laugh. “Want me to tape it for you, Rach?”

“Shut the hell up. You’re so disgusting. Do you want my help or not? I will leave.”

Her threat shuts me up because I know she’ll actually walk out if I make fun of her too much. And I desperately need a girl’s opinion on all this stuff I’m getting. I want tonight to be special for Cassie and everything needs to be just right.

“What time are you going for tonight?” Rachel asks as she begins to grab packages of sheets.

“It starts at seven so I’m going to leave at quarter too. Are you going to meet me at my house?”

“Yeah. After we leave here I have a hair appointment and then I’ll have to go home and change then I’ll come over.”

“Just make sure you’re on time. I don’t want to be late to the opening.”

“Don’t get your panties in a knot. I’ll be there.”

Rachel’s bad at punctuality. It drives me crazy. Funny how I can tolerate Cassie’s constant lateness but when Rachel’s late for plans I want to wring her neck.

“I take it I need to find my own way home tonight?” Rachel asks, putting a package of sheets in my basket.

“Ideally.” I pick up the sheets and wrinkle my nose. “Purple? Seriously?”

She laughs and takes them from me to put back on the shelf. “I just wanted to see if you’d go with it.”

“I’m trying to set a romantic mood not give her ammo for making fun of me in the future.”

Rachel doesn’t respond and looks over the sheet selection in front of us. After a minute she tosses a package of copper colored sheets into my basket and I don’t protest, deciding I can live with those.

“So why is this so special?”

I’m not expecting that question and I turn to stare at my cousin. This seems like an awkward question coming from someone who apparently is creeped out with helping me get stuff for tonight. “Uh, it’ll be our first time?” I say, making it a question, my voice carrying an “are you really that dense” tone to it.

Rachel rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I got that. But you’re just putting so much effort into making everything picture perfect.” She grabs some pillowcases in the same color as the sheets and hands them to me. “If you plan things too much you’re asking for something to go wrong.”

I put the pillowcases into the increasingly heavy basket and switch it to my other arm. “Yeah well I’ll take my chances.”

“So you guys have been dating like a month and a half and this is seriously the first time?” Rachel gives me a skeptical look. “Come on.”

When did she become so interested in my sex life? “Do you think I have no control at all?”

“But a month and a half? Seems like a long time to wait. Especially when you guys spend so much time together.”

“She’s been busy.” I say and leave it at that. It’s the truth. The past week I’ve barely gotten two minutes alone with Cassie. She’s been working hardcore, making sure everything is perfect for tonight and has been completely sressed out. Having any alone time is basically out of the question. But I know after tonight goes amazing, she’s going to be relaxed and everything will be perfect.

Rachel starts digging through a sale bin of throw pillows but her questions keep coming. “You really like her, huh?”

I set my basket down on the ground, realizing that Rachel is planning to have a heart to heart in the middle of Bed, Bath & Beyond and I might as well get comfortable. “I wouldn’t be doing all this if I didn’t.”

“Are you in love with her?”

Only Rachel and my mom would come out with such a bold question. Normally I would tell her to mind her own damn business but you know when you’re so excited about something that you’re just waiting for the opportunity to talk about it? Well this is the opportunity and I’m taking it. I keep my voice low so no prying ears can hear. “I think so.”

She looks up from the pillows, seeming a bit surprised. She probably wasn’t expecting a serious answer for her question. Her surprised look slowly turns to a smile. “I thought so. I said that to Trace and he said no way.”

I shrug nonchalantly like it’s no big deal that I’m in love with Cassie. Truth is, it’s huge. It’s huge enough to keep me up at nights wondering if it’s the real deal. I know one of my biggest faults is moving too quickly in relationships and I’ve been trying to slow down and analyze things. There’s nothing worse than falling head over heals for somebody way before they feel the same way about you.

“So you’ve told her?”

Rachel’s question seems pretty stupid to me and it makes me think that maybe she doesn’t know Cassie quite as well as I thought she did. “No.”

“Why not?”

I nudge the basket out of my way with my toe and go over to a display of pillows. I poke my finger into a one a couple times before turning back to Rachel. “What was it that Granny always said about father daughter relationships?”

