Page 79 of Sundown Somewhere

“There you are!” Willa exclaims, cutting off whatever argument Gus might come up with in response.

“Here I am!” Bronwyn replies, holding her arms out wide, forcing a smile to her face. Hayes’s director of marketing looks dead on her feet, and her fiancé, Nash’s twin, Noel, is about two steps behind her, his normal broody expression locked in place.

“What happened? I expected you hours ago.”

“Irina called,” Bronwyn tells my sister.

Oh shit, say no more…

“And we were already in Tifton, so we popped over, and well…” Bronwyn tries to brush it off, but it’s clear the afternoon was a long one.

“Who’s Irina?” Margeaux asks.

“Our seamstress,” Willa says. “She’s over in Tifton, but she did every one of my pageant dresses, including the hand-beaded one that I won Miss Georgia in. She also did Kenzie’s wedding dress.”

“And mine,” Dolly adds in.

My gut clenches. This is the first mention of the dress—hell, her wedding—since we’ve been back in Hickory Hills. I wait to see if it triggers something, but once again, Dolly is completely unbothered.

She’s a rock…

“She isn’t happy with the way the train is lying, so I was there for a little longer than expected, and well, you know how she is,” Bronwyn says.

“Yeah, she’s…intense.” Willa’s face betrays her choice of word, but Bronwyn simply nods, going with it.

Gus, on the other hand…

“That’s one word for it. Frightening is another.”

“She can’t be that bad,” Margeaux comments.

“She can,” Dolly and I say at the same time. I laugh, taking a sip of my beer to let Dolly be the one to elaborate. “But, she’s the best there is. Like Willa said, she did all her Miss Georgia gowns, so you deal with it. You’ll see when it’s your turn.”

And there it is, the sadness. It’s small—almost imperceptible. Only to be heard if you know every nuance of the sweet cadence of her voice. But it’s there. The regret that I know she’s still secretly holding on to, even if she didn’t want to marry Jeff. She did want to get married. To be the bride. To get the happily ever after.

Dolly looked stunning in her dress too. From the first time she put it on at Irina’s for me, I knew that it was a sight I’d never forget. Instantly, I understood why the groom wasn’t allowed to see the bride before the wedding. Because that moment, seeing her in that gown, was maybe the most magical of my life. And she wasn’t even my bride.

Wait…

“You went with?” I ask Noel. “Irina didn’t lose her shit? She all but hit me while screaming when I showed up with Dolly about how there were no grooms allowed. It took twenty minutes to convince her I was the man of honor.”

“I sat in the truck,” Noel answers. “I’ve heard the stories.”

“I need a Diet Coke,” Bronwyn comments, turning to head inside.

“I got it,” Noel tells her. “Everyone else good?”

We all nod, and he places a kiss to the top of his fiancée’s head before heading inside. Nash pops up from the bench, giving Bronwyn his seat and joining his brother on the drink run.

“I need to figure out what to do with my dress,” Dolly comments. “I wonder if I could sell it.”

“I’m sure you could,” Margeaux says. “People buy secondhand dresses all the time.”

“Yes, but secondhand dresses where the bride was left?” Dolly makes a face, like she’s trying to make a joke, even though I know she’s not. “And do I need to disclose such a thing? It kinda feels like that bad parachute joke—used once, never opened.”

“Doll…” I reach out, grabbing her hand.

“It is!” she defends. It’s not, but I also know there’s not going to be any convincing her otherwise at this table. “At the same time though, I spent a lot of money on that dress. I feel like I need to do something with it. Other than leaving it in my closet to mock me.”