Paige
sixteen
Hayes is a man of his word. He buys me the newest version of my phone with a screen protector and a protective case on top of it, and we search for places to find formal dresses last minute that won’t look like I’m going to prom or a wedding as a bridesmaid.
Thankfully, Atlanta has far more dress shops than Savannah, so we have a few options.
I look through their websites and decide on the one that looks like a good start.
“Are you coming into the shop with me to weigh in or do you want to be surprised?” I ask as we pull up to the cute shopping area and park near the store.
He looks around at the shops and then appraises me for a moment.
“I want to be surprised. I’ll go to that coffee shop and get some work done on my phone while you shop.”
“Wish me luck.” I blow him a kiss that he catches as I hop out of the Mercedes SUV.
This should be interesting. Mama always insisted on shopping with me and would veto me from even trying on dresses she felt were inappropriate for a lady of impeccable breeding and social standing.
“Hey, sugar, welcome in,” a perky blonde in a pink shift dress says as I walk into the airy store.
I smile at her and look around. The store is so pretty and familiar in a way that makes my heart yearn for Savannah.
It has white-washed brick walls, industrial chic hardware, and exposed lighting setting off the racks of dresses.
I’m instantly comfortable and starting to look forward to this shopping trip after all.
Hayes says we make our own fate, so why can’t I?
“How can I help ya?”
“I’m going to a black-tie affair this evening and I want a showstopper of a dress,” I say bluntly. “Like, make my man fall on his face, amazing. Do you have anything that fits that description?”
Her eyes light up and she practically vibrates in excitement.
“I’ve been waiting five years for someone to come in and say just that! Oh, this will be fun. I’m Angela. Haute Belle is my place, and we’re going to make your man trip over himself by the time we’re done here.”
“I’m probably a size six or eight depending on the cut,” I offer as I follow her around the store.
“Four, max,” she replies, pulling see-through garment bags off racks with lightning speed.
“Do you have magic dresses that are super forgiving or something?” I know my own dress size, and a four would make me look like a popped can of biscuits as the best-case scenario.
“Nah, sugar. I have corsets and magic seaming in these dresses. You’ll fit a four, promise.”
“Do you design the dresses?” I ask in astonishment as I look around at the veritable rainbow of gorgeous gowns.
“I sure do! I do most of the alterations, too, but I send my designs out to be manufactured because ain’t nobody got time for that.”
She leads me back to a big dressing room with really good lighting and starts hanging up dresses on the bar along one wall.
I look at the sequins and beading covering a navy gown next to me and shudder. My fingers hurt just thinking of the labor that went into it. I give in and hope something will work.
“Okay, Angela, do your thing.”
Two hours later I am nipped in, hemmed, and had bra cups sewn into the bodice of a stunning size four gown that is unlike anything I’ve ever worn before. Mama would most definitely not approve, but I think Hayes is going to be rolling up his tongue. Best of all, I feel incredible in it.
“Angela, you really are a miracle worker. I can’t believe how fast you work.”
“Girl, you’ve got a party to go to. Time is money. If you need anything, you know to come right back to me and I’ll get you all fixed up. I do bridal, too, if that man of yours knows what’s good for him when he sees you in this dress.”
A blush warms my cheeks as I grin. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Now, get! You have a man waiting on you and probably need to go to hair and makeup soon, anyway.”
My eyes widen. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.
“You wouldn’t happen to know an artist that’s available today, would you?” I can do a decent job on my own hair and makeup, but this calls for something only a pro can deliver.
“Today must be your lucky day. My girlfriend is the best and I know for a fact she’s loafing around at home right now crying about a last-minute cancellation. Here, let me text her and get it set up for you. She makes house calls. That okay?”
I smile. “That’s even better.”
She gives me a tablet and pulls up the social media handle for her friend so I can look at her work.
Oh, she’ll definitely do. I think she specializes in glow-ups because her before and afters are incredible.
I let Angela call and arrange everything for me, supplying Hayes’s address when asked.
I hope he doesn’t mind a stranger coming over.
I leave Haute Belle with my garment bag and shoe box carried delicately in my arms and head across the street toward the coffee shop Hayes went to.
He’s sitting at a table that looks out the window directly at Haute Belle, so he waves as I approach and takes a last sip of his drink before he meets me outside.
“I take it that went well?”
“The best. I even have a hair and makeup artist coming to the house later. If that’s okay?” I tack on.
He shrugs. “Whatever you want to do is fine by me, honey.”
“If that’s the case, I want to eat leftover pizza for a late lunch and then start my beautifying routine. This dress requires some high-maintenance grooming.”
“I’m intrigued,” Hayes says, taking the dress and tucking it into the backseat of the G-wagon for me.
He hands me my seat belt and waits for me to buckle before closing my door and walking around to his side.
