Page 46 of When Fate Breaks
I stare at the dress, the white shiny satin hugging every curve of my body in the right way. The front of the fabric drapes down the perfect amount, showing off just enough cleavage to make me feel unusually sexy but not enough to be inappropriate for a family occasion. The gown is the perfect length, hitting just above the floor and swimming over every inch of my 5-foot-9-inch frame. I spin around, looking once again at the open back and piecing together the full picture. It’s beautiful. It makes mefeelbeautiful. But…
“What is it?” Leah asks. My gaze snaps to hers in the mirror.
Dammit. Does she have to be able to read me so wellallthe time?
I blow out a breath.
Of course she does, dummy. She’s your best friend.
“You don’t like it?” she pushes.
“No.I do. I really like it. I just…I don’t know. Something about it doesn’t feel…totally like…me?”
The shop consultant reappears out of nowhere, wheeling a clothing rack full of dresses. She stops in her tracks when she sees me, pushing her cat eye glasses up on the bridge up her nose. “Oh, that is just stunning on you, Ms. Jacks! Surely this is the one?” she asks expectantly.
“I– I’m…not sure. It’s beautiful, but I just can’t place my finger on what’s not clicking.”
“Perhaps a different color?” she suggests. “It’s best to stand out at a party anyways– Oh, look. I have a few of the same style on the rack right here,” she says, pulling a couple of dresses free, blocked from my view. “We have it in black. And this lovely wine-red shade.” She holds each variation out individually as she speaks. “I think there’s one more here. Let me see…”
“Well, as it is a wedding event, itistraditional to go with white,” Lori Beth speaks up. “Annie, you’ll just have to choose one of the ones you’ve tried on.”
I hear the clink and scrape of another hanger being pulled from the rack. “Oh, yes. Here we are. Oh, and look! This one is in your size,” the consultant says, straightening the dress behind the wall of other options before holding it out.
“I know it’s isn’t the easiest to find a flattering fit for your body type,” Lori Beth continues, “but they’ll have to do–”
“That one.”
“What?” Lori Beth questions, causing me to register that I even spoke. “Thatone?”
“Oh, fantastic!” the consultant squeals, handing the dress to me.
I take it from her, not sure why my hands are suddenly shaky. I swallow hard, tracing my fingers over fabric. So specific of a color. Light blue with a hint of purple. Pressure gathers in my throat and behind my eyes. “Yeah,” I say, my voice raspy, feeling a smile creep to my lips. “This one.” I hold the dress up in front of me, taking in the details all over again and letting out a sigh I didn’t realize I was holding. “This one…is me.”
I glance up, catching Leah’s green eyes in the mirror, her chin resting in her hand, lips slightly parted, and one eyebrow lifted.
Lori Beth’s grating voice starts up again. “But it’s awedding. You can’t wear that–”
“It’s a weddingshower,” Leah cuts her off. “And it’shers. She can wear whatever she wants.”
My heart instantly swells as Lori Beth’s mouth snaps shut and she crosses her arms, leaning back into the couch to take an aggressive swig from her champagne glass. I give Leah a small smile in the mirror and she winks at me.
Telepathic message received.
As I look back down to the blue dress, I feel my pulse begin to pound and my mind start to swirl. I glance from it to the white dress on my body and instantly search for the buried urge I always have to second guess myself.
But it’s nowhere to be found.
I want to wear this dress.
“I’ll take it.”
* * *
It’sa little after 5 p.m. when we pull up to the house in Leah’s truck, the pink Cadillac hot on our heels.
Once Lori Beth saw the time as we were leaving the dress shop and realized she’d probably be able to catch Remy coming home from work, there was no keeping the woman from making a pit-stop at our house on the way home to hers. I didn’t even put up a fight when I saw a rare flicker of light pass through the woman’s normally dark and severe eyes. I did, however, insist Leah stay for the duration of Lori Beth’s visit. It only took groveling three-quarters of the ride home and the bribe of ordering pizza to get her to agree.
I hop out of the truck, letting the door fall shut behind me and heaving a sigh when I realize Remy’s car is nowhere to be found. I shift the large black bag with my dress in it to one arm and pull my cell phone from my tote bag, typing a message to him.
