AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aubrey giggles. “I’m sure Caleb can afford all three.”
She shakes her head. “No. That’s ridiculous. I only need one dress, but I can’t pick one over the other.”
“What if I combine everything you like from each option into one dress?” I suggest.
She widens her eyes as she gapes at me. “You could do that?” she whispers.
I nod. “This is your dress, Lauren. You can do whatever you want.”
She blinks quickly, then sniffles. I feel like I’ve unlocked a tearful level of this game, and my first instinct is to go still. Lauren is so level-headed and calm, and this is an unexpected turn.
Did I say the wrong thing? Does she want more guidance? Am I making it sound like I don’t care? I don’t have a chance to properly freak out or worry that I’ve failed my first client.
She takes my hand and squeezes hard, like she needs to ground herself. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
Marian hugs her, stroking her hair. “Lauren didn’t get to pick her dress for the previous…non-wedding. Before she came here, no one would have ever told her what you just said.”
Aubrey nods, smirking. “Yeah. Her parents were trying to force her to marry he-who-shall-not-be-named.”
“Voldemort?”
Lauren laughs, sniffling. “No. Jeremy, my former fiancé. Before I ran from the altar the first time, my parents and Jeremy decided everything. I had no control over the wedding. The day, the dress, none of it.”
“Did you say the first time?” I ask incredulously.
She nods as Marian continues. “Lauren ran from her father’s vineyard, leaving Jeremy at the altar.”
Aubrey raises her hand. “Thanks to my genius diversion.” She winks at Lauren.
“I got on a bus and ended up here,” Lauren says.
Marian cringes. “In that ugly, horrible prom dress of a wedding gown.”
I point at her. “Is that where the shoulder pads came from?”
Lauren shakes her head as Marian goes on. “Then Caleb showed up, and they fell for each other. But then that scumbag, Jeremy, came back and threatened me and Caleb if Lauren didn’t marry him.”
“Oh, no.” I squeeze Lauren’s hand.
“So I went back so I could marry him, then divorce him, and go back to Caleb, but Caleb ended up showing up and rescuing me.” Lauren smiles.
“He crashed the wedding,” Aubrey holds her hand up again, “with my help again, thank you very much, and they’re living happily ever after.”
“I didn’t get to pick the second dress, either,” Lauren tells me. “I didn’t want to marry Jeremy, but it felt so much worse being totally controlled and having no say in my dress. It was a confining hopelessness, so going through this design process is a huge deal.”
“The second one is the one that would give you nightmares,” Aubrey says. “Shoulder pads.”
“So many layers,” Marian adds. “Like a cloud of gloom.”
I raise my brows.
“I still say we should burn it,” Marian says with a shrug.
“No,” Lauren argues. “The smoke from it might release a hex.”
“Where is it now?” I ask.
“Buried in a garbage bag with the first dress,” Marian says.
