Fighter (Outsider Series) (8 page)

“It
is
really pretty,” Charlotte said, as she took the dress.

“And these
earrings would go perfect with it,” Chris pulled some earrings out of nowhere. What was she, the clothes magician?

“Did you find a
nything for yourself?” I asked, Chris.

“I’ve got a whole stack of stuff on the counter,” she pointed.

The poor checkout girl had apparently never met anyone like Chris.

“Go checkout,” I told her
, “And then, we’ll come along with these.”

She flounced off to the checkout and I looked at Charlotte
. “It’s going to be a long day.”

Ten shops later
, Chris had convinced me to buy enough clothes to fill an entire bedroom. I had no clue where I was going to put all the stuff. We were on our way back home, when I slammed on the brakes.

“Jesus! Sophie! What was that about?” Chris asked.

“Sorry,” I mumbled and went to hit the accelerator when Chris spotted what had made me stop so suddenly.

Her pale green eyes widened. “You have to go in there! You just have too! Pull over! Look someone’s pulling away now! It’s meant to be!”

I eyed the bridal boutique one more time before pulling into the now empty parking spot. Several cars honked at me, for holding up traffic.

We all hopped out of the car
, and dashed across the street and to the store. Everything was white; from the dresses, to the floor, to the counters, to the walls, to the shoes. White, white, white.

“Can I help you girls?” a sales lady dressed in black asked. Finally, a color other than white. “Are you here to pick up bridesmaids dresses?”

“No,” Chris pushed me forward. “Our Sophie here, is marrying her soul mate, in two weeks.”

The sales lady’s eyes immediately went to my stomach. Before I could bite my tongue
, I spat out, “No bun in the oven.”

She blushed at being caught. “Sorry,” she stammered.
“Is there any –uh- particular style you’re interested in.”

I shrugged. “I guess it’s probably more important to focus on what you have in stock and in my size… Seeing as the wedding is so soon.”

“Oh, yes… of course,” I almost felt bad for the frazzled woman. “Follow me,” she flicked a finger. “I’ll set you up in a private room and bring you some options we have available.”

Chris and Charlotte followed me inside the claustrophobia inducing room while the woman disappeared.

“Don’t even think about asking me to leave this room,” Chris held up a hand. “I need to be here to make sure you don’t throw away the perfect dress.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to remember this
, for when
you
get married.” I let out a sigh. “I certainly hope you’re not this bossy when I’m picking out your bridesmaid dress. You too, Charlotte.”

Chris screamed in an octave that seemed to
o high to possibly be remotely human, and threw her arms around my shoulders. “I get to be a bridesmaid?”

“Yes,” I smiled. “You both do,” I looked at Charlotte.

“Thank you, Sophie!” Charlotte joined in the squeal-fest.

Chris waggled her eyebrows. “Charlotte
, you know what this means?”

“Uh, no.”

“We get to throw a bachelorette party.”

I put my hands up. “No! No, way!”

“Yes,” Chris waggled her brows.

“No,” I said firmly. “I don’t want that.”

“Don’t ruin my fun,” Chris said.

“Fine,” I huffed. “But no male strippers.”

Chris’ face fell. “But that’s the point of a bachelorette party.”

“Not mine. When you get married
, I’ll make sure you have all the male strippers your little heart desires.”

“Now
that
is a compromise I can live with,” she giggled.

The saleslady returned at that moment with
several dresses. She hung them on a rack and then motioned for me to undress.

I sighed and stripped my clothes. She removed the first one from the hanger and helped me slip it on. It was a mermaid style
d dress, and way too fancy for my taste. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head no.

I removed the dress and tried the second one. It was old fashioned and really pretty
, but not for me.

Now
, the third dress?

It was perfect.

I smiled at my reflection and flattened my hands against the white lace fabric. It was snug fitting at the top and then flared out in a ballroom style. I fingered the sweetheart neckline. I liked the fact that it showed a little bit of cleavage, but I didn’t feel like I was going to flash everybody. Delicate fabric flowers adorned the waist. The back had a fairly long train and was accented with a beautiful bow. It was perfect, and everything I had never thought to dream of.

A tear rolled down my cheek. Whenever women cried over a wedding dress
, I always thought it was weird, but now, here I was doing it.

I wiped it away and said, “This is the one.”

The saleslady smiled and said, “You look absolutely beautiful.”

Chris and Charlotte clapped and I was surprised to find them both crying which only made me cry harder.

I fingered the lace overlay, studying the flower and leaf design. I smiled again. “Perfect,” I whispered. I looked at the saleslady, “I’ll take it.”

She helped me out of the dress and said, “I’ll get it wrapped up and hang it up at the counter. Could I
also interest you in any bridesmaids’ dresses today?”

I nodded. “Something simple, shorter,
and kinda flowy. And I’m thinking green. The wedding is going to be outside.”

“I’ll see what we have,” she tossed the dress over her arm.

I pulled on my clothes and sat in a chair to wait.

The door opened and the sales lady, I think her name was Marge, entered.

“These are all similar to the style you described. We can get them in any color you want and have them shipped to you within the week.”

“Let’s do this,” Chris started stripping her clothes and grabbed the first dress from Marge.
She slipped into the dress and Marge zipped her up.

The dusty green dress ended just at her knee, perfect for the summer. It had a V-neckline but it wasn’t too revealing. I stood and fingered the silk chiffon.

