Page 181 of Dancing for the Minotaur

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TERRA

Terra had always wondered what it would feel like to shop for a wedding dress.

She hadn’t gotten to do it the first time. Her marriage to Jackson had begun at City Hall on a muggy Friday afternoon with a bouquet of grocery-store roses, a cream-colored dress she already owned, and three of Jackson’s friends serving as witnesses because they had happened to be available.

Two of them had been at least half-drunk by the time the ceremony started, having apparently decided that waiting outside a government building at two in the afternoon was an excellent excuse to begin celebrating early.

There had been no bridesmaids, no maid of honor helping Terra zip herself into a gown and certainly no hours spent standing in front of mirrors while someone brought her dresses to try.

At the time, she had told herself none of it mattered because she loved Jackson and the marriage was what counted, not the wedding. Looking back now, Terra suspected that had been one more example of how easily she had learned to settle for whatever he was willing to give her.

Well, today was going to be different, she told herself. Today she was going wedding-dress shopping. Fake wedding-dress shopping, admittedly, but Terra was trying very hard not to dwell on that part.

She stood outside David’s Bridal with Lucy on one side of her, Lisa practically vibrating with excitement on the other, and Cody pretending he wasn’t nearly as interested as he clearly was.

Taurex stood behind them, drawing the usual collection of startled looks from passing humans because there really was no way for an eight-foot-tall Minotaur Monstrum with a five-foot horn span to go unnoticed anywhere, much less outside a bridal store on a Saturday afternoon.

Terra had tried telling him he didn’t need to come because traditionally the groom wasn’t supposed to see the dress before the wedding, but he had reminded her, with irritating logic, that there was technically no groom and no real wedding and therefore no supernatural reason for him to stay away.

“Besides,” he’d said. “I would like to see you in the ceremonial wedding dress. Even if it is for a fake ceremony.”

More and more, Terra hated hearing him call it fake. Maybe because during the process of pulling together their “fake” wedding, things between them had begun to seem so real.

Choosing the flowers and the cake together had been wonderful—none of it had felt fake while they were doing it. They had laughed together, held hands without thinking, and occasionally looked at each other in ways that made Terra’s pulse race. And every time they parted, she found herself wishing afterwards that she had the courage to simply grab the enormous Monstrum by his shirt, drag him down to her level, and tell him that she didn’t want to pretend anymore.

Unfortunately, Taurex remained almost painfully careful with her.

He never assumed they were doing anything real—never pushed or took one inch more than what she offered. The qualities that had originally made Terra feel safest with him were now driving her absolutely insane.

Lucy looked up at the familiar blue-and-white David’s Bridal sign over the storefront and sighed happily.

“I got my dress here, you know,” she said, breaking Terra’s train of thought.

Terra turned toward her.

“You did? I didn’t know that.”

“Of course I did. David’s Bridal has been around forever. They’re a regular institution around here. Your grandmother came with me. I tried on seven dresses, and she hated every one of them until I found the one I wore when I married your daddy.”

Terra’s chest tightened with unexpected emotion.

“I didn’t know that.”

Her mom shrugged.

“I suppose it never came up. But it’s a happy memory.”

Lisa grabbed Terra’s hand.

“Can I help pick your dress, Mommy? Can I?”

Terra ruffled her hair.

“That’s why you’re here, baby.”

“I want you to wear a princess dress,” Lisa decided.