The boutique is absolutely adorable. Racks of clothes line the walls and fill the middle of the store, leading to the perfect dressing room area. A black leather couch sits to one side, chic wooden tables and chairs line a stage with a mirror, and on each side are two dressing rooms with black linen curtains.
“Okay ladies, I have these pulled for you.” Hazel rolls a rack full of red, white, and blue. “Personally, I love these dresses.”
She holds up a maxi dress that has all three colors. Where the red and blue meet the cream middle, it almost looks like a tie dye pattern. The sleeveless top makes it perfect for this heat today.
“That is so cute!” Emma steps forward, and Hazel starts passing out different sizes to everyone.
“Thank you,” I say, taking the dress she hands me.
“You’re so welcome. It’s nice to see that the final Keaton boy is getting his girl.”
“Oh, uh…” I stutter, trying to find something to say to that.
“Don’t worry honey, I see it’s still new. But woo, that man is fine. You are a lucky lady.” She winks before walking away.
Well this will be fun.Taking my dress over to the dressing rooms, I slip in with Aubrey.
“So Hazel is… something,” I say.
Aubs laughs. “You’ll love her. I promise. She loves the Keaton family. And Wyatt saved our lives. So that earns him extra points.”
“Sure. But I’m nothis, not like she thinks.” I roll my eyes, slipping the dress over my head.
“Right. Is that the story you want to keep telling everyone in this family? Because I think we all know there’s more to it than you two are letting on.” She stares at me, scrutinizing my reaction in the mirror with her dress halfway on.
I don’t look at her or react. “I think I love this dress. Hazel was right.”
Moving to the side, I slip out of the curtain and into the shop. Aubrey’s laughter from inside the dressing room echoes through the small space.
“What is so funny in there?” Emma asks.
“Nothing. She thinks she’s funny.” I wave her off and walk around the back of the store.
I am not ready for this conversation, especially without Wyatt, with all these women who seem to be able to see through whatever I say.
We spent too much time at the boutique, so we just drove straight to the public beach that hosts this Fourth of July Festival. We’re all in our new outfits from Hazel, whom I do love now. She won me over with a new lingerie set. If I can get a repeat of last night from Wyatt, it’ll make me love her more.
“Hey, Goddess.” Wyatt walks up to me, the rest of the Keaton men following him to come greet all the girls.
“Hey!”
“Did you have a good day shopping? You look stunning.” He looks me up and down in the red, white, and blue dress.
“Thank you.” For some reason my cheeks heat under his stare. Probably because I know what that stare means and what’s going to come later.
Soon enough, everyone else surrounds us, and he takes a step back. I’m tempted to just tell everyone right here, right now, soI can enjoy this festival with this man and not have to hold back from touching him all day.
“Where to first, ladies?” Gunnar asks.
Willow and Emma look at each other before both responding, “Fried pickles!”
Ooh, pickles sound delicious.“I’ll second that.”
Aubrey scrunches her face. “Yuck. I only liked pickles when I was pregnant with Lily.”
“You had the weirdest pregnancy cravings,” I tell her.
“So weird. That’s why we use condoms, my friends.”
