One-Off
Authors: Lynn Galli
Tags: #Gay & Lesbian, #lesbian fiction, #Fiction, #Romance, #Lgbt, #Retail, #Genre Fiction, #Lesbian, #Lesbian Romance, #Literature & Fiction
One-Off
Number I of
One
Lynn Galli
Penikila Press (2015)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Tags: Lesbian Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Romance, Retail, Lgbt, Genre Fiction, Literature & Fiction, Fiction, Gay & Lesbian, Lesbian
Lesbian Fictionttt Lesbian Romancettt Romancettt Retailttt Lgbtttt Genre Fictionttt Literature & Fictionttt Fictionttt Gay & Lesbianttt Lesbianttt
How much would you endure for your best friend? Would you plan an elaborate event that you don't believe in? Put up with a woman you never wanted to see again? Fake enthusiasm for an unrealistic pipe dream?
Skye MacKinnon is forced to answer these questions when she's asked to be her best friend's maid of honor. As a cynic, she rejects the notion of marital bliss, but for a friend, she'll give it her best effort. That becomes more difficult the moment she learns that her old college nemesis, Ainsley Baird, will be playing an important role in the wedding. Brilliant, beautiful Ainsley has many talents, chief among them is irritating Skye. Knowing how easily Ainsley pushes her buttons, Skye just hopes to get through the wedding without needing someone to post her bail.
One-Off
Number I of
One
Lynn Galli
Penikila Press (2015)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Tags: Gay & Lesbian, Literature & Fiction, Fiction, Lesbian, Romance, Lesbian Romance, Genre Fiction, Lgbt, Lesbian Fiction
Gay & Lesbianttt Literature & Fictionttt Fictionttt Lesbianttt Romancettt Lesbian Romancettt Genre Fictionttt Lgbtttt Lesbian Fictionttt
How much would you endure for your best friend? Would you plan an elaborate event that you don't believe in? Put up with a woman you never wanted to see again? Fake enthusiasm for an unrealistic pipe dream?
Skye MacKinnon is forced to answer these questions when she's asked to be her best friend's maid of honor. As a cynic, she rejects the notion of marital bliss, but for a friend, she'll give it her best effort. That becomes more difficult the moment she learns that her old college nemesis, Ainsley Baird, will be playing an important role in the wedding. Brilliant, beautiful Ainsley has many talents, chief among them is irritating Skye. Knowing how easily Ainsley pushes her buttons, Skye just hopes to get through the wedding without needing someone to post her bail.
One-Off
Lynn Galli
Penikila Press
ONE-OFF. Copyright © 2015 by Lynn Galli. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions of the publisher.
Cover photo © 2015 Pavels Rumme/ Shutterstock.com. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the publisher’s permission. For information address: Penikila Press at penikilapress@ yahoo.com. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Published in the United States of America.
Also by Lynn Galli
V
IRGINIA
C
LAN
Forevermore
Finally
Blessed Twice
Imagining Reality
Wasted Heart
A
SPEN
F
RIENDS
Life Rewired
Something So Grand
Mending Defects
O
THER
R
OMANCES
Full Court Pressure
Uncommon Emotions
Synopsis
How much would you endure for your best friend? Would you plan an elaborate event that you don’t believe in? Put up with a woman you never wanted to see again? Fake enthusiasm for an unrealistic pipe dream?
Skye MacKinnon is forced to answer these questions when she’s asked to be her best friend’s maid of honor. As a cynic, she rejects the notion of marital bliss, but for a friend, she’ll give it her best effort. That becomes more difficult the moment she learns that her old college nemesis, Ainsley Baird, will be playing an important role in the wedding. Brilliant, beautiful Ainsley has many talents, chief among them is irritating Skye. Knowing how easily Ainsley pushes her buttons, Skye just hopes to get through the wedding without needing someone to post her bail.
Table of Contents
Other Publications by Lynn Galli
When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.
–Benedick,
Much Ado About Nothing
(2.3.242–44)
One
Quick, name your top three least favorite things. I’ll jumpstart the brainstorming for you—neighbors who let their dogs crap on your lawn, waiting at stoplights, an infestation of ants in the kitchen, guys who burp out the National Anthem and think it’s charming, helping a disorganized friend move, cleaning the guest bathroom, airport electrical outlet hogs—there are millions more. Pick three. I’ll wait. I have time now that I’ve just found out I’ll be suffering through all three of mine very soon.
