Do I Dream Again

Kristina sat outside of the small café, sitting at one of the tables underneath an umbrella, waiting on Kyra to arrive. She had decided it would be better to ask Kyra to be a bridesmaid in person, rather than calling her on the phone and asking. Plus, it would be easier to figure out how she really felt about Henrik if she could see Kyra’s face when she asked her some questions.

Kyra came running down the sidewalk, and she finally saw Kristina sitting at one of the tables, and she slid into the seat across from her. “Sorry I’m late,” Kyra apologized, breathing deeply, trying to catch her breath. “Sophia’s ballet teacher wanted to talk to me, and I couldn’t get away,” she explained.

“No worries,” Kristina said with a smile, as she grabbed one of the menus from in front of her and started looking through it. “Wait, did you just say Sophia’s in ballet?” she asked, and Kyra nodded her head. “I didn’t know that. I’m surprised no one’s talked you into getting her into hockey,” she said with a laugh. “Or at the very least ice skating.”

“Have you been talking to Sadie about this?” Kyra asked with a laugh, looking over her own menu.

“No, why? She say the same thing?” Kristina asked.

“She’s been trying to get me to get Soph into ice skating. But, Sophia asked about ballet, so I got her enrolled in a class. I’m not going to force her into ice skating.”

Kristina nodded in understanding as the waiter came up and took their order. As soon as he left, Kristina looked up at Kyra. “So, I did ask you to lunch for a reason,” she began, and Kyra looked over at her with interest. “One of my bridesmaids can’t come to my wedding anymore. So, I’m looking for another one,” she told her.

“And, you’re wondering if I know anyone?” Kyra asked, not understanding what any of this had to do with her.

“Actually, I was hoping that you could be that bridesmaid,” Kristina clarified.

“Um…” Kyra trailed off, thinking about her request and how to reply. “Don’t take this the wrong way Kristina,” she began.

“You don’t want to be my bridesmaid,” Kristina finished for her.

“It’s just, I don’t think I deserve to be one. I mean, yeah, we’re friends, but I’m sure you have friends that are closer to you, and who deserve to be a bridesmaid more than me. I think I’m better off just sitting with everyone else and watching the wedding from there,” Kyra explained as the waiter delivered their drinks. She immediately took a big sip of her iced tea. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you?” Kristina asked, looking up at her with big, pleading eyes.

“There’s no one else that you can think of?” Kyra asked, and Kristina shook her head. “Why me?” she questioned.

“Kyra, you’re friends with me and Val. You’re friends with everyone in the bridal party. Fabio, Hank, everyone. It just makes sense that it’s you,” Kristina insisted.

“I’m sorry,” Kyra said once again. “I don’t think so. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Not at all,” Kristina said with a small smile, having some other plans up her sleeve. “Let’s talk about something else. Like, how you’re love life is going,” she said, a grin spreading across her face.

“You have talked to Sadie!” Kyra cried, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“Okay, yeah, I have about that,” Kristina admitted. “She said that you’re refusing to go out with anyone again. What’s up with all that?”

“Well, she told you about Lance, right?” Kyra asked, and Kristina nodded her head. “I can’t date again after that. I promised myself that I’ll never put myself or Sophia in that situation ever again. And, apparently, my sense when it comes to guys is terrible, so I’ve decided to just not date again,” she explained.

“What if I could find you a guy that I could promise is nothing like Lance?” Kristina questioned.

“I swear to God, if the name Henrik Zetterberg comes out of your mouth, I will hop over this table and strangle you,” Kyra told her as the waiter came out with their food. He must have overheard what she had just said because he gave her a weird look before setting their food down quickly and getting away from their table as fast as possible.

“Now what would make you think that I was going to say his name? Apparently, he’s on your mind,” Kristina said, popping a fry in her mouth, and lifting an eyebrow up at Kyra.

“He’s not on my mind,” Kyra stated, putting a huge fork of pasta into her mouth so that she couldn’t say anything else.

“You like him,” Kristina accused, pointing a finger at her.

“I don’t like him,” Kyra said, shaking her head.

“You like Hank!” Kristina began singing. When she saw the glare Kyra was shooting her way, she stopped chanting. “Why don’t you just admit it? You know I’m going to get a confession out of you, right? I won’t let you leave until you admit it,” Kristina assured her.

“I don’t like him,” Kyra repeated. Kristina looked into her eyes, and she could tell she was lying. “I don’t,” Kyra insisted.

“Okay,” Kristina shrugged.