“Granny says a lot of stuff.”

“About how the father daughter relationships affects other things.”

“Oh. She said that the relationship a father and daughter have affects every single future relationship a girl will have. Or something like that.”

“So issues a girl has with her father will carry into other relationships.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the problem. Has Cassie ever mentioned her family to you?”

“No. She’s private about that stuff.”

“Her dad walked out on her family when she was four.”

Rachel cringes a bit. “Oh.”

“Yeah. And I’ve noticed that she has this thing about commitment. It took forever to convince her to go on an actual first date with me. It was like going on that date was making our relationship an official thing and she was trying to avoid it.” I grab a pillow and squeeze it in my hands and then let it go and watch it return to its previous shape. “She’s scared of commitment and I think it has to do with her dad walking out on them.”

“Maybe she thinks that every male in her life will do that?”

“Yeah.”

“What about ex boyfriends? Have you asked her about that?”

“No. I really should have asked her about that by now but I get the feeling that that’s another thing she won’t want to talk about.”

“Maybe her ex’s have all been jerks and only reinforced her thinking that she can’t depend on a guy.”

“Maybe.” I toss the pillow back on top of the stack and shove my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “But she obviously has this aversion to real commitment and if I tell her I love her, she might freak out.”

“Or she might feel the same way and say it right back.”

That would be pretty amazing but I can’t help but think it wouldn’t happen that way. “I think I’m just going to give it some time before saying anything. I don’t want to scare her off.”

“I’m pretty sure that if she was going to be scared off, she would have been the first time she smelt your raunchy morning breath.”

And just like that, all the seriousness from our conversation was gone and Rachel was back to being annoying. It’s easiest to not respond to her comments so I just throw a pillow in her direction. A laugh escapes me when her protest is muffled by the pillow hitting her square in the face but quickly have to duck when the pillow is heading back in my direction.

Rachel gestures for me to pick up the basket and then begins to walk towards the checkout. “This is why I don’t take you out in public very often. Idiot.”

* * *

Considering this is the grand opening of the store I’ve always dreamed of having, I really should be paying more attention to everything that’s happening around me and not anxiously watching the door, waiting for Justin to arrive. I’ve schmoozed as much as I can handle for one night and I really just want to see his familiar face to calm my nerves.

He’s late, which isn’t like him at all and that’s probably what is making me the most restless. I’m the one who’s usually late. He’s always on time or even early for everything and the fact that he’s not here when it’s almost eight when the invitation was for seven is strange. He better still be coming. He would call if he wasn’t, right? Maybe I should check my cell phone. He might have already tried to call.

“Cassandra!”

Susan’s voice halts me before I can go find my phone. I turn towards her.

“There’s some people you should meet,” she says, grabbing my arm.

“Who?”

“Head agents for Elite Models. Kyle’s already over there talking to them.”

I allow myself to be pulled across the store to where Kyle stood with two women. It doesn’t take me long to lose interest in the conversation after introductions are done. I’m really not into the business aspect of everything. That’s what I have Kyle and Susan for. All I want to do is make clothes. So as they start talking about contracts, my eyes wander back to the door.

My feelings for Justin have grown so intense over the past few weeks that it’s actually scaring me. I like to take my time with relationships and the rate that Justin wants to move ours is faster than I’m used to. Granted, I really haven’t dated that many guys so I’m not the most experienced person ever but I’m still pretty sure Justin is the kind of guy to get intense fast.

But even if I think he’s moving faster than I’d like, it doesn’t hold back all these intense feelings whenever I think about him or even see him. In the beginning of our relationship, I felt like I didn’t get to know the actual person he was. Sometimes his answers to my questions would seem rehearsed like he had practiced them in front of a mirror at home. He’s like me in that sense and guarded with the information he puts out there.

But lately I feel like I’ve really gotten to know the real him. I now feel that I know him in that way that most people don’t. I know that he treats his dogs better than himself. I know when he watches TV, he usually ends up stretched out on the floor and sleeping within half an hour. I know that he claims to hate pineapple and yet will drink gallons of pineapple juice after he goes for a run.

