Wedding Bell Blues Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1 Really Rosie

  Chapter 2 As Red as It Gets

  Chapter 3 Peaches and Dreams

  Chapter 4 Midnight Blues

  Chapter 5 Green Tease

  Chapter 6 Yellow, Sunshine!

  Chapter 7 Pretty in Pink

  Chapter 8 Turquoise Delight

  Chapter 9 Inktastic

  Chapter 10 I Love Blue, Too

  Chapter 11 Good Knight

  How to Give Yourself (or a Friend!) a Wedding Bells Pedicure

  About Jill Santopolo

  For my nephew Jonah Ari May.

  May your life be filled with love (and sparkles)!

  Tons of love and glittery thanks to Karen Nagel, Miriam Altshuler, Marianna Baer, Eliot Schrefer, and Marie Rutkoski.

  one

  Really Rosie

  Aly Tanner was up to her elbows in suds. Her sister, Brooke, had tipped some extra soap into the pedicure basin, and now there were way more bubbles than usual covering Annie Wu’s feet.

  Brooke looked over from the pedicure she was giving to Annie’s stepsister, Jayden Smith. “Oh no! I think I might have overdone it with the bubbles!” she said, laughing. “Sorry, Aly.”

  Aly smiled at her sister. A few too many bubbles never hurt anyone.

  “Can you overdo it for me too?” Jayden asked. She was a first grader and visited the Sparkle Spa pretty often.

  Aly pulled one of her hands out of the water and leaned over to add more soap to Jayden’s basin. Soon Brooke had bubbles up to her elbows as well.

  “Hey!” Brooke said as the lather kept growing.

  Jayden started laughing. Annie, too.

  “I know this might not be the best business plan,” Brooke said to Aly, “because it’ll mean we need to buy more soap solution. But if it makes our customers laugh, maybe we should always add extra bubbles.”

  Aly laughed at the idea of the Sparkle Spa covered in bubbles. “Let’s see how much it would cost, Brookester,” she said.

  Aly and Brooke were the co–chief executive officers of the Sparkle Spa—they were in charge of the salon and everything that happened in it. That included bubble purchasing.

  “Did you girls choose colors yet?” Charlotte asked Annie and Jayden.

  Charlotte was a fifth grader, like Aly, and one of Aly’s two best friends. She was also the chief operating officer of the Sparkle Spa and made sure the spa ran smoothly and was organized.

  “I did,” Annie and Jayden said at the same time, holding up their nail polish bottles. Annie’s was a bright red called Really Rosie, and Jadyen’s was a dark blue called Good Knight.

  Charlotte looked at her clipboard and at the girls sitting in the jewelry-making area. “Hannah’s missing,” she said to Aly.

  “I forgot to tell you,” Aly answered. “Hannah had to cancel her appointment. Her phone was taken away in music class, and she needed to wait at school until one of her parents could come to get it back.”

  “Oh no,” Sophie said. She was Brooke’s best friend and the only other third grader who worked at the Sparkle Spa. She was a manicurist—a really good one—and was in the middle of a sparkly Lemon Aid manicure on a fourth grader named Eliza.

  As Aly lifted Annie’s feet out of the warm water, she looked around the Sparkle Spa and smiled. When she and Brooke had started the salon at the beginning of the school year, they had no idea how awesome it was going to be, with so many kids coming by to get their nails done, and then staying because it was fun to hang out.

  Before Aly could open the Really Rosie polish, there was a knock against the door frame that led from True Colors, Aly and Brooke’s mom’s nail salon, into the Sparkle Spa in the back room.

  “Hello?” a man’s voice said.

  Aly turned around quickly. Brooke turned too, and when she saw who it was, she jumped up. “Isaac!” she screeched, and ran over to him.

  Isaac was a local photographer who’d taken pictures of Sparkle Spa events. He’d been visiting True Colors a lot recently because he was dating Joan, Aly and Brooke’s favorite manicurist and their mom’s best friend.

  “Hi, Isaac,” Aly said. “Does Mom need us?”

