The Girlfriend (Single Wide Female in Love, Book 2) (14 page)

My reflection was the most satisfying thing I’d ever seen. There before me was the Sammy I’d dreamed of being for so long. In the white wedding gown that I wore, my figure was flattered by the subtle curves of the design of the dress. All of my hard work had paid off. I finally looked the way I’d hoped I would on my wedding day.
 

“Uh, Sammy, you’re going to have to breathe at some point.”
 

The voice of my best friend brought me back to reality. I exhaled and the sucked-in tummy poofed right out. The figure that I saw in the mirror transformed into a roll of fat that threw off the entire look of the dress. In fact, it stretched the intricate lace so much that the pattern was distorted.
 

“Oh dear.” The owner of the boutique tried to pinch some material along my waist.
 

“Ouch—Gail!” I squirmed away from her touch.
 

“Sorry.” She gulped.

I blinked back tears. Since Max had proposed to me, I might have relaxed about my diet and exercise plan a little too much. I might have celebrated our engagement multiple times with multiple bottles of wine and multiple indulgences. There was no question in my mind that my weight loss had gone awry. It was visible right there in the mirror.
 

“I must be a little bloated.”
 

“More bloated than the last time we fitted the dress.” Gail looked up at me with a frown. “We’re going to have to let the dress out a size or two.”
 

“What?” I shook my head. “No, no, no. I wanted to be a certain size on my wedding day, and this dress is that size. We can’t let it out.”
 

“Sammy, can you even walk in it?” Stephanie sighed. “I don’t want to be harsh, but you have to be able to make it down the aisle, don’t you think?”
 

I scowled in her direction. Yes, I knew she was right. No, I didn’t like it. “Do you think it’s too late to hire one of those hand-carried sleighs?”
 

“No, it’s probably not too late, but you’ll have to stand to exchange your vows.”
 

I sighed. “The last thing I want is to worry about suffocating on my wedding day.”
 

“Not to mention having your circulation cut off.” Gail smiled.
 

“Thanks, thanks for that.” I tried not to roll my eyes. “Okay, so new plan. I just have to lose the weight—that’s all there is to it. I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”
 

“What if you can’t? Then it will be too late to let out the dress, and you won’t have anything to wear.” Gail tugged at the waist of the dress again.
 

“Gee, Gail, you’re not jumping on the positive thought bandwagon here, are you?” I batted her hand away from my waist before she could pinch it again.
 

“I’m just trying to be realistic, Samantha. I’ve dealt with a lot of brides. It’s a very sad thing when their wedding day is ruined because they won’t alter their dress. You’ll look just as beautiful with it let out. Trust me.”
 

I wanted to believe her, but I had a certain image burned into my mind. It had been there since I was a little girl. I didn’t want to change that image.
 

“Wait, how much time do you need to make alterations?”
 

“At least two weeks.”
 

“Okay. The wedding is in two months. So I have about six weeks, right?” I forced a smile to my lips. “I can slim down in six weeks. No problem! Right, Stephanie?” I glanced over my shoulder at my friend.
 

“Oh sure, right.” She quirked an eyebrow. “I mean, it takes me a year to lose five pounds, but you’re not me. I’m sure you could do it.”
 

I frowned. It wasn’t exactly the unwavering support that I’d been hoping for.
 

“No, I mean it. I really do. I’ve done it before. Not as fast, of course, but I know I can do it.” I looked into the mirror at Gail’s reflection. “We’ll have another fitting in six weeks. If the dress needs to be let out more, we’ll let it out then. If not, then I’ll get two weeks to enjoy fitting into my dress.”
 

“If that’s what you want.” Gail nodded. “You’re the bride.”
 

I smiled at her words. I liked how they sounded. I was the bride. I was going to marry the man of my dreams. If that wasn’t motivation enough to get my weight loss back on track, I didn’t know what would be.
 

“Sure, I just need to monitor my diet and ramp up my exercise. I’ll lose the weight in no time.” I stepped away from the mirror. As I did, I caught a glimpse of my wide round white rump in the dress.
 

“Oh!” I cringed. “And squats, lots of squats.”
 

“You can do it, Samantha.” Stephanie smiled at me. “But even if you can’t, Max will still think you are the most beautiful bride that ever walked the face of the earth.”
 

“You’re probably right.” I laughed.

As I changed out of the dress I knew that Stephanie was right. Max had gushed about my beauty when I was at my heaviest point. But this wasn’t about Max—not entirely. It was about me being the bride that I’d always imagined myself being.

Gail collected the dress from me with a wistful smile. “Every time I help a new bride prepare for her wedding it reminds me of my own.”
 

“Was it everything that you’d hoped for?” My heart swelled at the thought of it.
 

“Oh no, not at all. It was a disaster.” She shook her head. “The cake was knocked over, there was a surprise rainstorm that collapsed the tent on all my guests, and the groom got his shirt stuck in the fly of his pants. I was in tears most of the day.”
 

“That’s horrible.” My eyes widened at the thought of that happening to me.
 

“Yes, I thought it was too. But then my husband rescued the minister from under the tent and whisked me away to an old half-collapsed barn on the property, and the moment the minister told him to kiss me, a rainbow sprung across the sky. So to me, it was magical.”
 

I smiled at the sweetness of her memory. I could understand the lesson—that a wedding was about love, not about all the details. But I wanted the details to be perfect too.
 

“Thanks, Gail. I’ll see you in six weeks.”

End of the preview.
 

Get The Fiancée (Single Wide Female in Love, Book 3)
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All titles by Lillianna Blake Can be Found Here
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Single Wide Female in Love

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#1 The Date

#2 The Girlfriend
 

#3 The Fiancée (October, 2015)

#4 The Wife (December, 2015)

All titles in the Series Single Wide Female: The Bucket List

Save BIG on the 24 Book Bundle (Books 1-24) here:
 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011ARRJTG

* Also available in 6 book sets

#1 Learn Pole Dancing

#2 Start a Blog

#3 Learn to Cook

#4 Create a Masterpiece

#5 Run a Marathon

#6 Go Skinny Dipping

#7 Start Online Dating

#8 Learn Yoga

#9 Be a Mentor

#10 Crash a Wedding

#11 Be a Movie Extra

#12 Join a Writing Group

#13 Enjoy a Spa Day

#14 Donate Blood

#15 Learn Poker

#16 Get a Tattoo

#17 Host a Dinner Party

#18 Publish a Book

(*See below for the book Sammy writes in #18 -
 
“Becoming Zara” )

#19 Walk Across Hot Coals

#20 Learn to Swim

#21 Learn to Meditate

#22 Quit My Job

#23 Learn to Salsa

#24 Fall in Love

Other Single Wide Female Titles

My Valentine’s Day

St. Paddy’s Day Disaster

A Bunny Tale
 

Sammy’s Christmas List

******

Introducing Sammy’s first book, “Becoming Zara”
 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XVJ938M

All titles in the Series B.I.G. Girls Club

The Rockstar’s Girlfriend

The Former Model (Coming Soon)

**More Coming Soon**

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.