It’s all these little things that you get to know about a person that makes you feel like you actually know who they are as a human being and not just what the rest of the world sees. It makes me feel special to know I have this knowledge about him that as petty as it can be, it’s stuff that only a few select people know.

And maybe it scares me to be getting this close to him in such a short period of time. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most successful person with relationships and with all the failed attempts it would seem to most people to just give up and become a lesbian. But Justin makes me want to forget all about any failure and start fresh.

My name is said in conversation and I struggle to figure out what exactly we were talking about. No help is coming from Susan so I throw a glance over at Kyle who quickly jumps in.

“We’d love to have some of your models in the next fashion show, right, Cassandra?”

I quickly nod my head, loving Kyle at that moment for keeping me from looking like an airhead. “Of course.”

They go back into discussion and I’m determined to not let my mind drift this time but that soon fails when I see the door open out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head and a smile breaks out across my face when I see Justin, Trace, and Rachel walk in. I quickly excuse myself from the conversation and make my way through the people towards them.

“You’re here,” I say when I reach them. “I thought maybe you weren’t coming.”

“Of course we’re here,” Justin says. “Rachel had a hair emergency that could have been avoided if she had planned her time better but-”

“Shut up, Justin. You’ve said that a million times on the way over here. My curling iron malfunctioned in the middle of doing my hair and I had to get a new one.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, not wanting Justin and Rachel to bicker over being an hour late. Those two love each other but fight like they’re brother and sister. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

“The store looks amazing,” Rachel says, looking around. “It’s going to do so well.”

I hug my arms around myself and glance around. “I hope so.”

A hand on my arm pulls my attention away from the people milling around the store and my eyes turn to meet Justin’s.

“Do you need to be out here or can I steal you away for a few minutes?” he asks.

My lips turn up. “I’m sure everyone can manage for a couple minutes.”

He smiles and I let him pull me through the store towards my office. It’s dark and empty and he turns on the light on his way in as I shut the door behind us. The door is barely closed when I feel his body pressed against mine and his hands sliding around my stomach.

“You look gorgeous tonight,” he says, pressing a kiss against my shoulder.

I tilt my head to the side to give him more access and his lips move to my neck. “Thank you.” A shiver goes through me as he kisses my skin and I bring up my hands to weave my fingers with his. I pull his hands off my stomach so I can turn around in his arms and face him.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I mumble as I press my lips against his. “I’ve been bored.”

He chuckles against my mouth and pulls back just enough to get some words out. “So I’m just good for entertainment purposes?”

I smile and loop my arms around his neck. “Mostly.”

His hands tickle up my sides and I laugh, trying to squirm away from him but he only pulls me tighter against his body.

“You’re still coming over tonight, right?” he whispers in my ear.

A shiver goes through me. “Of course.” Have I mentioned how excited I am for tonight? It’s been a long two months.

“How long do you think this will go tonight?”

The trail of kisses he’s making along my jaw is making it hard to think straight. “Mmm…maybe eleven? Are you going to tire out by then?”

“Nope. You?”

“No way.” He pulls his mouth away from my jaw and looks down at me. “And do you have to be back here tomorrow morning?”

“Kyle’s going to open in the morning but I need to be here for part of the day. But not until the afternoon.”

“So I can make you breakfast in bed?”

I smile up at him. “Sweet. I’d skip work for breakfast in bed.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” He brings his head down and kisses me again, this time deeper and longer. I could easily get myself lost in this but I know that I’ve probably been away from everyone for too long and I should get back.

“I need to go schmooze some more,” I say, pulling away a little breathless.

“Okay.” He reluctantly drops his arms from around me and I grab his hand, pulling him towards the door.

“Are you going to be able to occupy yourself for a few hours?” I ask as we leave the office.

“I’m sure I’ll manage. I’ve got Trace and Rach to keep me company. Just come visit me every once in a while.”

I give his hand a squeeze before letting it go so I can join Susan. Now that Justin’s here, I’m a little distracted but I’m going to try to push it aside because I only get one grand opening to my brand new store and I want this forever engraved in my memory.