  Isaac cleared his throat. “Actually,” he said, “I need your help.” Then he noticed the Sparkle Spa customers and employees. “Everyone’s help, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Aly turned to Annie. “Could you hold on a sec?” she asked, walking over to Brooke and Isaac. Isaac rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin, like he was nervous about something. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Isaac kept rubbing his chin. “I need you to help me with a surprise,” he said, “for Joan.”

  Brooke tugged on her braid. “I love surprises!” she said. “What do you want to do? Throw her a party? Get her a present? And how can we help? Do you need us to distract her? We can be very distracting. Sparkly, too.” Brooke nodded at Sparkly, the girls’ dog, who was sleeping in a corner of the salon. “Well, we might have to wake him up first.”

  Isaac spoke quietly. “I want to ask her to marry me.”

  Aly’s mouth dropped open. Joan? Getting married? To Isaac?

  “What?!” Brooke shrieked. “This is so exciting! I’ve never been to a wedding before!” Then she turned to Aly. “Did you hear? There’s going to be a wedding! We’re going to get to wear the most gorgeous dresses with high heels!”

  Aly laughed. “I didn’t hear Isaac say any of that. But he did say he needs our help.”

  “Right,” Isaac said. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to propose to Joan in the Sparkle Spa. I have pictures I’d like you to hang up on ribbons. We can spread rose petals all over the floor. And when everything’s ready, you can make up a reason for her to come back here and—”

  “And you’ll get down on one knee and tell her you’ll love her forever and ever and give her a big, sparkly ring!” Brooke said.

  By now, the rest of the girls in the Sparkle Spa were listening in on the conversation.

  “Is that what’s going to happen?” Jayden asked, splashing her feet in the bubbles.

  Isaac cleared his throat. “Something like that,” he said, gazing around the busy room. “I think I should have mentioned my plan sooner than today,” he said to Aly and Brooke. “I didn’t realize how many customers you’d have in here.”

  Aly turned to Brooke. Isaac was right. She really wanted to help him out and was excited he was going to ask Joan—their favorite Joan!—to marry him. But she and Brooke were busy running a business. Could they possibly postpone all of their appointments to make this happen?

  Aly sent Brooke a Secret Sister Eye Message: Can we do this?

  Brooke sent her one back: How can we not?

  And Aly knew her sister was right. She just hoped their customers would understand.

  two

  As Red as It Gets

  Aly gathered the Sparkle Spa customers around the pedicure chairs and explained what was going on, even though most of them had already overheard.

  “So we’re really sorry times a million, but we have to cancel the rest of today’s appointments,” Brooke announced.

  “And we can reschedule you for Sunday or anytime next week,” Aly finished. “Just talk to Charlotte.”

  Aly held her breath. She was worried that their customers might be mad, and she hated when ­people were mad. Especially at her. She grew even more worried when nobody said anything at first. But then Annie spoke up. “Can we help?”

  Aly tucked her hair behind her ear. “With what?” she asked.

  “With the setup!” Annie said. “I’ve never been part of a marriage proposal before. It sounds like fun.”

  “Me too!” said Jayden. “I want to help.”

  “And
me,” said Eliza. “If you could use another person.”

  Soon everyone in the spa had volunteered to help. No one was angry about their appointments being canceled.

  Aly ran over to Isaac, who had been waiting by the Sparkle Spa’s polish wall. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll all help. Just tell us what you need.”

  Isaac pulled out a stack of photos from his camera bag. There were pictures of him and Joan hiking, skiing, walking through a museum, blowing out birthday candles. They were all black-and-white shots with a single color added to each one, as if Isaac had painted it on. In one Joan had really red lips. In another Isaac’s tie was neon blue.

  “These are so cool,” Brooke said.

  Aly thought so too. She especially liked the photo where Joan and Isaac were feeding ducks, and all of the ducks were bright yellow.

  But Isaac wasn’t paying attention to what the girls were saying. He was digging around in his camera bag. When he brought his hand out this time, he was holding a skein of ribbon and some clear tape.

