Chapter 43 Dressed for Dinner
“Okay, let’s make this quick,” Miss Santer said sourly.
They were surrounded by the sumptuous atmosphere of Giamattoni, one of the city’s finest clothing stores. Hallie had actually never set foot in the place, knowing that she could not afford any of the dresses and handbags artfully displayed in its showcase windows.
“Excuse me,” Miss Santer said snappily to one of the store employees. “We need to pick out a dress for her. Could you give us a few options?”
“What’s the occasion?” the young woman asked.
“Fancy dinner,” Miss Santer replied, “not that putting a fancy dress on you is going to make you look any more of a lady,” she muttered to Hallie.
“I guess we’ll see about that,” Hallie said cheerfully. She liked how irritated Miss Santer was with the task of finding her a dress. It went even further to confirm her theory about a love-lorn Santer.
The assistant promptly gathered some dresses and showed Hallie to a change room.
“I’ll be right outside,” Miss Santer said glumly.
Hallie went along with it. After all, she would have had to drive all the way back home to get one of her own dresses, and even if she did, any dress she owned would probably not meet Luke’s approval for his perfect dinner date.
The first dress she tried was not super exciting, but it had all the class and elegance Luke was probably looking for. Its black satin fabric was cut in a simple, figure-hugging style with a halter neck.
“Hmm...” Santer craned her neck sideways. “Could be better.”
Hallie returned to the change room and put on the next dress, which was a rose colored creation gathered at the waist with interesting folds.
“I like this one,” she said, emerging from the curtained change room.
“It looks great on you,” the shop assistant said, nodding.
“I don’t know,” said Miss Santer, “Let’s try another one.”
She handed Hallie something green with... feathers?
Reluctantly, Hallie took off the pink dress and put on the green eyesore. The dress was cut low at the front, with the green feathers sticking out like a barrier around her chest. It looked slightly ridiculous.
“I don’t know about this,” Hallie said when she showed it to Miss Santer.
“It’s perfect!” Santer said. “I think this is the one.”
Hallie suddenly lost her patience. “You want me to look like a freakin’ backwards peacock with a tail on its front?”
She caught the shop assistant trying not to laugh. Finally, the employee succeeded in making a serious face and said, “This is a design by Nora Policelo. It’s couture.”
“Regardless—” Hallie began.
“We’ll take it,” Miss Santer said. Now it was her turn to be cheerful. She brandished the company credit card as she flashed Hallie an evil smile.
“I’m not wearing that,” Hallie said.
“Luke will be expecting you to wear an expensive gown. And I don’t think you can afford any of these other ones unless you’re willing to dish out a whole month’s paycheck.”
“Fine, waste the company’s money if you want,” Hallie said with a shrug.
“I can always return it if you refuse,” Miss Santer said, “but you’re going to be the one who looks bad in front of the boss by not cooperating.”
Without another word, Miss Santer marched up to the counter to pay for the dress.
Hallie had to think quickly. The dinner was tonight, and she only had a few hours to decide. She was pretty certain that she would rather look frumpy than wear something so ridiculous.
As soon as she left the store, she texted Jessica:
*Fashion emergency!!!*
To her relief, Jessica texted back in the next minute:
*Let’s meet at my place. I’ll leave work early.*
Not for the first time, Hallie felt extremely grateful to have such an amazing best friend.
Twenty minutes later, Jessica was rifling through her closet, trying to find the perfect dress.
“I’m less and less enamored with this Prince Luke fellow,” she said as she dug through rows and rows of hanging dresses. “Who’s he to tell you how to dress?”
Hallie shrugged. “I know you were never too enamored with him to begin with.”
“I’m only tolerating this because he’s given you a job,” Jessica said, turning around with a long red velvet gown in her hands. “Try this one on. It’s probably fancy enough to suit his taste.”
“Oh, I love it!” Hallie exclaimed. Then her hope wilted away as she remembered that she was a size bigger than Jessica. “I don’t know if it’ll fit me. It looks like it would be figure-hugging on you.”
“You’ve got to try!”
Hallie tried it on, but the dress was so tight it made her look lumpy.
“What was I thinking?” she said, “Maybe I’m better off trying to buy a cheaper dress on my own.”
“No, don’t give up,” Jessica insisted. “Why don’t we have this one altered? There’s still time.”
“I don’t want to ruin your dress,” Hallie replied. “It could be impossible to change back once it’s altered.”
“That’s okay,” Jessica said, a determined look on her face. “I really want to stick it to Miss Santer.”
They rushed the dress to the local tailor, and after some begging, managed to get it resized on the spot.
At six o’clock Luke arrived at the apartment to pick her up. He looked dazzling in his silk white shirt and black suit. Yet, he seemed more surprised by the way she looked.
Hallie was wearing the fully altered dress and some sophisticated makeup applied by her friend.
She had to admit, even Terry would have been hard-pressed to find any fault in her appearance now.
Her eyelashes curled and volumized to perfection, her complexion looked dewy, with just a hint of pink blush and matte beige eyeshadow that complemented her honey-brown eyes.
The red lipstick Jessica applied was a perfect match to the color of the dress and really tied the look together in a sophisticated way.
For a moment, the prince stood there frozen in the entrance hall of the small apartment as if he had never seen a well-dressed young lady before.