Page 103 of The Wedding Pact
What if she told him the truth and it ruined everything? Her brain was so muddled. If only Flynn were here to talk this through with, then they could both make the decision.
Sometimes, when the brain is trying to work through a difficult problem, it can become fixated on a solution to something else entirely, just to feel productive. This was certainly the case with August, at least. And that’s why she found herself standing by the sale rack of a fancy clothing store in Bath’s city centre, holding up a slinky slip of a dress. If she dressed like an elegant grown-up for her dinner with Abe tonight, she reasoned, then perhaps she’d be able to remain level-headed and grown-up about the whole situation.
Touching the fabric of the dress, in this store she didn’t quite belong in, she felt a wash of loneliness, just as she was predicting about Abe, and she wanted to be close to him, she liked the way he looked at her. It hurt to think of Flynn wrapped up with Yui right now.
August wanted to be close to someone.
When August got home, she tried on her new dress again. It was beautiful, and it looked beautiful on. The satin fabric, a deep teal shade with matching teal lace detailing, wrapped her body like a Christmas present. It accented her curves, and didn’t squish or hide her imperfections – it made her feel sexy and celebrated. The back of the dress had been fiddly, with ribbons and lace trailing down her spine, but it was worth persevering with in the end, and thanks to the fanciest underwear she owned, a teddy she’d purchased on a whim a few years ago that was now layered underneath, she stood proud in front of the mirror.
August gave herself a satisfied nod, struck a quick pose, and then reached behind her to start undoing it all, ready for it to be fresh on tonight.
Although … it might be overkill, mightn’t it, showing up for a ‘friends’ dinner dressed to the nines? Abe would probably run a mile.
As the doubts crept in, August’s fingers fiddled with the looping ribbons down her back, her mind elsewhere.Hmm. Something was wrong, and the dress wasn’t slipping off as easily as it had in the shop changing room.
August twisted in front of the mirror to try to get a better look, but she couldn’t really see. Something was wrong, right where the ribbon looped into the lace and kissed the ticklish centre of her back. She just … couldn’t … quite … get it undone.
As she tugged, her limbs contorted, she heard the sound of threads tearing. ‘Shit,’ she muttered, and carefully pulled the delicate straps over her shoulders so the dress dangled from her ribcage, tangled hopelessly in the equally intricate underwear. What was she going to do? Sure, she could keep it on for the rest of the day and then wear the damned thing straight out to dinner, but there were only two possible endings for this garment as things stood. Either she’d need to politely ask Abe to help her remove it after dinner, which would be a big expectation to place on a man who thought she was married, or she’d be in this exact position late this evening and need to rip it off herself anyway. And she really didn’t want to rip it. August’s budget didn’t allow for drawerfuls of luxury garments, or lingerie for that matter, so this little number was intended to be pulled out again and again.
August needed help getting out of itnow, by someone who would untangle the snarled fabric and wouldn’t judge her. And Bel would likely have her hand in somebody’s gob at the moment, so she probably wouldn’t appreciate dress-gate for the emergency it was.
Wrapping her dressing gown around herself, August stepped onto the little balcony off her bedroom, checking there was nobody staring up at her from the park and hissed upwards, ‘Callie?’
She could see Callie’s window was open, so she tried again, calling up a little louder. ‘Callie?’
August was about to give in and go up to Callie’s flat in person – though she really didn’t want to have to explain all this to both Callie and her mum, that would be too mortifying – when Callie stuck her head out the window.
‘Who’s that?’ she called out towards the park.
‘Callie, down here, it’s me.’
‘Hello, August, what’s up?’
‘I need your help with something.’
Callie’s mum stuck her head out of the window, next to her daughter. ‘Hello, love.’
‘Hiya,’ August answered, pulling her dressing gown around her.
‘Everything okay?’
‘She says she needs my help with something, Mum.’
‘Oh. Do you want to come up, love? We’ve got cake up here.’
August smiled. ‘Thank you, but it would be really helpful if Callie could come down here, actually.’
‘All right,’ said Callie. ‘Just me, or me and Mum?’
‘I think just you, just on this occasion.’
‘On my way.’
Moments later, Callie knocked on the door, holding two plates with big slices of cake on them. ‘From Mum,’ she explained. ‘Oh, one was for me and one for you, but I can get more if Flynn wants some?’
‘No, he’s still travelling,’ said August, ushering her in. ‘Callie, I’ve got a bit of an embarrassing problem.’
‘Brilliant,’ she replied, settling down with the cake. ‘The best kind of problem. What can I do you for? Plucking an unwanted hair? Ointment application? Lost tampon?’