  “Okay,” he said, “I was hoping you could cut the ribbon and attach it to the pictures, then hang the ribbons all over the salon. I’m going to run out and pick up the rose petals for the floor. Sound like a plan?”

  “Aye, aye, Isaac,” Brooke said, saluting him.

  “No problem at all,” Aly said, glad so many friends were helping them. This seemed like a pretty big project, actually. Isaac really should have asked them sooner. Aly could have at least precut the ribbon!

  While Isaac was gone, the girls cut, taped, and hung fifty-five pictures. Lily, Aly’s other best friend and the salon’s chief financial officer, had counted each one and made sure they were placed perfectly around the room.

  Charlotte was admiring a shot of Joan and Isaac standing on a mountaintop, a bright green backpack on Joan’s back. “This is so romantic,” she said with a sigh.

  Aly agreed.

  Isaac burst through the salon’s back door, holding up bags of rose petals. “I’ve got them, girls.” He stopped in his tracks. “Wow,” he said. “This looks even better than I’d imagined it would. Joan’s going to flip!”

  He handed the petals to Aly, Sophie, and Brooke, and the three of them carefully spread handfuls on the floor. When they were finished, the girls couldn’t believe how magical the back room looked. Even Sparkly barked his approval.

  “Okay,” Charlotte said, “I think our work here is done. Everyone except Aly and Brooke should probably leave. But make sure to come back for your new appointments.”

  “Again, we’re sorry again for canceling,” Aly added.

  “No problem at all,” Annie said. “This was so much cooler than having my toes polished.”

  “Are you ready?” Brooke asked Isaac when everyone was gone. “Because I don’t think I can wait a minute more.”

  Aly felt the same way. She had never seen anyone proposed to in real life, only on TV.

  Once again, Isaac rubbed his chin. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this!” he said. “Can one of you ask Joan to come back here?”

  “I’ll do it!” both girls said at once.

  “We’ll both go,” Aly said. She was trying not to feel nervous, but so much excitement bubbled up inside her.

  The sisters walked into True Colors, not paying any attention to the customers or even to their mom, who was at manicure station number one, giving Mrs. Franklin a French manicure.

  “Joanie!” Brooke said, running over to Joan’s regular station, number seven. “We need you in the Sparkle Spa.”

  Joan looked up from Mrs. Howard’s As Red as It Gets manicure. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  Aly nodded. She felt like she needed to come up with an excuse so Joan wouldn’t get alarmed. “We just . . . we just . . .”

  “We made a really cool design on the nail polish wall that we want to show you,” Brooke said.

  “When you’re done with Mrs. Howard,” Aly added.

  Joan smiled. “Well then, you’re in luck,” she said, “because all I have to do is three more fingers of top coat and Mrs. Howard will be ready to dry.”

  Aly watched Brooke tug her braid; it made her wish she had one to tug. She couldn’t wait to see Joan’s reaction.

  A minute or so later—which seemed like ­forever—Joan got up and walked with the girls to the Sparkle Spa. When they got to the door, Aly said, “Joan, why don’t you go in first, so you can see the, um, pattern we made right away.”

  Joan gave Aly a funny look, but she walked ahead anyway. Then she gasped. “Isaac,” she said. “What’s . . . what’s going on?”

  Aly and Brooke watched as Isaac got down on one knee, opened a ring box, and asked Joan to marry him.

  At first Joan didn’t say anything. Aly held her breath. Brooke tugged on her braid.

  And then Joan answered. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Isaac stood up, and they kissed, just like they were on TV.

  Aly started clapping, and Brooke started cheering. Before they knew it, everyone else in True Colors had joined them.

  Aly turned around, surprised to see Mom standing behind her, eyes dripping quiet tears. “Isn’t this beautiful?” she asked Aly.

  “Do you think we’re going to get to be flower girls?” Brooke whispered to Mom. “And do you think Sparkly’s going to get to be a flower dog? He’d look great in a dog tutu.”

  Mom shrugged her shoulders and smiled mysteriously. “I think you’ll find out soon enough.”

  “I hope both things come true!” Brooke said.

