And she enjoyed the Austin leagues, too. Their version of derby was wilder than the derby she was used to, with more costumes and silliness. She and Sebastian had bought a place in Austin and visited about once a month so Chelsea could hang out with Pisa, skate with the Austin casual players, and scout around for business. Her soaps were now appearing in Austin shops, and Sebastian had purchased a chain of indoor climbing gyms that were expanding locations. Austin was a good place to grow the business, and they were looking for the perfect derby venue, as well, because Chelsea wanted a derby gym for regular skating. It still felt weird to her to talk about buying up buildings and houses as if they were nothing, but Sebastian was happy to take her direction with his money. Her soap business was expanding, too—now that Chelsea’d shown up briefly on the show, Amber Cabral had gushed about how awesome Chelsea’s soaps were, and her tiny Etsy shop was suddenly in demand, with profiles in Cosmo and online beauty magazines. She’d hired out employees and a small building for soap making, and now she mostly stuck to making formulas and ideas on her end.
That was fine. It gave her more time to spend with Sebastian.
“I’m still gonna pass on the skating,” Gretchen said, rubbing Igor’s back. “I don’t like pain. Just try not to get all bruised up for the wedding, ’kay?”
“I have a month yet,” Chelsea said. “I promise not to get bruised up at least a week prior to the wedding.”
“Good,” Gretchen said. “Because those backless gowns will look like hell with a bunch of yellow and purple bruises.
She had a point.
It had taken Gretchen the better part of a year and three different changes in wedding colors before she’d decided on an ultra pale bluish-lavender that she referred to as “Blue Girl.” She told Chelsea it was the same color as the roses Hunter had given her once upon a time, and had squealed like a little girl at the sight of the bridesmaids dresses in the color she’d chosen.
They’d gone with different types of gowns for the bridesmaids, all with a similar hem length. As soon as Audrey had started to lose her baby weight, Greer had swelled up with her own baby. So now Greer was in an empire-waisted dress, Audrey was in a corseted one to cinch her post-baby body, Taylor was in an asymmetric Grecian-style dress, Kat had a boatneck with a low waist, Bronte was in a strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline, and Chelsea’s gown had a scoop top and sheer lace back. She wasn’t the most girly of girls, but even she thought the dress was beautiful and princessy. And she’d seen Gretchen’s dress, and it was utterly stunning. She couldn’t wait for the groom to see his bride on the wedding day.
“Sooo, did you hear?” Gretchen asked Chelsea. “I made another match in the wedding party.” She looked smug.
“No! Who’s left?” Chelsea grinned. Greer was pregnant by one of the groomsmen. Edie and Magnus were together. She’d even heard that Kat Geary was dating Coop, which was a weird pairing to her—the aggressive sales-oriented agent and easygoing Cooper—but they were happy.
“Remember Levi? Magnus’s brother? He dropped out of the wedding and was being a snot about things, so Hunter pulled in a cousin of Griffin’s. You know Griffin, right? The Belissime royalty guy that’s one of Hunter’s friends?”
Chelsea blinked. “Vaguely?” Not really, but the story was too interesting to interrupt. She waved a hand, indicating Gretchen should continue.
“So Griffin’s cousin—apparently his name is Loch and he’s from Europe or some shit. Titled. It’s nuts. He needs to be in the states for a bit and so Hunter’s doing this as a favor to Griffin. Go figure. I told my boo I didn’t care as long as Loch looked good in a tux.”
“And does he?”
“Boy, howdy. He’s a total stud. I met him. Taylor’s been licking all over him for months now.”
“Huh.” Chelsea never talked with Taylor much. It seemed like she was missing out. “I should meet the guy.”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Gretchen said enthusiastically. “Big arms and big, uh, heart.” She snort-giggled. “He’s no Hunter, but I’m happy for her.”
“Me, too,” Chelsea said. If everyone was half as happy as she was, that’d be just wonderful.
Gretchen was eyeing Sebastian curiously, though. “There’s not a jealous bone in his body, is there? He didn’t bat an eye when I started talking about Loch and his equipment.”
“I won’t worry unless she brings out her skates,” Sebastian said easily, shading a bit of Gretchen’s chin on paper.