Page 162 of Set Me On Fire

My hissed question died when we got inside. I had been transported from the road and all the noise of traffic into a world of satin and silk. In other words, heaven. My fingers twitched, wanting to flick through racks, touch heavy fabrics of cream, ivory, and champagne.

But there was no point.

I plastered a smile on my face, ready to tell Jamie just that when a gorgeous sales assistant walked up.

“Can I help you with anything, ladies?”

“We’re looking for a wedding dress for her,” Jamie said. “A bridesmaid dress for me.”

I stared at her, wondering what the hell was going on. She shot me an impish look, the sales assistant whirling around to consult the racks.

“What sort of budget were you thinking?” the woman asked.

What the hell! I mutely screamed at Jamie to quit it. The poor woman probably got paid by commission, and she didn’t need to waste her time with us.

What? she mimed back, throwing up her hands, then dropping them when the sales assistant turned back to us.

“Budget’s pretty open at this point,” Jamie replied, forcing me to slap my forehead against my palm.

We had done things like this before. She’d come into a formalwear place with me, watch me try on dress after dress, even though I had no event to warrant buying one. Sometimes you just wanted to pretend you had a red carpet worthy life, y’know? But I never hassled the sales assistants and put everything back the way I found it on the rack. No harm, no foul.

“Are you thinking strapless, because you’ve got great shoulders.” I looked over at Jamie, but nope, the sales assistant was talking to me.

“Oh, thanks, but I?—”

“I’m thinking a fitted bodice, but not too much detailing. You’ve got great curves, but too much fussiness just adds width,” the sales assistant said.

“I was thinking the same.” My reply was an honest one, because I’d looked at wedding gowns in magazines, sorting the images into a mental yes or no bin. Looks like my bestie was going to give me another gift, to do that for real. “Maybe some boning in the bodice. My ‘curves’ need a bit of taming after giving birth to a child.”

“I hear ya,” the woman said with a smile. “How old’s your little one?”

I ended up telling her all about Chloe, but not her dads, in between trying on this dress or that. Some were too fussy, some so heavily boned I couldn’t take a full breath, and on others, the fitted bodice went too far down the body, revealing my now much softer, squishier stomach in a way that wasn’t attractive. This was just pretend, I had to remind myself, as I let out a huff of breath. The lines of this dress were gorgeous, but the chunky Swarovski crystals were doing nothing for me.

“Nope, not that one either,” the woman said, as Jamie walked out in a stunning cornflower blue dress. “I think your bridesmaid has found a winner, though.”

“Oh my god…” My fugly dress was forgotten as I shuffled closer, careful not to tread on the long train. “Jamie!”

“I scrub up alright?” She twisted and turned in the mirror. “With these nails I look like a real girl.”

“You always look like a real girl, idiot,” I said, shaking my head, then said something potentially risky. “We need to get this dress for you.”

“What?” She blinked as she stared at me.

“If only to watch my brothers swallow their tongues. Jamie…” I reached down, holding out the train of her dress like she was the bride. “You look stunning, and I…” I whipped out Knox’s credit card, the colour of it having the sales assistant’s eyes gleaming. “Have ‘Daddy’s’ credit card.”

“We can’t—” she started to say.

“We can.” I turned to the saleswoman. “We’ll take this one, thanks.”

“Millie…!” Jamie hissed as the woman went out the back to find a new one in the same size.

“Jamie…!” I grinned then. “I don’t care if you wear it to work and get it all stained with oil… Shit, yes, I do. How about we pinky swear that we’ll live a life that will mean we have to wear an amazing dress like this at some point? Maybe you’ll get an award for being an awesome mechanic. Do they do that sort of thing?”

“No,” she snorted.

“Well…” I swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat. “Maybe we should buy it now in case the Australian government gets their head out of its arse and legalises polygamous marriages. I’ll need you to wear that dress as I marry my guys.”

“Yeah?” She put a hand on her hip as she cocked it. “Well, then you need to buy a wedding dress. You can… manifest it, or whatever the kids are saying these days.”

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