“I don’t!”

“Okay,” Kristina said again. “So, you’re telling me you don’t find him attractive at all? That you don’t feel any sort of attraction towards him?” she questioned. Kyra remained quiet and Kristina smirked. “You like him!” she said.

“Can we talk about something else?” Kyra pleaded. “Like your wedding?”

“That you won’t be my bridesmaid for,” Kristina joked. “I’ll make you change your mind about that,” Kristina promised, a smile on her face.

***

“I’m coming,” Kyra called out, running out from the kitchen to the living room to answer the door. “I’m coming,” she called out again. She wiped her wet hands on her pants, after having left the dishes that she was cleaning in her sink. She opened the door, surprised to see Henrik on the other side. “Hi,” she said simply, moving aside to let him inside.

“Hey, sorry, I should have called, shouldn’t I’ve?” he asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Kyra assured him. “I was just doing some dishes. So, what are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you about Kristina’s wedding and you being a bridesmaid,” he answered.

“Listen, I’m not trying to be mean by turning the offer down, but I really think she could find someone better than me to be a bridesmaid. An old friend, a colleague, anyone but me,” she explained, sitting down on the couch, her arms rested on her knees.

“She wants you to do it,” Henrik told her, sitting down across from her. “She’s got her heart set on it. Don’t ask me why, but she wants you and only you. And, when Kristina gets her heart set on something, she’ll get it in the end. How do you think she ended up with Val?” he asked with a small laugh. “She was relentless when it came to him. Which was a good thing because it took some time for him to come around, but I couldn’t see him being with anyone else.”

“And, she asked you to come here and convince me, eh?” Kyra asked.

Henrik laughed. “You caught me. She told me that I would be able to convince you,” he said, nodding his head. Kyra couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at Kristina. She hadn’t just sent Henrik over to convince her to be a bridesmaid; she had sent him over to convince her he was the one for her, too.

“I don’t know,” Kyra began.

“What do I have to do? Beg?” he asked, and Kyra laughed.

“That’d be nice,” she joked.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Henrik began when Sophia ran out of her room towards them. He saw Kyra instantly light up when she saw her daughter, and he couldn’t help but smile at that scene.

“Hi Hank!” Sophia exclaimed when she saw him sitting with Kyra. “What’re you doing here?” she asked him, her big, green eyes shining up at him.

“I came to see your mom,” he answered. “But, I hear you’re going to be the flower girl at Kristina’s wedding,” he added.

Sophia nodded her head. “Yep!” she said excitedly. “Mommy said I get to throw flowers!”

Henrik nodded his head, smiling at how excited Sophia was. “Exactly. And, I was actually just trying to convince your mom to be a part of the wedding, too,” he began. Kyra looked over at him, trying to figure out where he was going with this. “Kristina wants your mom to stand up at the front of the church with her. Don’t you think that would be fun?” Henrik asked.

“Yeah!” Sophia exclaimed. She turned to look at Kyra. “Mommy, why won’t you do it?” she asked her.

Kyra looked over Sophia’s head at Henrik, but she couldn’t hold back her smile. He had done this on purpose. He had known Sophia would be able to talk her into it. “Yeah, Kyra, why won’t you do it?” Henrik repeated Sophia’s words.

Kyra shook her head at Henrik before looking down at Sophia. “You know what? I’ll do it,” she said. Sophia started cheering, but Kyra couldn’t really figure out why. She didn’t think that Sophia really understood what Kyra was doing, but it was worth it to see Sophia that happy again. “Hey, Soph, why don’t you go back to your room for a little bit? I need to talk to Hank for a minute,” she told her daughter.

“Okay, Mommy,” Sophia said. “Bye, Hank,” she waved, and Henrik waved back.

Henrik could feel Kyra’s eyes on him, and when he looked over at her, he saw a frown on her face. “What?” he asked.

“You used my daughter,” she stated.

“I did no such thing,” Henrik told her.

“You knew I couldn’t say no to her, so you used her to get me to be Kristina’s bridesmaid!” she exclaimed with a laugh, unable to believe that Henrik was that deceitful.

“It worked, though, didn’t it?” Henrik said with a shrug.

Kyra shook her head. “I can’t believe you! You knew I didn’t want to do it.”

“Come on, it won’t be so bad,” he assured her. “Your daughter will be happy, and besides, you’ll be up at the front with me,” he added with a laugh.

“Yeah, I will,” Kyra agreed, wondering if this was Kristina’s plan all along.