Chapter 52

The rest of the European leg of the tour was amazing. Justin showed her places they’d toured at in the early days on *NSYNC, small compared to the arenas he was filling now. They did other sightseeing, especially in London, with 2 days off between shows to end that part of the tour. 

They had a month of downtime before the next leg. Jenn wanted to go back to San Jose to finalize wedding plans. Justin flew with her, so he could see the reception site and coordinate his security and any extra local security that might be needed. 

When he saw the giant ballroom they would be using, he had a huge smile on his face. “It’s a great space, Jenn. Food, drinks, lots of room for dancing. It already looks grand by itself, but with the concepts you sketched out, it’s going to look AMAZING.”

“Thanks. While you talk with security and the site here, I’m going to go spend a little time with the girls,” Jenn said. 

“Dress stuff?” he asked. She nodded, kissing his cheek before leaving. 

She met the girls at the bridal shop. Her dress was ready for her fitting. They ushered her to a dressing room, the dress in a thick bag. The girls waited with baited breath. “Take my phone, I want a video so I can show the moms,” Jenn said, opening the door for the boutique woman to give them her phone. 

“Ready,” they said. 

They slowly opened the door and she stepped out. The girls audibly gasped when they saw her. 

“That is STUNNING Jenn. Justin is totally gonna cry. He’s not usually emotional in front of us,  but for this, he’s gonna lose it,” they said. 

She turned for the camera to get the whole dress. They could see the details she had talked about along the back and train. 

“It is beautiful, only you would design a dress like this and be able to pull it off. And how your shoes peek through just a little. Now we just need the finishing touches with the veil and jewelry,” Leah asked. 

Jenn tried on different veils before finding one she liked. They would add more details to it to make it hers. She would even custom make her comb piece to hold the veil in place. 

“Justin and I can go shopping for the jewelry, so he can at least see one part of what I’ll be wearing,” Jenn said. 

She texted the video to the moms, then called Justin to let him know she was heading back over to the reception site. “I’m trusting this dress to you girls. I refuse to travel with it and have it get lost, or have Justin take a peek at it.” Jenn said. 

She hugged the girls goodbye as she left the dress with them. She met Justin inside the reception space. 

“Everything figured out for our privacy measures?” she asked. 

“Pretty much. We’ll have tents and barricades up to help along the street, they’ve guaranteed the parking lot will be just for us. I offered to pay extra for it. Our transportation has been arranged, a stretch limo for us and the wedding party to arrive, then add another private car for our exit. It’s all coming together,” Justin said. 

“Two months left, we definitely need to wrap things up and tie up loose ends. I think we’ve got most everything else done. We finalized the food, alcohol, cake, I have my dress and accessories. Just need to finalize my jewelry beyond the wedding band. You and the guys have your suits figured out?”

“Yeah,” Justin nodded. We’ll pick them up here the week of the wedding. We’ve got a few days between LA and here to get them. The guys are getting here 2 days before the wedding. We’ll do the bachelor party the night they fly in so we’re sober for the rehearsal and the wedding. You have your bachelorette party figured out?”

“Yeah. I told them what I want to do, we’ll see if they stick with that or go to the extreme,” she said. 

“Shall we go to the hotel, change for dinner?” Justin asked. Jenn nodded and held his hand as they left. 

“What were you thinking for tonight?” Jenn asked. 

“You leave that up to me. You brought the black dress, right?”

“Just in case, yeah. We getting fancy?”

“Is that a problem?” Justin asked. 

“I guess not, but a lot of our going out has been fancy. It’s been a while now we’ve had a low key night out together,” she replied. 

“It’s normally easier to have privacy in the fancier places. But a little hole in the wall could be just as nice.  I’ll save my night for closer to the wedding. Maybe even in LA since most places are better equipped for that kinda thing.  Let me know where you wanna go and we’ll do low key tonight.”

They got up to the hotel room to change. 

“Well, there’s a diner just across the street from the hotel, or there’s a small Italian place I know.  Burgers, fries, and shakes, or pasta and cannolis?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a greasy spoon burger. We were in Milan last month so we’ve done proper pasta recently.”  

Justin pulled on a hoodie and grabbed a hat, his classic ‘hiding in public’ look. Jenn just grabbed a jacket just in case it got cold. They went through the back entrance to the hotel and crossed the street to a 50’s themed diner. Justin got a burger, Jenn got a chicken sandwich, they shared an order of chili cheese fries and a vanilla shake. Jenn quietly sang along to the songs that played over the stereo, Justin just stared off in contentment. 

“Hey, you in there?” Jenn said, waving her hand in front of his face. 

He snapped back to reality. “Yeah, fine. Like you said, it’s been a while since we did much so low key. It’s nice. Thinking of taking a long break after this tour. Be home for most of our first year. Maybe start a family, or start trying at least. What are your thoughts on that last part? I know I keep pushing your design studio, but do you really want that?”

“Well, it takes almost a year to get regular periods back after coming off the shots, so if I get shots for the first 3-6 months, we’ll be a year in before we’ll be able to start trying. If you’re feeling the itch to do something you can always act, do a movie or two. Those usually don’t take that long compared to almost a full year on tour, and the same location every night. I could come with a lot easier. Yeah, the design studio could be great, but I don’t want it to push back having kids. I’d rather push back work than family. I can substitute teach like I have been, still make my own schedule in that respect. If the baby has a rough night I just don’t take a call the next morning, easy as that. I can do design clients individually on the side for fun until the kids are older. I like the idea of you being closer to home for a while,” she smiled, taking his hands in hers. 

“Well, what's next beautiful?” he asked. 

“I was thinking we could walk a few blocks to the improv. See who’s doing a show, even if they’re terrible we can drink til they’re funny.”

“Sounds good, lead the way.”  She took his arm as they left the diner and walked down the street. 

He kept his head down, looking at her to avoid any glances from passers by. The Improv was having some local comedians for the night.  They bought tickets and got a table in the back corner of the theater for privacy and opportunities to kiss without disturbing other guests. 

The comedians weren’t terrific, but they weren’t terrible either. They walked back to the hotel and got into their room. 

Justin kissed her.  “I have an idea for the rest of our night. Get the bathtub ready and I’ll be right in.”