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Bailey’s slender frame slumps. “Is it too late to elope?”
I love Lucky, but she can be pretty overbearing sometimes. “Quit being a bulldozer, Luck,” I tell her. “Bailey, it’s your wedding. We’re just here to support you, and we will go with whatever you want.”
One of my favorite things about Lucky is that she’s almost impossible to offend. “Right. Sorry, Bay,” she says immediately. “Just tell me to shut up if I get too bossy.”
“It’s fine,” says Bailey, who would never tell anyone to shut up. “There’s just so much to think about. I’ll go try something on.” She disappears into the fitting room.
“By the way, I think getting married is actually the point of a wedding,” Joyce stage whispers to Lucky.
“Well, that’s what the fuss is for.” Lucky raises a finger at Joyce. “And don’t think you’re off the hook, missy. That Hunter better be planning to make an honest woman out of you.”
“One wedding at a time, please. Hunter and I have our hands full at the moment.” Joyce tilts her head at me. “Work on Miss Commitment-phobe over here.”
“I am not a commitment-phobe,” I reply. “I just like to keep my relationships shallow and time-bound.”
“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?” asks Lucky.
“Someday a bride. Maybe. Far, far in the future,” I say firmly.
I’m not opposed to settling down eventually, maybe even with a kid or two if they’re as cute as Trevor, but it still feels like a very abstract concept. I’m serious about my job. I feel no need to be serious about my love life.
Joyce fingers a bridesmaid’s dress in a soft minty green. “Hey, this is cute.”
Lucky assesses it. “Not bad.” She pulls it off the rack and holds it up against me. “What do you think?”
It’s a fitted sheathe dress with some beading around the hem and neckline, simple and elegant.
“I could go for that if they can get it in my size,” I tell her. I’m 99% sure that it will have to be special-ordered.
Lucky huffs. “I hope that won’t take too long. We should have done this months ago. Excuse me!” she calls to another saleswoman. “Do you have this in other sizes?”
They don’t have one that’s big enough for me or small enough for Joyce, but the saleswoman promises that they can order our sizes in time. I’m in the middle of having my measurements taken when Bailey squeezes what must be a hoop skirt through the door of the fitting room.
“What do you all think of this one?”
The strapless bodice glitters with sparkly beads, showing off Bailey’s slender waist and tanned shoulders, and the skirt spreads out like an enormous satin bell. She looks lovely, but almost too much like a stereotypical bride.
I press my lips together, but Lucky has no such compunction. “I think it’s a little too Disney princess—”
“Bailey, what do you think?” Joyce breaks in.
Bailey twists to look at herself in the mirror. “It’s pretty… but it doesn’t really feel like me.” She spins around once and admires her reflection again. “This is actually more fun than I thought it would be, though. I’ll be right back.” She disappears into the fitting room again.
Bailey tries on three more gowns while the rest of us scope out more dresses for ourselves. Sure enough, they don’t carry my size in anything, but I have a pretty good sense of what will look nice on me. I give my blessing to the green sheathe and a floor-length gown with a cross-over bodice in pale purple. Joyce likes the green, Lucky likes the purple, and we compromise when one of the saleswomen tells us they can order the sheathe dress in the same shade of purple as the gown. Bailey, now in an empire-waist dress with a lace skirt, signs off on it a bit absent-mindedly and heads back into the fitting room while we place our orders.
“This is the last one,” Bailey calls out a moment later. “And after this, it’s lunchtime, even if that means I get married wearing a flour sack.”
“Poor Bailey, I think we wore her out,” Joyce whispers.
“It’s for her own good,” Lucky whispers back.
Bailey walks out of the fitting room and is greeted with dead silence.
“No?” She looks around at us. “I thought it was nice, but—”
“Bailey, it’s perfect,” I breathe. “That’s it.”
It’s almost the opposite of the first dress. Simple, bias-cut silk flows over Bailey’s body like cream, making the most of her slenderness and height. A sweetheart neckline, short, fluttery, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a slightly flared hem are the only embellishments.