Topping my list: Weddings. Something clearly didn’t get attached to one of my X chromosomes. I never gabbed with high school friends about what my wedding would be like or the kind of person I’d marry or how my dress would look. Never thought about who should be there, what flowers to get, which colors to go with. It just wasn’t me. I’d even managed to avoid attending all but five weddings in my lifetime. When I got an invitation, I’d send an appropriate gift and no one ever remembered that I hadn’t been there.
Only slightly less annoying: Churches. Not the buildings themselves. They’re nice to look at, but I wasn’t into sitting through religious services. I had many, many opinions about organized religion, none of them flattering. I would throw off the one imposed on me by my Italian grandmother as soon we left her neighborhood if we visited on Sundays. Since college, I hadn’t stepped foot in a Catholic church or any other kind, for that matter. It wasn’t like I’d burst into flames if I entered one, but I tried to avoid them at all costs.
Rounding out my top three least favorite things: Photos. Didn’t like taking them, looking at them, or being in them. The appeal of selfies escaped me. When I went to a special event, I used my eyes not my camera for the highest possible definition and my memory to recall the experience.
All three together added up to my worst nightmare. I’d been lucky so far, but it looked like my luck had just run out. My best friend seemed happy to be bringing my nightmare to life. Giddy even. Her wedding would take place in a church, and as part of the wedding party, I’d have to be in the photos. A photographed church wedding. The minute Dallas shared her announcement, my eyes scanned the area for that burned up dude with knife fingers to appear.
First up on the agenda, because apparently I would need to help complete some of the items on the prep list for this wedding-slash-nightmare, was to buy her fiancé a tux. Dallas and I had left work early and were currently navigating the tourist laden sidewalk one block over from the National Mall on our way to the tux shop. I’d planned to go back to work after this, but her stunning news was making me reconsider my evening work plan. Of course, the news had come under the guise of what most normal people would consider the greatest honor, but it felt like she’d shoved me into the middle of high-speed traffic. Sure, she was my best friend, but she had two sisters. I should have been off the hook for the wedding party. Especially since she knew my take on weddings. And churches. And photos.
“Are you still in shock?” Dallas asked me. Her ratings-gold smile flashed so brightly I almost reached for the sunglasses in my bag. “You had to know I’d ask you. You’re too smart not to guess I’d want you as MOH.”
“MOH?” I parroted, because, yes, I was still in shock.
“Maid of honor, silly,” she clarified and my queasiness returned. She was the kind of person who used acronyms for wedding stuff because she’d been planning this thing since she hit puberty.
“Right.” MOH. Someone, get me a bucket.
“Of course I’d want you,” she blazed on, choosing to ignore my bewildered tone. “You’re my best friend and the most organized person I know.”
Smart, organized best friend who hates weddings—sure, perfect choice for the MOH. “I thought you’d ask Denver. Won’t she be pissed when she finds out it’s me?”
Dallas giggled with the kind of glee befitting a sadistic torturer. “Hope so. That hussy chose Detroit as her MOH just because her fiancé told her he thought I was pretty. Detroit! They can’t even be in the same room without getting into an argument.”
I laughed with her. “How much does Savannah hate that her older sisters call her Detroit?”
“As much as you hate weddings.”
See? She knows I hate weddings and yet she somehow thinks this is a good idea. If I managed to keep her as a friend and not kill her sisters by the end of this thing, I’d call that a win.
“Denver loves weddings.” I tried again to make her see logic.
“Denver loves the idea of weddings because it was the last time she was really happy in her marriage. I do not want a sometimes bitter near-divorcée helping me plan my wedding and standing beside me at the altar.”
Slight exaggeration. The last time I saw Denver she wasn’t the poster girl for happy marriages, but she wasn’t contemplating divorce either. I made another attempt at reason. “She’s your sister.”
“You’re more my sister than she is. I see her once a year and every visit is filled with complaints about her lazy husband, who isn’t that lazy, her asshole children, who are angsty teenagers more than assholes, and her jealous baby sister, who’s not so much jealous as she is angry that she can’t snap her fingers and get everything handed to her like she used to as the baby of the family.”