window.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Well, no. Is that a problem?”
“I’m sorry, but you need an appointment.” All my wedding gown dreams faded.
“Oh, okay. Can I–”
“What are you doing right now?” Sheila butted in. “This place is like a mausoleum. You can’t tell me every person here is busy.”
“Um, no. But you still need an appointment.”
“Are you taking care of someone right now?” Sheila persisted.
“Well, no. But–”
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem getting the dress for her to try on.”
The girl turned and saw there was no one around to rescue her from Sheila’s tyranny. “O-okay. Let me set you up in a fitting room.”
On the way, she asked my bra size and grabbed a strapless from a drawer. She pulled a crinoline from a rack and took that with us, too. After handing the pile of undergarments to me, she opened the curtain of a small changing room.
“Your mother can sit there.” She pointed at a couch near the round pedestal in the center of the room.
My eyes met Sheila’s and we burst out laughing. The girl gave a half smile and excused herself from the room. She came back a few minutes later to help me into the dress.
“This is silk razmir with an embellished tulle overlay bodice.”
She tugged it down around my body and zipped the back. Its deep lacy v-neck showed off a healthy set of breasts and even with the small mirror in the tiny dressing room, I could tell the dropped waist gave my hips the perfect amount of va-va-voom.
“It has an asymmetrical, floral-embroidered, peplum skirt,” she said as she motioned to it.
I had no clue what any of that meant, but I loved the flowy skirt with its ruffled white flowers, something I never would have thought I’d like.
“It’s a piece from Monique Lhuillier’s fall collection.”
Now that was a name I knew.
She opened the curtain and I followed her to the pedestal. Sheila sat on the couch on her cellphone, ending the call when I appeared.
“Wow. You look like a bride.”
“That is the point.”
I turned and caught my reflection in the giant mirror–all of it. The dress girl, Misty, dimmed the lights and flipped on some special ones, making every bead and crystal sparkle. She set a tiara and tulle veil on my head and stepped back.
“What do you think?”
For the first time, maybe ever in my life, there were no words.
“I’ll give you a few minutes.”
She left and I stared at myself. This was the dress I would be wearing when I married Rich, the love of my life, the only man who had ever completed my world. I remembered our beginning and the moment I knew I loved him. And the moment I knew I couldn’t live without him.
I blinked a few times to clear tears before turning and facing Sheila again. “I’m gonna get this dress. What do you think?”
“It’s pretty. Too fru-fru for my liking, but it suits you.”
“Thanks for bullying the salesgirl into letting me try it on.”
“Eh, no problem.”
All of a sudden a strange feeling came over me and I had to spit out my thoughts before I lost the nerve. “You wanna be a bridesmaid?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Seems like a good idea.”
She took a second before answering. “Sure. But don’t even think about dressing me in anything even remotely like that thing.” She pointed to my dress.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Chapter 8
“I ordered my dress today,” I squealed to Kevin later that night. Rich was in the shower and Marcus played with Preston. I pulled a sheet of paper from my purse, an internet picture I’d printed.
He gasped. “A. Maze. Ing.”
“I know!”
“Girl, you are so gonna be the prettier bride. How can I possibly compete with that?”
“Oh stop. I’m sure we’ll find you something just as fabulous.”
Rich came into the kitchen and I scrambled to hide the picture. He kissed me on the cheek. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing,” Kevin said. “Girl stuff.”
* * * *
Summer had just begun and already we were hit with a sweltering heat wave. We were fine in the apartment–central air cooling every square inch. But outside, walking around naked would have done nothing to alleviate the intense heat.
Preston desperately needed summer clothes, especially swim trunks and one of those SPF sun shirts. We’d definitely be working in some days at the pool and the beach. I packed his diaper bag and stroller and set off for the baby store.
When I’d been pregnant with Preston, I never cared to shop for baby stuff. But once he was here, I sometimes couldn’t control myself. Good thing the store delivered purchases for a small fee.
We walked into the store, a children’s show come to life, with bright colors, cheerful faces, and an annoyingly chipper rendition of The Wheels on the Bus blaring from above. There were toys and stuffed animals as far as the eye could see, some human-sized, and right away Preston stretched his hands toward a bright green stuffed dinosaur on a display near the door. I handed it to him, of course, knowing full well there was no way I’d get it out of his grasp once I did. No biggie. Every boy needs a stuffed dinosaur.
I started in the clothing section, figuring I’d get that taken care of first. Someone once told me girls were much more fun to dress, but boy’s stuff was pretty darn cute, too. I grabbed four different pairs of preppy plaid shorts and some khaki cargos. After grabbing the essential polo shirts and some screen printed tees, I spied some adorable rocker-type shirts–had to have those, too. Preston would be oh so adorable in the black one with silver lettering: I’m with the Band.
I passed a rack of character tees and tried to zoom by as fast as possible. But Preston had already spotted his favorite–Elmo. I sighed and grabbed one of the shirts and held it up. My baby abandoned his green dinosaur and reached for the white t-shirt with Elmo’s face covering the entire thing.
“Do we have to get this?” I asked, not expecting an answer, of course.
I searched the rack and found a red polo with a small embroidered Elmo on the left hand-side, a Sesame Street version of a Lacoste shirt.
“How about this instead?”
Preston seemed somewhat pleased, especially when I shoved the dinosaur back into his hands, along with a stuffed Elmo.
I held up the shirt one more time, shook my head, and added it to my growing pile of purchases.
“I bet you never thought you’d be buying an Elmo shirt.” The voice behind me sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. When I swung around, there stood Zak–the ex who’d cheated on me with one of my best friends.
It all came swirling back–the day my entire world had fallen apart. I’d walked in on Zak and Brenda screwing on my bed. The morning had already been bad, but after that, it had spiraled into the fiery depths of hell.
“Um, hi.”
“How