Chapter Twenty-Six
Zoey couldn’t believe her eyes. This woman wasted no time. Robin strutted her bad self right past Archer, waving to him in a quick greeting. In the process, she nearly mowed down poor Mr. Finch on his way out.
“Zoey!” Robin said, arms outstretched. “If you could fit me in, I’d appreciate it. I can come back later if this isn’t a good time.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize you were serious.”
“Of course I am! The timing is perfect, what with my being here already. We’re staying a couple more nights. I’d rather give you the business instead of some random company.”
She had a point. Zoey came around from behind the counter and appraised Robin’s lean, statuesque form.
She could have done well on the Paris runways.
It occurred to Zoey that Robin knew that, and instead she’d become a doctor.
Not a bad choice for a woman to make. Mami always told Zoey that women should support each other in the choices they made.
Childless by choice, mother, businesswoman, homemaker, they were all valid choices.
“Let me see what I can find. You’re a size ten?”
“Great guess! Or a nine on a day when I haven’t stopped to eat lunch.” She chuckled.
Zoey meant to go to the annex alone, to have a minute to get her thoughts and emotions in order, but Robin followed her.
She seemed too happy, too joyful, and was totally oblivious to the fact that Zoey was having a hard time with this.
At the very least, Robin could be a little more sensitive, considering Zoey was being tasked with finding a wedding dress for her mother’s replacement.
Robin gasped when she entered the showroom. “Oh, my! This is fantastic.”
Now the woman was laying it on a little thick. The room was a work in progress, the racks of dresses not nearly as full as she’d like them to be. The mirror and pedestal in the middle of the room were secondhand, and it showed. But, baby steps. She would get there…eventually.
Zoey focused, putting to mind all of her creativity and fashion insight.
She found the vintage dress she’d envisioned on an older woman the moment she’d seen it: a sequined taupe and off-white cocktail-length gown that could be a bridal dress.
In fact, it had been the bridal dress for the wife of a CEO, who’d worn it for her fifth marriage.
Zoey had picked it up at an estate sale not long ago.
She also selected a few others—all tea-length dresses—because c’mon, she couldn’t see Robin in a long white gown.
Zoey had an entire section of white gowns and grew concerned when she saw Robin eyeing the dresses. She couldn’t be serious.
“When I saw this one, I thought this would be ideal for a sophisticated woman over fifty.” Zoey turned, showing her the sequined dress which, according to the estate sale, was from the 1940s.
“It’s not white,” Robin said, nibbling on her lower lip.
Zoey was about to explain her thought process when Robin said, “You really get me.”
“Do I?”
Zoey was trying to be helpful. Mostly because she couldn’t stop reliving the look on her father’s lovesick face and hearing Archer’s voice, reminding her of her faith in love.
He’d reminded her that her father deserved a chance to be happy.
He did, but with the right woman, and maybe not so soon.
If Robin was the right one, surely waiting a little wouldn’t hurt. That way they could be sure.
“I worried you’d want something else,” Zoey said, handing her the dress. “Something white.”
Robin took it in her hands and lifted it up, turning it back and forth, inspecting it with a slow smile on her face.
“I’m not a first-time bride, so this is perfect. Just what I had in mind.”
“I feel I should tell you first about the history of the dress,” Zoey said. “I got it at the estate sale of a prominent family. She was the wife of a CEO, and it was her fifth and last marriage.”
“A dress with history. I love it.”
“Want to try it on?” Zoey gestured toward the changing room.
Almost giddy, Robin strolled in the room, carrying the dress.
Zoey took the moment to find Archer in the store.
He was holding court with a middle-aged woman Zoey had never seen before.
She had no fewer than three dresses she was holding up for his approval, one after the other.
Archer shook his head, shook his head again, then eventually pointed and nodded to one.
When he saw Zoey watching, he hurried over to join her.
“Is everything okay?”
