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‘The previous owner told us herself. Didn’t she, Temps? She was an oversharer, if you remember?’

‘Oh yes. Yes, that’s it. And of course you should have it! Employee discount included. You and Frederica will be very happy together.’ Temperance let go of a deep breath.

Stevie’s eyes flicked back and forth between the sisters before she shook her head and smiled once again. ‘Thanks! I was going to spray paint an ice cream cone for my head, pop on some ears and go as a Uni-kitty. Frederica, it’s nice to meet you.’ Stevie shook one of the empty sleeves. ‘Let’s get you stashed away out the back, my pretty.’ She bounced into the office.

‘You’re not off the hook,’ Susie sing-songed after the beer sloshed down her throat. ‘You need a jaws-on-the-floor look. A look to start the love affair of the century, as that’s what you always say you’re after. Maybe a stranger walks through the door, your eyes will meet across the crowded dance floor and your bodies will talk the language of lurve.’ She shimmied her shoulders and rolled her hips.

‘Or I get all dressed up, cram my vital organs into some Spanx, and spend the night being breathed on by all the usual suspects.’

‘I promise you, there are some really nice guys camping here at the minute. You could like them if you gave them a chance.’ Susie looked down her nose at Temperance and straight into her soul. The way only a sister could.

‘But what about the next day? All our neighbours seeing me . . . like that. I care about what they think, even if you don’t.’

‘I care. But I just don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world for them to know I have a heartbeat. And genitals.’

‘Sarah!’ Stevie screamed from the other side of the wall.

‘No: Susie, but close.’

Stevie’s faced popped around the doorframe, her cheeks flamingo pink. ‘I’ve found Sarah!’ With an almighty rustle, she held the wedding dress up to her chin. The wedding dress that had the sisters seeing deep purpley-blue blasts of all-consuming love.

‘Why on Earth is that a Sarah?’

‘Sarahhhhhhh,’ Stevie put on a gravelly monster voice. ‘Sarahhhhh!’ Her eyebrows shot to her hairline and she waddled towards them with the dress pressed to her front, about as easy to shift as a dead body in a carpet. ‘Labyrinth. The movie?! David Bowie. Awakening pre-teen sexual desires everywhere?! And the big hairy monster dude that’s really sweet? Sarahhhhh. Come on, you gotta see it!’ She thrust the layers of crunchy silk forwards.

‘Oh!’ Susie fumbled for her phone. ‘I do see it! The dreamy ballroom bit, in the bubble, and suddenly she’s waltzing about in this big, massive . . . this!’ Susie puffed up one of the layers of skirts. Luckily, Stevie didn’t pick up on the fact that she swooned for about thirty seconds before recovering and starting to type on her phone. ‘See?’ She held up the results to Temperance, showing countless stills of Jennifer Connelly in the classic movie.

‘If I scrunch up my eyes, I kind of . . . get the gist.’

Susie grinned. ‘It just needs some fake pearls swagged along just so. Tease up the hair. And I think it would fit her perfectly.’

‘Wait – fit who?!’ Temperance blinked.

‘Stevie, would you grab my sewing kit, please, doll?’

Stevie gave a salute and disappeared again, leaving the dress half-standing on its own on the polished wood floor.

‘I can’t wear that,’ Temperance whispered. ‘I’ll be high as a kite the whole time!’

‘Oh how awful,’ Susie deadpanned, ‘you’ll be full of pure love at a party.’ Her lips pursed. ‘Besides, have a little fairy fest mead beforehand and you’re good – you know alcohol dulls our magic. Yet another reason to get into the party spirit and let go for once.’

Temp’s eyes flicked down to her sister’s phone screen. ‘You think I could pull it off?’

Susie grabbed her by the shoulder. ‘You would be the ultimate fairy princess bewitched by the Goblin King. The only way if it could be more perfect if is an actual Goblin King in tight jodhpurs rocked up after you, but one thing at a time, hey.’

Temperance snorted through her nose. ‘That would be on brand for me and my sucky dating life. I’ll finally find The One and he’ll turn out to be a dodgy underworld despot. Who snatches random babies and randomly bursts into song.’

Susie lowered one eyebrow. ‘But Bowie – you would, right?’

‘Oh every day I would.’

When Stevie and Susie finished glue-gunning on a ton of extra lace, pearl trimming and looping floaty pastel scarves through Temperance’s hair, Stevie dotted some glitter on her cheekbones for the final touch.

By now, Temperance had finished her beers and begrudgingly moved onto the Malibu, swigging it while she played mannequin. The hug of true love sneaking past her alcohol-numbed power had given her a goofy kind of daze, enjoying the moment too much to think about the consequences.

Susie looked at her watch. ‘Shit. It’s almost tomorrow!’

‘Midnight! The witching hour!’ Stevie cackled drunkenly. ‘You’re going to think I’m nuts, but where I’m from – Massachusetts – we are kind of witch-obsessed. I must have seen The Craft more times than is healthy. That’s why I think I keep trying to work them into my history studies.’ Temperance flopped down onto the changing room stool, the magical energy of the dress rushing to her head and making her feel briefly dizzy. She pressed her hand to the silk bodice tightly, as if she could push the little roses and lace trims into her own being and carry them with her forever.