AR:
"Happy Hour"
Rose lifted the large lid off the table top to expose a full size bar; glasses, liquor bottles, cut fruit, even a blender and ice machine were included. "Wow!" Bella squealed as they meandered through the many bar toys displayed before them, smelling the bottles, and eating the cherries. "He thought of everything…didn't he?"
"Oh, you have no idea…"
Rose tended the bar, offering up sample sizes of everything in the book. The heat of the day seemed to make starting in the 'frozen drinks' category a natural choice. It didn't' take long to see that Bella was enjoying the sampling of strawberry daiquiris, pina colatas, mudslides,…but soon she had an unpleasant feeling…
"Oh, she groaned, holding her forehead in pain.
Alice and Rose were both concerned, "What? What's wrong, Bella? Are you hurt?" Not having a lot of experience in bartending they feared they had concocted something bad…Bella squinted hard and moaned "ooooooohhhhh" she grunted, "…oh I hate this…" She writhed and squinted, groaning in agony. "What! What!" they cried in panic, afraid he would come crashing through the door any moment.
Her symptom seemed to fade quickly. "Woot, don't cha just hate 'Brain Freeze", she said, nodding knowingly. "Wicked…better cut back on the frozen stuff for a while." The sisters were aghast at the ominous sound of the ailment they had never heard of but were suddenly terrified of on principal. Bella laughed, "You mean for once I get to teach you guys something. Sweet…" When she explained the concept of course they all laughed. Rose suggested they move beyond the girlie blender drinks, but since Bella enjoyed the citrus tastes that reminded her of home, they decided to just eliminate the crushed ice and explore the grown up version.
"OOH!" Bella moaned in pleasure making her sisters come to attention nod in agreement. Licking the salt from the rim, she exclaimed. "Stop the Presses! I think I have found my thang," she exclaimed. "It is sweet and sour," just like you Rose." She said, outrageously forward for Bella, her tongue somehow loosened by the alcohol. "but it tastes like a limeade," she said, swirling her tongue in the shot glass serving that Rose offered. "I think I would like those. What is it?"
"Well, it's a good thing I made a whole batch!" Alice grinned, happy to serve as waiter, dipping the rim of the perfect glass in kosher salt, filling it, and popping in a lime wedge. "One Bella-rita coming up."
Rose kept topping off the contents so Bella sipped on her glass continuously as they painted her nails; she was all the time enjoying the melding of such different tastes and never seemed to be affected negatively by the quantity she was knocking back—drinking through a straw will do that to one, every time! In fact, the alcohol seemed to only enhance her mood lightly, but seemed to greatly enhance her talkativeness. The sisters had to giggle to themselves thinking that Bella was going to turn out to be one happy little drunk. They were relieved; they feared she would be the 'crying in your beer' type. They were relieved and delighted.
"We had this lime tree… in Phoenix, where I grew up… well our neighbors did, and they used to give us bags and bags of limes and instead of making lemonade Renee and I would make…" Bella's chatty rambling was quite entertaining.
"Oh, let guess…." Rose asked innocently, enjoying the game even more as she watched the party girl emerging, "…limeade?"
"How did you know that, Rose?' Bella's mouth opened and her eyes widened as she was mesmerized by Rose's answer. "We had so much lime-aid. Limeade. Limeade. LIMEADE…We even made a stand and sold it…made money and everything."
"Imagine that, Alice…a limeade stand!" Rose snide comment earned her a smack.
"Enough, Rose," Alice whispered, "don't be a buzz kill."
"Well, this is not your regular Phoenix drive way, 25 cents a Dixie cup limeade, Bella.' Rose instructed. "It has tequila in it."
"Does it?" Bella put her glass down a little too loudly, "I can't even taste it."
"Can't you taste it at all?" Alice queried, thinking that their game might be a lot easier depending on her answer.
"Well, no…tastes just salty and …"
"limeadey?' Rose finished the word for her…not bothering to hide her laughter. The exchange of raised eyebrows indicated they had accomplished this part of their preparation for tonight.
"Ok, take your Limeade with you, Bella…we need to help you get dressed…"
"Oh, I am ok, really…" Bella rolled her eyes, insulted to think they thought her incapacitated. "I think I can manage! I did n't have that much…"
"It is not that you can't get dressed by yourself…it is just well, you may need a hand…well, you will need a hand…" Alice said.
"Or four…" Rose added snidely.
"Oh, Ok." she said losing all resistance as she focused entirely on the swirling ice in her glass as they trotted off to Alice's room. "But what could possibly need so many hands?" .
"You have a wear a bustier…under the dress. To maintain the proper shape…"
"A what? Bella asked with some annoyance….
Now, darlin's if you be in the same category you should go up to the net and check out Nancy Meyer's fine lingerie, in Seattle…I can tell you it is DEFINITELY where Alice be shoppin for her little, and I mean little sweet nothings…(ISN"T THAT IRONIC—Nancy Meyer). This is the land of the 200 pair of panties…and I mean that is the exception and not the rule.
My ex-patriot gal pals living in Paris all say what makes a French woman so very sexy, is not the clothes off the runway…it is what lies beneath…it's the lingerie, and every one of these soccer moms who bought Bali bras from Macys all their life well…they are living large in 200 EURO panties…oh yes.
(Expats are Americans' living overseas for extended periods, usually employed by American companies in foreign countries.)
This is the bustier I had in mind for Bella-oo-la-la…and be sure to check out the photos for the best view of the lacing.
/lingerie/product.asp?pfidPAAAAAMDOGLLCFFI&attrvalue2BLACK&pathNew+Search&pathLingerie&pathBustiers&searchhandleQT1MaW5nZXJpZX5CPUxpbmdlcmllfkQ9MTJRz0xMDI5XjFST1QcmljZX5LPTRTD0xfk09Mn5OPTJ&scidSearchResults&spoffset2&sid0&mscssidMKBGTKN000A19GW37M1W7W7ACLSC5MNE
Oh, BTW…there WILL be a chapter when the girls all go lingerie shopping to give Bella the straight talk about 'what men want'…oh, my…I think I just found the title… The chapter will appear first under the story 'Wedding Planning Interrupted" which will eventually become "Chapter 3 Planning Diary" in the novel "Evening Star."