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I chuckle, smiling at the memory of her buying an SUV and promptly getting lost with the help of navigation. “It’s just the big-city girl in you,” I tease.
“I think you’re doing a fine job of converting me into an outdoorsy one.”
“Yeah,” I joke back, “you’ve only worn heels on walks a few times lately.”
This easygoing banter between us helps me forget about how nervous I am, and as we joke and tease each other like always, I start to feel smug. It won’t be a complete surprise. I showed her that shop space months ago when I sort-of proposed. That day, I told her the retail place in Breckenridge could be hers, no matter what.
Since then, she’s asked about when she can move things into it. I stayed consistent, hedging her questions and stalling her curiosity about how the space would be turned into her dream bridal shop. All winter long, I worked on renovating it into what she needed. Many times, she pointed out pictures of what she’d like, and I arranged for help from Marian, Lauren, and Aubrey.
Marian and Jason did get married, the day after Christmas. It was a quick, small thing at the B&B, more a formality than a ceremony, but we paid for her to go to Denver and tour a shop. Marian knew what dress she wanted, not a bridal gown; otherwise she would have gone with Claire. Instead, they used the trip as a ploy to tour a shop and take pictures for me. I worked off them and relied on the notes they jotted on their phones when that dress owner asked Claire what she thought of her space.
Claire hasn’t been idle, either. Since the vlogger at Lauren’s wedding reached out for the designer details, Claire got busy setting up her LLC for her business and letting her internship in Paris know she wasn’t going to be there. With her receiving the money from her trust fund, she was able to go about it properly, making a real business before she moved into the space. So many steps were completed from home, all those behind-the-scenes details like formatting a website, structuring her bookkeeping, and even interviewing employees she might bring on board to help her.
While she’s been aware I’ve been working on her shop, she has yet to see the finished product. Until today. She’s impatient to start filling the orders she’ll have to concentrate on. Much of her work was done by talking with clients on video calls and sketching. She explained that the majority of the design process happens before any needles are used to sew. Once the image is finalized, it’s a quick process of making the dress.
I park at the curb, thrilled I can do this for her. “Do you know where we are?”
She pouts, blindfolded and with her arms crossed. “No.”
I laugh and she gives into a giggle, too. “Oh, I’m hopeless. I’ll just have to rely on navigation forever.”
I exit the truck and open her door. “Nah. You can rely on me,” I say as I guide her to the sidewalk.
She leans into me, kissing me, but since she can’t see, she misses her mark of my face and smacks her lips on my bicep.
“Okay, ready?” I take her hand and lead her inside the shop space. Inside, I see that everyone is set up like we’ve planned. Without their help, I would have really struggled to keep my nosy wife out of here while I got it all ready. Lauren and Aubrey helped to distract her. Kevin helped pick up deliveries and bring them over. Dalton and Caleb got their hands dirty, too, cleaning and building alongside me and Jason. It’s been a team effort, and I’m so proud to call them our friends.
We enter, and at the entrance, I take the blindfold off Claire’s face.
She gasps and gazes with a wide-eyed expression as she takes it all in.
“Oh, my goodness.” She swallows hard and walks around, clutching my hand so tight. “This is…This is…” She lunges back to hug me. “This is amazing!” She frames my face and kisses me hard as our friends cheer and welcome her in.
Dalton pops a bottle of champagne, and we all join in celebrating. Claire can’t get enough of it all. She goes to each of us, hugging and thanking us for making the place sparkle like this.
“Look.” Lauren leads us toward the front, where the tall windows will allow plenty of light in. “Just think of all this space you can decorate.”
“Dress forms there.” I point out.
“And shelving here to display more layers,” Lauren adds. She was instrumental in this design, too.
“You can do seasonal rotations,” Aubrey says.
“And in both windows!” Claire exclaims, eyeing the other side. When I brought her in here before, a wall was blocking the floor-to-ceiling window to the left. Now, both sides of the front door have windows for people to see inside.
We sip champagne and go through the main room, eyeing all the racks we’ve bought for her to hold dresses.
“I can’t wait to fill them all up,” Claire says. “Bridal and bridesmaid gowns…”
“And mother-of-the-bride gowns,” Marian says with a wink at Aubrey.
I frown, wondering about that angle of teasing, but Claire doesn’t stay still. She has yet to let go of my hand, and she leads me back through the store.
“I could have two counters for checking out,” Claire says as she sets her champagne flute down and runs her hand over the smooth marble countertop.
“I’ve got a couple of part-timers at the school who would love some more work,” Aubrey says.
“And right in town, too,” Kevin adds.
