( special delivery for: @dilanxbarak )
location: The Jade Palace
Tatum still had no idea how she was even invited to this gorgeous wedding, she felt honored and was really happy to be there. Standing in her pink, slimming dress and red heels, she held a glass of red wine in her hand and sipped on it as she admired the decorations and flowers all around. “This is such a beautiful wedding isn’t it,” she said to the person next to her. “Are you having fun so far?” She asked, shooting them a smile.
Where: The Sugar Shack
Who: Open @providencepeakstarters
Anyone who knew Casey would know she had one hell of a sweet tooth. It was one of the main things she’d learned to appreciate about recovery, her newfound love for all types of candies. Rock candy pops had become some of her favorites and she found herself at The Sugar Shack more often than not to get herself a new batch and try all of the different flavors. As she was loading her little baggie with goodies, she looked over at the person next to her and smiled wide, the excitement very clear on her face. “Oh my frick frackin’ God, I swear this place is the closest thing we’ll have to Heaven on Earth.” Her manicured fingers ran through the ends of her blonde hair as she hummed in pure joy. “Whatcha gettin’?” she finally asked them, biting her bottom lip with raised eyebrows in anticipation of their answer. Maybe she would get herself some of what they were having as well.
“Go ahead and pick out whatever you want, baby,” Tatum said to her 5 year old son, Davis who was already drooling at the sight of all of the candy in the store. Chuckling to his face, she gave his hand a squeeze and looked around before meeting a woman’s excited eyes. “Heaven on Earth, huh? My son seems to think so too,” she said, motioning to her son who couldn’t look away from the candy. “I want it all mommy!” Davis said after a moment finally looking up at her and Tatum laughed.
Cam was out shopping for a birthday gift for one of her bartenders, when she came across another woman looking back and forth between two dresses in her hands. It was clear by the conflicted look etched into her features that she was torn over what dress struck her fancy most. Cam casually made her way over to the blonde, softly clearing her throat to catch her attention. “Need a second opinion?”
With Springtime around the corner, Tatum knew that nicer weather was soon approaching so she was out shopping for dresses today. Holding a slimmer, fancier one in her right hand and more of a summer dress in her left, she couldn’t decide on which one to go for. Hearing a voice, she turned to look at the woman and chuckled. “My confusion is that obvious, huh?” Smiling, she showed her both of the dresses. “This one is more sexy date night and this one is more spring, summer picnic. I might just get them both.”
trigger warnings/content warnings: mention of abortion
When people think of Tatum Lillian James, a strong woman usually comes to mind. With her mom being a high school teacher and her father being a police officer, she was always taught to be strong, yet soft, but independent yet loyal woman. Growing up as the oldest of two other siblings was tough, but she wouldn’t trade her siblings for the world. There was Lillian, her mother, Craig, her father, herself, Ian, her brother and Grace, her younger sister. Being only two years apart from each other, the three were the best of friends. Growing up in the big city of Los Angeles, with the celebrities and the constant big events going on, Tatum found herself living a pretty normal life.
Tatum enjoyed playing sports such as softball and soccer and was even in some of the school plays, mainly coordinating them. While she quickly found her niche of coordinating events, big or small, she knew never to back down from anyone. She eventually started developing more of a “Type A” personality the older she became, though she never saw that as a negative thing about her. Once she graduated high school, as badly as her parents wanted her to stay in California, she decided to up and leave to attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. All while living the college life of joining a sorority, partying way too much and having a few hookups here and there, Tatum always put her priorities first. Being able to coordinate events for her college was the best part and after four successful years, she got her dual bachelors degrees in business and communications.
After graduating at Northwestern, Tatum decided to move herself to the big city of Chicago. As much as she “loved” Los Angeles, she found herself connecting more with Chicago and after a summer of fun and settling in, she started her career as an event coordinator. Obviously she started as an intern first, though she was able to learn a lot from them. Eventually, her mentor meant the world to her and it didn’t take long for Tatum to go off on her own and start to make a name for herself in the city. When her career started rolling, she ended up at a local bar for fun celebration, meeting a man she never thought was going be a big part of her life. Having one too many drinks, the two ended up going home together and a couple weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. Not ready to be a mother at the age of 26, Tatum, was close to getting an abortion though she never went through with it. With the father being a one-night-stand, she ended up going through the pregnancy alone and nine months later, she gave birth to her son, Davis. While she was scared to death of being a mother, she took it head on and loved every single minute of it. Davis became her best friend, the love of her life and she loved being his mother.
Five years later, making herself very known in Chicago while spending all the time in the world with Davis, Tatum got a call from a board member in a small town in Colorado called Providence Peak. Deciding that it was time to leave the big city, she packed her things and her and Davis left in a matter of days. When the two arrived to Providence Peak, she was skeptical about the life of small town living though with how charming it was, she was sold. Getting Davis into a new kindergarten class and settling herself back into her career, day by day she found herself thankful to be living in a small town and loves it completely.
