Page 48 of Reckless

“I’m so sorry,” Clem started again. “My sister is…opinionated. It’s a beautiful dress, but it’s not really my style.”

Madison moved the curtain and walked down the podium like a professional model. She was typing insanely fast on her phone and her eyes were narrowed into slits. She turned her head in my direction, her gaze moving up and down my body for a moment, then returned to her typing. When she finally finished, she faced me again.

“I hate pink,” she said, no greeting whatsoever. “All the shades of it. Everything else is fine by me, but you should probably have in mind that that thing you’re holding right now will make you look like a blue-eyed chicken.” I glanced down at my hands. I was holding a yellow gown I had no intentions of trying on anyway. “I am a bridesmaid, so we are going to wear the same color. Stay away from everything pink and we won’t have a problem. I’m thinking you should wear a gown and the bridesmaids should opt for something shorter, something around the knee.”

She pointed at her own knee. She was wearing at least a couple of thousand dollars on her and that’s if you didn’t count the shoes. Her black pencil skirt engulfed her nonexistent curves perfectly. She wore the whitest silk blouse I had ever seen. Her blond hair, the exact same shade as Tyler’s, fell down her back in waves and looked softer than a cloud.

Clem peeked behind the curtain of the dressing room and mouthedI am sorry. I winked at her, and Madison exhaled loudly.

“Don’t try to gang up on me. You will regret it.”

Then she turned her back to me and went back to talk to the sales lady whom I sincerely pitied right now. She had to find a dress for a bride that didn’t really care about fashion in the company of her ex-model mother and her sister that looked like a Victoria’s Secret angel both in body shape and fashion sense.

I tore my eyes away from Madison and focused on finding a dress that wasn’t pink. A few minutes later I saw something that I thought I would look great in. I asked the sales lady for the right size and snuck inside the small room next to the podium.

The truth was I was probably going to choose something pink if it wasn’t for Madison’s warning. A dusty pink maybe. But I didn’t care about it enough to make a big deal out of it.

After I put on the strapless, emerald-green gown I had picked, I looked myself in the mirror. I couldn’t help but hate pink myself in that moment. I swayed my ass and my naked thigh flashed through the slit that reached way above my knee. I imagined Tyler looking at me in that dress.

Tyler of all people, not my actual boyfriend. Shame made my stomach flip. Desperate to distract myself I concentrated on the conversation Madison and Sylvia were having somewhere close to my dressing room.

“I wasn’t interested. Drop it.”

“Madison, he was a pediatrician. Not just any doctor, but one that loves children and would know how to take care of a baby. Do you know how important it is to have a husband like that?”

“I wasn’t interested,” Madison repeated with a venomous tone.

“Mike has a nephew in New York. He is a realtor. He makes a lot of money.”

“So do I, thank you very much. Besides, you just said I had to marry a pediatrician to have someone to take care of my children.”

“If you have enough money, you could hire a fulltime sitter.”

I wanted to get out of the dressing room, but I was curious who would have the last word in an argument between these two.

“Stop setting me up with random people.”

“He’s not a random person. He is Mike’s nephew.”

“Okay, fine. Stop setting me up. Period.”

“Hi,” I heard Clem’s voice somewhere in the distance, probably taking a phone call.

“This conversation is not over,” Sylvia warned.

“It is to me,” Madison said sounding a lot calmer than just a second ago.

Two pairs of stilettos walked away. I took one last look in the mirror and decided to show myself to the women outside.

I strolled out, expecting judgement only from four pairs of female eyes, if I counted the sales lady. But the first thing my eyes found in that bridal store was Tyler’s ridiculously handsome face. He was already staring at me, his gaze moving slowly down my body reaching the slit of my dress. The shame I felt a minute ago when I imagined him ogling me was gone and replaced with exhilaration.

Another Hartley sibling took a good look at me head to toe.

“I can work with that. What do you think?” Madison asked Clem.

“I love it. You look amazing, Hannah.”

“She really does,” Madison said with a serious tone. She waved to the sales lady, then pointed at me and ordered. “I want that. Shorter.” She turned her attention back to Clem. “I hate that dress. I can’t tell you what’s wrong with it, but I hate it.” She navigated Clem back to the podium.

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