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She popped into the fabric store. Nate followed her in.
“Good heavens, Liv! What happened to you?” Ruby Jenkins asked from behind the cashier’s desk. In addition to tailoring dresses in her adjacent wedding shop, she owned this business as well.
“Minor incident with Toby Anderson and a building corner,” Liv said dismissively.
“That guy.” Ruby did her signature bristle. “He chewed me out the other day at the market because I’d apparently bought all the best peaches for my cobbler and left him with bruised ones for his smoothies. For his smoothies! As if his blender isn’t going to do a heck of a lot worse than bruise them!”
Liv laughed. “Yeah, he’s a tool.” She introduced Nate to Ruby, and then said, “I’m here on Chloe’s behalf. She needs two more bolts of the silver satin for the full-length tablecloths and she’s discovered this intricate, glittery silver-purple iridescent lace as an overlay that she’s hoping you can locate for her.” Liv dug in her purse and extracted the swatch.
“This is beautiful,” Ruby said as she admired the sample. “It’d be breathtaking incorporated into the bridesmaids’ dresses . . .” Her light-brown eyes glassed over and Liv knew Ruby was already envisioning the enhancement to the gowns.
But she reminded the seamstress, “Uh, wedding’s in less than two weeks, remember?”
“Not a problem,” Ruby said with a wave of her hand. “Easy fix.”
“Okay. Well. Chloe said to put it on her account.”
Ruby whistled under her breath. “Good thing she’s marrying a multimillionaire.”
“Actually,” Liv said, “she and Sylvia are working for Noah Donovan, designing the spa for his Covington Collection hotel that he’s opening down the coast next year. Chloe’s doing very well for herself and paying for all of these decorations out of her own pocket—hence the reason she’s enlisted the help of friends, so she can keep the bridal consultant’s fee to a minimum.”
Liv knew Chloe’s life had been extremely tumultuous before she’d come to Bayfront a year ago. Her misfortunes had led Chloe to believe that she’d neither find true love, nor did she want to. But then she’d met John and her childhood dream of a frilly wedding had returned full force. Chloe had emerged from her shell enough to dare to follow that dream. This was the one extravagance she chose to grant herself, and she wanted it to be a memorable day for her fiancé as well.
Ruby told Liv, “I’ll order another round of supplies and have them delivered as quickly as possible.” Then she whisked a hand in Liv’s general direction and asked, “Do you want to borrow something from the shop?”
“One of your prom dresses to run my errands in?” Liv joked. “Thanks, but I’ve got it covered. I’ll see you next week for the final fitting.”
“Lay off those carbs and the sugar until the day after the wedding, Liv.”
She snickered. “I am not bypassing the cake. Oh, my God! Wait till you see it!” A work of genius unlike anything Liv had ever imagined; it was going to be a travesty to cut into it from a design aspect, but she had no doubt every decadent bite would be worth the calories!
That made her pause before she walked out of the store. She eyed Ruby and inquired, “You will have a sewing kit in your purse, just in case I burst a seam with all the food and drink?”
“You wouldn’t be my first bridesmaid to do so.”
“Figured as much.” She breathed a sigh of relief and left, Nate still tagging along.
Half a block down, she unlocked the door to Fallon’s beauty shop, crossed the threshold, and disengaged the security alarm. She closed the door behind Nate and set the deadbolt.
The store faced the square and was tranquility personified with its frosted glass accents, thyme-painted walls with medium-colored wood wainscoting, and shiny hardwood floors. The gorgeous chandeliers she flipped on provided a cozy, golden glow of illumination.
The shop didn’t open until ten, so Liv had time to go about her business. As she headed toward the hallway that led to the back portion of the building where there was an office, an employee restroom, a workstation, and a storage closet, Liv told Nate, “I promised Chloe I’d pick up the bubbles for the reception that Fallon crafted and bottled as a bridal shower gift.”
She deposited her purse on the work table and eyed the shelf above that was fully stocked with the slim glass vials and narrow wands.
“There’s a stepladder here somewhere,” she mumbled.
“You need those?” Nate’s chin jerked toward the boxes overhead.
“All five of them.”
“No problem.” He leaned in close, his hard body sealing to hers as he reached above her and pulled down the first box.
“Show-off,” she teased.
He chuckled and the vibration passed from his chest to her back, echoing inside her.
He retrieved the remaining supplies, stacking them up on the table. “Anything else I can do for you?” he asked in a low murmur, his hands resting on her hips.
