Chapter Twenty-One
Emma
“Cassie, I need your help.” I walked into her office Friday morning. I went through my closet last night. I was right. I didn’t have a dress that would work for Saturday.
“What’s up?” Cassie gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
I sat down. “I need a dress. Can you help me?”
Cassie leaned forward and braced her elbows on the desk. “What kind of dress?”
“A black-tie party kind.” Cassie was the only one I felt comfortable enough to ask about this. Asher wouldn’t understand.
“Hmmm.” Cassie tapped her lips with her finger. “When do you need it?”
“Tomorrow.” This was a lost cause. There was no way I could get a dress that would live up to my mother’s standards by tomorrow.
“Give me a second.” Cassie picked up the phone and dialed. “Celeste, it’s Cassie. Do you by chance have time around eleven thirty for a friend and me? She needs a formal dress for tomorrow night. Yes, I know.” Cassie nodded. “Nothing that shows too much skin.”
“No leg slits,” I whispered. I hated when men ogled my legs.
“No leg slits, I’d say a size…” Cassie prompted me with a look.
“Eighteen.” My cheeks heated. I wasn’t a small woman.
“Eighteen, maybe smaller. Perfect. Thank you so much, Celeste. I owe you.” Cassie hung up the phone. “That’s all set. Meet me here at eleven fifteen, and we’ll go to the shop.”
I nodded and stood. “Thanks, Cassie.” I left her office, hoping I could find something modest that worked with my body type.
***
After trying on the fifth dress, I was beginning to lose hope. The dresses were all nice, but nothing worked. My mother’s disparaging comments ran through my head on repeat.
Celeste knew couture inside and out. All of the dresses she had picked out were beautiful and definitely flattering, but I couldn’t stop Mother’s voice in my head.
“Let’s try this one.”
“Sure.” Black was slimming, they said. I took the dress into the changing room and stepped into it.
Strapless. The bodice, embroidered with silver thread and accented with silver beading, fit like a half-corset, laced in the back.
The floor length skirt was four layers of black chiffon that flowed over my legs and swirled around my ankles as I turned to see the back.
“Cassie, I need some help.”
“Come on out.”
I blew out a breath and exited the changing room.
“Let me tighten the bodice,” Celeste said and stepped behind me. She pulled the laces tight.
After Celeste finished pulling the laces and tied them, I adjusted the bodice and assessed the reflection in the full-length mirror with a critical eye.
“Emma, that’s perfect on you.” Cassie gushed. Celeste smiled her approval.
I frowned. “Is it?” I stood on tip toe and watched the dress move as I turned to the full-length mirror and blinked several times. That was me? The half-corset showed off my breasts. The chiffon flowed from the bodice to the ground like a waterfall.
“I knew I’d have something,” Celeste said. “Twirl, dear.”
I did as she said. The dress moved with me and didn’t hinder my movements at all.
“This is the one,” Cassie said. “You’ll knock everyone dead in this.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away. I felt beautiful for the first time in my life. That was sad, but in another way, very liberating.
“Black peau de soie one-inch heels and a lace shawl will compete the outfit.” Celeste flittered around me. “What size shoe?”
“Seven.”
“Let me go look, I think I have a pair that will work. I know I have the shawl.” Celeste walked away.
I couldn’t stop staring at myself.
“What time is this shindig tomorrow?” Cassie asked.
“Seven. Asher is picking me up at six-fifteen.” I froze.
“Okay, what do you say I come by at five? I can do your hair and makeup for you and help you with the dress.”
I let out a breath. Cassie didn’t say anything about Asher going with me. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t; I offered.” Celeste bustled back in with shoes in one hand and a shawl in the other. Both worked perfectly. I quickly changed out of the dress and back into my normal clothes.
Celeste was putting the dress into a garment bag along with the shoes in the bottom and the shawl over the hanger. I braced myself for the cost.
“Okay it’s going to be three hundred for everything,” Celeste said.
“That’s it?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. I’m giving you the friends and family discount.”
I handed Celeste my credit card, thinking I was being undercharged, but had no idea what to do about it. The transaction finished, and I picked up the garment bag.
“Cassie, I expect to be first on the list for the toy trial,” Celeste said.
Cassie winked. “You’re on top for the next year. Thanks, Celeste.” Cassie pulled me out of the shop.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Celeste loves our toys. I’ve known her for years. She did me a favor by squeezing us in today, so I’m doing her one.”
I shook my head. “Is that why the cost was so little?”
“No.” Cassie grinned. “Celeste knows exactly what she’s doing; she gave you the lowest price she could because you’re my friend. And don’t worry about it.”
“But…”
Cassie pulled me to a stop. “Believe me, Emma. Celeste won’t be out any money by giving you the dress at cost. Her clientele is exclusive, and they pay through the nose for her dresses. She understands us girls.”
When we got back to Fantasies, Inc., I laid the dress in the back seat of my car and then headed to the office. I’d taken a little extra time with lunch, but I would make it up this afternoon. Asher wasn’t in the office, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he wouldn’t question me as to why I took a long lunch.
What would Asher think of the dress? A part of me couldn’t wait to find out.