Page 2 of Dress Rescue
“About this dress.” He turns around. “You think you can help me?”
He puts it on the counter. Amelia sneaks up beside me and laughs. “You’ve got to be kidding, right? There’s nothing we can do about this. It looks like you’ve murdered someone in it!”
The big man’s shoulders noticeably sag. He looks dejected. “I guess it was worth a try,” he says, picking the dress up and turning to leave.
I hate it when my sister butts in. She doesn’t even work here anymore. And even though what she said might be true, it doesn’t give her the right to laugh in a customer’s face. Especially one so good looking.
“Wait!” I say. “There might be something we can do.”
Amelia scoffs, but I ignore her.
The man turns around. “Anything.”
I put out my hand and he passes me back the dress. I don’t bother to look at the blood and grease that’s all down the front of it. Amelia is right. There’s no way any of our cleaning methods will be able to get rid of those stains. What I’m interested in is the label.
“Yes!” I smile. “I thought I recognized the style of this dress.”
“Is that a good thing?” The man asks.
“It might be.” I let out a deep breath and try to formulate a plan. “I can’t promise anything. But I think I know the people who manufactured this. They were old friends of my parents. I’ll make some phone calls and maybe we can find you a replacement?”
“A replacement!” he says. “That’s amazing!”
“It’s still a long shot,” I say.
“That’s for sure!” Amelia laughs.
“And I don’t want to get your hopes up,” I continue. “But why don’t you give me your phone number, and I’ll see what I can do.”
He pulls out a business card from his wallet and hands it to me. “I’m Ellis,” he says. “Ellis Abbot.”
The business card is well made. A high-quality card. It has the wordsAbbot Constructionfinely printed above his phone number. A little picture of a house.
“And I’m Sara,” I say. “Nice to meet you.”
He offers me his hand. I shake it. Our eyes meet. The feel of my soft skin in his rugged grip makes my throat dry. I want to say something, but my mind goes blank. All I can do is look at him and smile and wonder what it would feel like to have his fingers between my legs.
“You’ll call me?” he says.
“Yes,” I gulp.
“Amazing.” He’s still looking into my eyes. Hypnotizing me with his perfectly symmetrical face. “I better go pick my daughter up from school now.”
“Okay.”
He lets go of my hand and walks out the door, turning to look back at me as he passes through the exit.
“Don’t,” Ameilia says.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t get your hopes up. He’s out of your league, Sara. It’ll only end in heartbreak.”
I pick up the dress and start walking back to the office. It’s just like my sister to totally ruin this moment for me. So what if he’s out of my league? Does that mean a girl can’t dream?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Amelia. But if you don’t mind, I have a ton of work to do. I’d appreciate it if you stopped taking up all my time and let me get on with it.”
“Fine!” She picks up her handbag and storms out of the room. “But don’t come crying to me when it all ends in tears!”