I smiled. “That’s exactly what I wanted.” I turned to Marge. “You are incredible.”

She smiled brightly. “I think you are the easiest client I’ve ever had.” She motioned to Charlotte. “I’m going to go see if we have your size in stock in that same color. I’ll be right back.”

I unzipped Chris and hung the dress back up.

Chris smiled at me as she wiggled in her jeans. “At least you’re not a bridezilla.”

I realized that I had to have a way to pay for the dresses, so I called my mom and told her my predicament.

“Oh sweetie,” she said. “You still have that card your dad gave you right? We had already planned to buy the dresses. I would’ve told you
, but I didn’t think you’d look until you got home.”

“It just sort of happened,” I told her, already day dreaming about the
dress I had just found.

“Aww, sweetie,” I could hear her tearing up. “I can’t wait to see you in it.”

“I can’t wait to show it to you, mommy. It’s so beautiful, it’s more than I ever imagined.” It wasn’t really that hard for any dress to be better than I imagined. I had never been one of those girls, that sat around and day dreamed about Prince Charming and what kind of napkins to use at my wedding. It just wasn’t me.

“Amy and I are making some headway here. We’re going to look at invitations this evening. I’ll send you pictures and you and Caeden can tells us your favorite.”

“Isn’t it kind of late to get invites?”

“This place prints them next-day.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Amy and I will probably both be calling you and Caeden off and on to get your approval on details. So be sure
that you both keep your phones on you.”

“Alright, mom.”

“I can’t wait to see your dress! And just charge it to your father’s card! The bridesmaid’s dresses too,” she added.

“I will. Love you,” I said.

“Love you too,” she hung up.

I looked over at Chris and Charlotte. “We’re good to go.”

“Eeeek!” Chris shrieked as she threw her arms around me. “This is all just so exciting!”

We left the little room and headed out front. Marge came out of a back room with another garment bag. “You’re in
luck! We had another one of this dress in just the right size and color.”

“That’s great,” I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she had said I’d be able to get the dress within a week
, if it had to be custom ordered, I had still imagined something bad happening, like it arriving in the wrong color.

“Are you interested in any veils today? Tiaras? Shoes?” She motioned to the display set up in front of the shop.

“No thanks,” I shook my head, already reaching for my wallet. “I think a veil or a tiara would take away from the beauty of the dress. I don’t want to overdo it.”

“Any shoes?”

I cringed, dreading to have to try on heels with my sore feet. Even though I had jokingly stated wearing sneakers, I had kind of warmed up to the idea. After all, I was tall already. It’s not like I needed the extra height. But I knew between Chris, my mom, and Amy there was no way I would get away with it.

“Uh, sure,” I let Marge take me to the shoe display. She asked me my shoe size and then went to get all the pairs they had in my size.
She returned with five different boxes and proceeded to remove them so that I could look at them.

I looked over the different pairs and picked one up that had tiny flowers on the back, similar to the ones on the dress. I slipped my shoes off and put the heels on. They were a good fit and about as c
omfortable as a high heels could be.

I modeled them in front of a mirror and said, “I think these will be perfect with the dress.”

“Excellent,” Marge said as I slipped the shoes off. She placed them back in the box and took it to the register where the dresses were waiting.

She rang everything up and I handed her the credit card. After signing the receipt
, she handed the garment bags to me, and the box of shoes to Charlotte.

I hung the dresses from one of those hanger things in the backseat
and hopped in the driver’s seat.

“Well, I would say today has been successful,” Chris remarked as she fastened her seatbelt.

“I have to agree,” I said, and couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off my face. “I can’t believe I found a dress.”

“It’s like it was meant to be,” Charlotte said from the backseat.

I nodded my head in agreement.

I was surprised to find that that the guys were back. I figured they’d be gone longer than us. I glanced at the clock in the car and blanched. Seven o’ clock! We’d shopped all day! I think this was a first for me.

I grabbed the garment bags and headed for the door. It swung open and Caeden stood there grinning. He leaned against the side of the door with his arms crossed over his chest. His shirt rode up a tiny bit showing off his tan stomach and the edge of his boxers.

“Did you h
ave fun ladies?” he winked.

“You have no idea,” Chris said, walking past him
, and into the house.

Charlotte turned to me; she had my shopping bags. “I’ll take these upstairs for you.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

After she was gone
, Caeden nodded to the three white garment bags slung over my arm. “What are those?”

I grinned. “I found a dress.”

His eyes widened. “A dress dress? Like a wedding dress?”

I laughed. “Yeah, and bridesmaid dresses too. I wasn’t even
planning on looking, but it just sort of happened.” A blissful look stole over my face. “It’s so beautiful, Caeden. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“Show it to me,” he reached for the bag.

I swatted his hand. “Ow! What was that for?”

Oops. Guess I put too much force behind that. “Sorry, but you can’t see this dress
, yet. Not until I’m walking down the aisle. And don’t even
think,
about peeking Caeden Henry Williams,” I pointed my finger at him.

He put his hand up in surrender. “Fine. No peeking.”

I went around him and started up the steps. “I’m going to hang these up.”

“We’re going out for dinner tonight
, so get ready.”

I saluted him. “Aye, aye,
Captain.”

seven.

Caeden wanted to eat at a seafood restaurant located on the beach. We ended up snagging a table outside. I was thankful to be able to soak in the salty sea air.