She nodded. “She loves the dress and is trying it on now. I don’t know, maybe she’d love anything I chose just to win me over.”
Archer narrowed his eyes. “She doesn’t look like the kind of woman who would wear something she doesn’t love.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
Robin had an easy fashion sense about her, but today she’d come in wearing a black pantsuit. Zoey thought she looked like a politician, but hey, to each her own.
“I know I am.” Archer clasped her shoulder reassuringly. “Face it, you have an eye for this.”
“Okay, I guess I do.” Zoey smiled and went to rejoin Robin, who’d just come out of the dressing room.
She gracefully stepped on the pedestal for a view in the mirror. The dress fit too loosely on her, especially around the hip and waist.
“We could take it in,” Robin said. “I have a favorite alteration shop.”
Zoey stood behind her and pulled it in at the sides, seeing that with a few minor adjustments, it could fit like a glove. The taupe and off-white complemented Robin’s flawless ebony skin beautifully.
“I’ll take it!” Robin said. “I could look for weeks and I wouldn’t find anything more perfect than this. Sometimes you get lucky the first time.”
That made Zoey think of her father and Robin, because they’d met before her parents had. Maybe if things had been different, Robin would have been Zoey’s mother. The thought made her heart ache.
“My father was your first love,” Zoey said.
“Yes, but we weren’t so lucky,” Robin said. “Sometimes you can meet someone too soon. We were very young.”
Zoey guessed that was true, but she didn’t like to think that timing was the only reason her mother and father wound up together. It was love, pure and simple.
“Are you sure about the dress? It’s such a big decision. Maybe you should think about it, at least for a day.”
Robin surprised Zoey by reaching for her hands. “Honey, when you get to be as old as I am, you recognize when you’ve found something precious and don’t want to lose it by waiting too long.”
“I would hold it aside for you. What if it’s not the one? What if you change your mind?”
Zoey was referring to much more than the dress. She didn’t want her father hurt in case things didn’t work out between them. He’d already been through losing the love of his life, and honestly, it took him years to recover. There had been months when he wouldn’t even leave the house.
“It’s a dress,” Robin said. “I’m looking forward to the marriage, and while I want to look fly on our day, I have the rest of my life to be with your father.”
“It’s not about the dress or the day,” Mami said. “It’s about the rest of your life together. And it won’t always be easy, Zoey, but it will be worth it for the right man.”
“What did you say?” Zoey said, shaking her head.
“I just said that it’s not about the dress for me. Believe me, I’m going to make this work. I—”
“My mother used to say something similar about love,” Zoey interrupted.
It put things into perspective. While she loved fashion, she’d told Zoey repeatedly that a wedding shouldn’t be about the dress—that the dress was often overpriced.
And for the first time Zoey wondered if she’d not meant overpriced so much as overvalued.
She wished Mami was here now so she could ask her whether there was a better use of her time than putting designer wedding gowns into the hands of women who couldn’t really afford them, discounted or not.
“Your mother was a great woman,” Robin said, touching her chest. “I am barely qualified to take her place. But honestly? I think we would have been good friends if we’d ever met.”
It was a gift, even if Zoey knew it wasn’t true. Robin had the confidence to know that she was more than qualified to be her father’s new wife. She might not look or behave like her mother, but if she were honest, Zoey thought they might have been friends, too.
When Robin insisted this dress was “the one,” apparently with the same degree of certainty that her father was “the one,” Zoey knew she had no choice but to ring Robin up.
“Thank you, thank you!” Robin gushed as she reached out to hug Zoey tightly to her. “I’m going to look beautiful thanks to you.”
Zoey didn’t exactly hug her back, but she also didn’t pull away. Progress.
She followed her to the door and watched her stride over to her rental car nearby. It wasn’t until a minute later that she noticed Archer standing right behind her. He placed his hand on her back.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Yes. I’m okay.” Zoey turned and tried to flash him her best smile.
It felt fake and forced. This still hurt.