  Aly wasn’t so sure. She’d never heard of anyone having a flower dog before. And as a fifth grader, she thought she might be a little too old to be a flower girl.

  three

  Peaches and Dreams

  The night after she became engaged, Joan called the Tanner house. Brooke picked up the phone and started right in asking Joan what she thought about dogs wearing tutus: Were they cute? Was pink the best dog tutu color? But instead of answering like she usually would, Joan asked if she could talk to Mom. She promised Brooke that they could have a very long conversation about dog tutus in the salon later that week.

  “Sure thing,” Brooke said, putting Joan on speaker. “The dog tutus can wait. I’ll go get Mom.” Then she yelled, “Mooooooom! Phooooone! It’s Jooooooan!”

  “That doesn’t sound quite like getting her to me,” Joan said with a laugh on the other end.

  “Close enough,” Brooke told her.

  Mom didn’t pick up, so Aly went to find her. She walked upstairs and poked her head into her parents’ bedroom. Mom was there, talking on her cell phone.

  “Hey,” Aly whispered. “Joan’s on the phone.”

  “Tell her I’ll call her back, sweetie,” Mom said. “I’m on with Dad.”

  Aly nodded. Dad traveled a lot for work and usually came home on Friday nights. But he was on an especially long trip this time and wouldn’t be making it home for the weekend. She wanted to say hi to him, but it seemed like Mom had some more important things to talk about, so Aly quietly left the room.

  The girls went to bed that night thinking about Joan and her wedding.

  “Do you think there’s anyone else she could possibly ask to be her flower girls?” Brooke said from her side of the room.

  Aly rolled over to face her sister. “I don’t know. Maybe she isn’t planning on having flower girls. Or maybe Isaac has people to ask.”

  Brooke gasped. “Isaac’s people! I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “But Joan loves us,” Aly added. “So she’ll probably pick us.”

  “Probably,” Brooke repeated.

  Aly still wasn’t sure how she felt about being a flower girl. All the flower girls she’d seen were three or five or maybe seven years old. She was ten and Brooke was eight. Was there an age limit?

  The next morning Mom woke the girls up earlier than usual. “Rise and shine!” she said. “I spoke to Joan last night after you two fell asleep. She asked me to bring you to the
bridal shop today.”

  Aly stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

  “Does Joan want us to come because we’re going to be flower girls?” Brooke asked.

  Mom just smiled. “She asked me to be her matron of honor, but she didn’t mention anything about you two. She also asked me to figure out a way to donate the extra food from her wedding to a charity in town. I’m going to have to do some research on that today. Maybe you girls can help.”

  “We’re going to be flower girls, and Sparkly’s going to be the flower dog—I just know it, ” Brooke said, getting out of bed and sliding on her glasses.

  “Of course we can help,” Aly told her mom. But she wasn’t really thinking about the food donation. She was thinking that ten years old was practically eleven, which was really close to being a teenager. And teenagers were never flower girls.

  “Maybe Joan wants us to help her choose her dress,” Aly offered. “Or choose the color for her bridesmaids. We’re very good color pickers.”

  Brooke nodded. “That’s true, we are. But we could do those things and be her flower girls.”

  Brooke had a point. Then again, Brooke always had a point.

  When they entered the Something New bridal shop, Aly couldn’t believe her eyes. One side of the shop was filled with hundreds of dresses in hundreds of different colors—more colors than all of the nail polishes in the whole Sparkle Spa—and the other side was lined with the whitest, poofiest dresses she had ever seen.

  “Hi, girls,” Joan greeted them. They both gave her a hug. “My appointment is in this room to the right.”

  Brooke and Aly followed Joan, and for the second time in two minutes, Aly couldn’t believe her eyes. There, sitting on a couch, surrounded by dresses and books filled with fabric samples, were Suzy Davis and her younger sister, Heather, who was sitting on Isaac’s lap.

  “Suzy?” Aly said.

  Suzy looked up from a bridal magazine. “Hi,” she said.

  “Did you know I was going to be here?” Aly asked.

  Suzy shrugged. “I guessed it. I knew Uncle Isaac was dating your mom’s best friend.”