My new cell rings that awful telephone ringer from my bag and I jump to get it just so I can stop the noise. I much prefer something softer that still gets my attention without scaring the heck out of me. Or just plain old vibrate to not have to hear it at all. I cringe when I see the screen.
It’s Mama.
“Oh, Lord,” I mutter, staring at the screen in resignation after I’ve muted the call.
Hayes looks over. “Uh oh, Mommy dearest. Go ahead and take it. I don’t mind.”
I grimace now that he’s removed my option of ignoring her.
“Hi, Mama,” I answer.
“Paige Kore Fairchild, what in heaven’s name are you doing with that man?” she screeches over the line. I pull the phone away from my ear and turn the volume down.
“What are you talking about, Mama?” How can she know I’m with Hayes? I’ve only told her I was safe and with a friend, without supplying any additional information.
“That god-awful Atlanta Haute List gossip site is reporting you were with that scoundrel during a carjacking last night. How dare he put you in danger like that! And how dare you not call to tell me you were okay immediately. I had to find out because Levitica Johnson’s daughter Melanie was telling everyone in Savannah. ”
“What’s the Atlanta Haute List?” I ask Hayes with my hand covering my phone.
He groans and fishes his own phone out of his pocket, tapping away while I listen to Mama decry the evils of Atlanta and the dangers lurking around every corner.
He shows me a slick-looking mobile site on his phone with the titular name splashed across the top of the page and the very first story having a big old picture of me at my deb ball last week next to a photo of Hayes from what could be a business journal article.
“Debutante Hotel Heiress Nabs Atlanta’s Most Eligible And Elusive Bachelor Billionaire,” reads the headline.
“Holy smokes,” I drawl, my eyes widening. “This is bad, right?” I whisper to him.
He gives me a maybe yes, maybe no head wag.
“It’s a gossip site, so not everything they print is true, but this is pretty spot-on, so I’m going to do some digging to see what they’re reporting.”
I watch over his shoulder as he scrolls into the article, Mama still not exhausted on the line. I throw in a “Mmhmm, okay,” just to show her I’m still on the line.
“Paige Fairchild, heiress to the multimillion-dollar Southern darling hotel chain, The Xenios Group, was spotted getting cozy at trendy Atlanta pizza spot Napoletana Friday evening with none other than Olympus International CFO Hayes Olsen. Sources say the two are a new item, and Fairchild could be the unknown brunette Olsen flew into town on his private jet just last weekend from her hometown of Savannah. The young heiress has yet to be linked with any of Georgia’s elite, so to make her debut and instantly find herself canoodling a billionaire seems too good to be true.
The lucky lady found herself in trouble as the billionaire’s favorite Mercedes SLR McLaren was the intended target of a carjacking gone wrong.
Sources say the attacker left the scene in an ambulance while our new love birds drove away from the restaurant together, seemingly unharmed.
Is our own Olsen Atlanta’s newest Batman? He does only seem to be spotted under the cover of night, and he’s got the Bruce Wayne bucks to pull it off, so anything is possible. The story is still developing, so hit Like and Subscribe for all the Haute gossip.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper shriek. “How do they know so much about me—about us?”
“Welcome to Atlanta, where your status as an heiress is as good as a headline.” He grimaces. “I’m not helping you out, any. They love following my brothers and me around to see what we’re up to. Eligible bachelors and all that,” he finishes, visibly disturbed.
“Paige! Are you even listening to me?” Mama yells.
“Sorry, Mama. I dropped my phone,” I offer as an excuse for not answering whatever question she expected me to. “Will you please repeat that?”
“I said you need to come home right now. I’ll send you a plane ticket for this afternoon. That lecherous child predator is only after one thing. You have a humble, good man here just desperate to have you home.”
My spine straightens and I rear back as if slapped.
“Hayes is an incredible gentleman,” I emphasize. “Garrison is not a good man and he’s most certainly not desperate to have me anywhere. I’m not coming home, Mama. Not until you get it through your pretty head that I won’t marry that awful man or be traded for financial gain.”
“You leave me no choice, Pai—”
I end the call before she can utter her threat and silence my phone in case she calls again.
“Well, Mama knows about you.”
“I heard. Guess I’m not exactly her pick of the litter?”
“I don’t see why you wouldn’t be, given that any business alliance forged through our relationship would benefit the Xenios Group far more than any from Daniels Industries.
I think that’s too pragmatic for Mama, though.
She prefers hush money to a legitimate business deal not carried on my back as a bought and paid-for bride. ”
Hayes coughs, turning from me with his fist covering his mouth, and I pat his back, probably unhelpfully. I hope he’s not coming down with anything. I want to really wow him tonight, but I’d rather nurse him back to health at home if he’s not feeling well.