Page 100 of Love Game

“Well, I finally got invited to one of your weddings,” her sister said with a sniff. “I could hardly pass that up, right?”

“Audrey, I tried—”

But her sister stopped her with an outstretched hand. “I know. I get it.” She shot an affection-filled glance at her daughter, then smiled. “We’re just glad to be here.” Tipping her head toward the door, she said, “Mark’s here too,” referring to her husband. “He was excited to get to watch part of the draft with all you basketball types.”

“Speaking of the draft,” Millie interrupted. “We need to get you changed and this show on the road, or we aren’t going to be able to pull this off before the first pick.” She tugged the zipper on the garment bag all the way down. “Dress.”

Kate caught a glimpse of traditional white satin and organza, then realized something was missing. Kate found herself awaiting a lecture on patriarchal traditions and the suppression of feminist ideals by the wedding industry. “Where’s Avery?”

“She’s handling things out front. She said to tell you that if you find it hypocritical to dress yourself up as a vestal virgin en route to ritual sacrifice, you can find her by the pool table and she’ll protect you from Bridezilla.” Millie pursed her lips. “I think she means me, but as usual, Avery misses the point.” She pulled a flat, white box out of her ever-present tote bag and thrust it at Kate. “Bridal undergarments.”

“Wait until you see the shoes, Aunt Katie,” Kylie gushed. “They’re like Cinderella shoes.”

Millie snorted. “As if Cinderella could afford Jimmy Choos.”

Kate blinked. She’d spent enough time with Millie to know that the name meant some serious shoe dollars spent. “Jimmy Choos?”

A beatific smile lit Millie’s face. “I got them at a trillion percent off. You are so lucky to have those enormous feet. The sale racks were practically begging me to relieve them of their burden.” She nodded to the stall. “But shoes last. Get changed, and we’ll get you hitched up.”

“Millie’s a romantic,” Kate called to Kylie as she stepped into the stall. “Every day, she whistles ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ to all the little mice and bluebirds.” She smiled at her sister as she draped the garment bag over the top of the stall. “Thanks, Audrey.”

Audrey nodded. “We’ll be out here if you need help with the zipper or something.”

As Kate swung the stall door shut, she heard Kylie say, “That song was from Snow White, and she didn’t sing it to mice and bluebirds. She sang it to the dwarves. Cinderella had the mice and birds, but Aunt Katie can never keep them straight.”

Eyeing the garment bag with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, she stripped out of her clothes and opened the box first. Millie had chosen lacy, white bikini panties and a matching strapless bra. Simple. Beautiful. Exactly what Kate might have chosen herself.

Clad only in the new lingerie and her sneakers, she tuned out the running commentary coming from the other side of the door and zeroed in on the dress bag. It wasn’t overly puffy, thank God. And Millie hadn’t selected any kind of special underpinnings, so whatever was inside had to be fairly simple.

Nudging the bag open wider, she gasped when the faint opalescent sheen of the satin came to life under the harsh fluorescent lights. A thin layer of organza covered the satin from the softly draped neckline to the hem, like early-morning mist clinging to a rippling river. She pushed the protective cover off the hanger, anxious to get the full impact.

The dress was perfect. A long, slender column of fabric so sumptuous it needed no beading or embellishment.

A sob rose in her throat and caught on a loud hiccup.

“Everything okay?” Millie called out worriedly.

Okay? The word was nowhere close to what she needed to describe this dress. It was everything she had dreamed of and like nothing she’d ever imagined.

“Katie?” Audrey prompted.

Kate swallowed hard. “Perfect,” she managed to croak at last. “It’s perfect.”

* * *

While Kate was in the bathroom with the girls, Danny sauntered over to the bar and found Mike standing there beside his wife, a suit bag hanging from the brass rail beneath the bar.

“Hey, thanks for bringing this for me. I didn’t know how I was going to get over here with the full suit on without Kate getting suspicious.”

“No problem,” Mike said. “Happy to help.”

Danny smiled at Mike’s wife, Diane, and leaned in. “Hey, sweetheart, how are you?”

Diane stretched onto tiptoes to hug him hard. “I’m so happy for you, Danny. So happy to see you happy.”

Chuckling at her gushing, he shook his head as he drew back. “You are the happiest girl I know, so if you’re happy, and you’re even happier that I’m happy, this place might explode from happiness.”

Mike hesitated only for a second, then leaned in to speak in a low tone. “Hey, listen, it may not all be great news. There’s someone here that you may not want to see.”

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