{"id":588,"date":"2011-08-30T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T19:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=588"},"modified":"2013-09-27T16:48:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T23:48:05","slug":"a-nicoise-salad-the-night-before-the-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=588","title":{"rendered":"Season 3: Episode 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ana let herself into her old house with the key that Willow and Mia insisted she keep. She felt a bit strange returning when she no longer lived there \u2013 almost like she was trespassing on her own property \u2013 but, the others had told her she could come and go as she pleased and although she wasn\u2019t planning on doing it often, she felt OK about it today. She was spending her last night as a single girl there, because tomorrow she was getting married.<\/p>\n

A smile played around the corners of her lips as Ana walked down the old hall, recollections of all the fun times the three girls had here flooding back: The multitude of dinner parties, watching the royal wedding, meals in the sundrenched courtyard, Willow\u2019s many baking extravaganzas. Granted, a lot of the memories were a tad hazy on account of the amount of champagne present when said memories were formed, but the overall vibe was a good one. She was so glad that she was spending tonight with her favourite people in the world: Willow and Mia.<\/p>\n

Well, second favourite<\/i>, she thought, recalling Tom\u2019s sparkling eyes, wide smile and strong, tanned arms. She felt a shiver of pleasure run down her spine, once again thanking her lucky stars that everything had worked out perfectly between them.<\/p>\n

Ana had finished work a few hours early and had come over with the hope that she would be able to locate her grandmother\u2019s brooch that had mysteriously vanished in the move. She still had a few boxes stored in the house and thought that perhaps she\u2019d put it in one of those by mistake. She didn\u2019t expect anyone else to be home this early, but as she moved towards the kitchen she heard footsteps thundering down the stairs as Mia and Willow toppled over each other to greet her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the nearly-bride,\u201d shouted Willow jumping up and down on the spot and clapping her hands together in excitement.<\/p>\n

Mia joined in and soon all three of them were bouncing around the house in a crazy display of anticipatory delight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s your dress?\u201d asked Mia, pausing for a second to catch her breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the car,\u201d Ana said. \u201cAlong with the rest of the stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll ask them about the brooch later<\/i>, thought Ana, as the girls bounded outside to help her carry her things in. I don\u2019t want to bring the mood down.<\/i><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Once the dress was unpacked and hung properly \u2013 followed by the requisite oohing and ahhing \u2013 it was unanimously decided that it was champagne o\u2019clock. They adjourned to the living room, which Willow had set up with a picnic blanket and colourful lights. She\u2019d made a playlist of their favourite girly songs that was already humming along in the background. Mia had constructed an amazing and unique nicoise salad for them to feast on \u2013 correctly assuming that Ana wouldn\u2019t want anything heavy the night before her wedding \u2013 and had procured several bottles of French champagne.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s to you, Ana,\u201d said Willow, raising her glass, \u201cand to many happy years of marriage to your prince charming.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

It was almost 10pm by the time Sarah made it home. She had stayed in the office because Tom had worked late, wanting to get everything finished up before the wedding tomorrow. She took it upon herself to bring him dinner and then, later when he looked completely exhausted, insisted that he stop and share a beer with her to relax.<\/p>\n

She heard giggling and music playing as soon as she walked inside and paused in the door listening for a minute, trying to catch the conversation. Padding silently down the hall she walked into the living room and saw the three of them sitting on the floor having a carpet picnic. Her entrance had been so inaudible that they didn\u2019t notice her immediately, Mia squealing when she finally saw her.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah! We didn\u2019t even hear you come in! Here,\u201d she said patting the floor next to her, \u201ccome and join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry I\u2019m so late,\u201d she said, accepting a glass of champagne. \u201cWe had so much on at work that we both had to stay back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth?\u201d asked Ana, cocking an eyebrow.<\/p>\n

Sarah nodded and took a sip of her champagne. \u201cTom and I. He\u2019s so busy at the moment that I couldn\u2019t just leave him there on his own. He wouldn\u2019t even have eaten dinner if I hadn\u2019t given him some of mine,\u201d she added, laughing.<\/p>\n

The other joined in with her laughter remarking on how typical it was of Tom to be working late on the night before his wedding. Ana felt a knot form in her stomach. Sure, her instincts had been wrong before, but it just felt like this new girl was\u2026 well, that there was something not quite right about the whole situation. She glanced at the faces of her friends wanting to know if they felt it too, but they had moved onto another topic and were giggling at something else that Sarah was saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way,\u201d said Ana as casually as she could. \u201cYou didn\u2019t happen to find a white gold brooch in your room when you moved in did you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana was sure that Sarah\u2019s eyes darted away for a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot your grandmother\u2019s?\u201d gasped Willow, before Sarah had a chance to answer.<\/p>\n

Ana nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re wearing it tomorrow, aren\u2019t you?\u201d asked Mia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will if I can find it,\u201d she said, looking again at Sarah.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer grandmother gave it to her just before she died,\u201d explained Mia to Sarah. \u201cIt was going to be the something old that she wears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh Ana, that\u2019s terrible,\u201d said Sarah, her eyes opening wide and her hand flying up to her mouth. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen it, but you\u2019re more than welcome to come and look in my room if you think you lost it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hours later, Sarah lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, watching the headlights from the passing traffic bouncing off the walls. She was light-headed from the champagne and was enjoying the feeling of the whole room swirling around her as she lay still.<\/p>\n

Life was good.<\/p>\n

She reached under her pillow and felt around until her fingers grasped the cool metal of the brooch. She held it in front of her, turning it gently in her hands so the fleeting lights sparkled on the purple stone.<\/p>\n

It really was very beautiful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ana let herself into her old house with the key that Willow and Mia insisted she keep. She felt a bit strange returning when she no longer lived there \u2013 almost like she was trespassing on her own property \u2013 but, the others had told her she could come and go as she pleased and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[199],"tags":[94,128,193],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1237,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/1237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}