Right or wrong, it was painful to see another woman taking her mother’s place.
While it might be the natural order to move forward, it left a pinch in her heart that would not go away.
It was a little like having the flu, this feeling of general malaise and discomfort.
She would have to get used to this new reality.
Given time, she hoped she would be okay with it.
“She’s so different than my mother. It’s interesting how one man could love two such different women.”
Archer didn’t say anything, just studied her with those amber eyes.
“Life goes on, right?” she said.
“It does.”
Then he just took her into his arms. Those strong arms pulled her close, crushing her to his chest. Hands down, the world’s best hug.
* * *
“I’ve got a new assignment for you,” Ian said over the phone later that evening.
Time was up. After a few days off, Archer would head on to his next assignment, one he’d share with a team.
He’d have to tell Zoey tonight. They’d arrested the stalker and were able to book him on several other criminal charges having nothing to do with Patch.
Either way, a win-win. For everybody else, of course. Not so much for Archer.
After discussing details with Ian, he hung up and joined Zoey in the living room to binge-watch whatever show she’d chosen for them. If it was another episode of Frasier, he wouldn’t complain once.
But he found her wrapped in a yellow blanket, reading.
She glanced up. “Hey.”
“You did good today,” Archer said. “I’m proud of you for the way you handled Robin. I know how hard that was for you.”
“She’s a nice person.” Zoey lowered her eyes. “Just not my mother.”
“Well, no. Your mother can never be replaced. That’s how it is when you love someone.”
She smiled. “It sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
He realized that she’d just spoken his truth out loud.
Unfortunately, he’d fallen in love with Zoey, which was crazy.
It had happened so organically and felt as easy as a warm bath.
He had no business falling in love with her and even less telling her that he had.
If he told her, she’d want him to stay and wouldn’t understand when he couldn’t.
He had to make a living; he had to save money and get established in his career.
Zoey deserved nothing less than a man fully in control of his own future. He wasn’t there yet.
“Hey.” He sat beside her on the couch. “It’s time for me to go.”
Her shoulders slumped. “What? Tonight?”
“Probably in the morning,” Archer said. “They arrested the guy who was making the threats, and he won’t be a problem anymore.”
“For now,” she said. “It seems my daddy always says something on TV that pisses a sports fan off.”
Archer snorted. “No doubt. It’s too bad people can’t agree to disagree more often.”
“Tell me about it.” Zoey set her book aside and stuck out her lower lip. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Yeah? You won’t have a helper in the boutique anymore, but you’ll do fine without me, just like you did before.”
“I’ll find out how much foot traffic dies down once you’re gone.” She crossed her arms.
“Not much, I bet.”
“Maybe I could have a cardboard cutout made out of you and put it by the front door. No matter how hard you tried, you still always looked like you were standing guard.”
He cocked his head. “Sorry. That was my real job.”
Zoey scooted closer. “Yet you got pretty good at giving fashion advice to both men and women.”
“Difficult to believe.” He lowered his head, biting back a smile.
“Do you know that so many men came in purposely asking for white button-down shirts like yours?”
He suspected as much, since they’d asked him where he bought his shirts. Unfortunately, not at Zoey’s boutique, so he pretended not to know. He didn’t want people shopping anywhere else but at Zoey’s. Then he’d noticed that Zoey had started stocking shirts that looked an awful lot like his.
“Did you start selling white button-downs because of me?” he asked.
She grinned. “I’m ordering more because I don’t think the need will die with you.”
He rather liked the sound of that: Zoey remembering him, even in some small way, after he was gone.
She’d think of him every time she sold a white button-down.
People didn’t die when they were always in your thoughts; not that he was dying, but he may as well be for all intents and purposes.
He’d be out of sight, out of mind. Gone from her life. And Zoey wouldn’t be alone for long.
With those words, she lowered her head to his chest and they just stayed there for a long time.
At least he had a chance to say goodbye.