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“She said she’d text it today,” Beth said. “We’re trying to go simple, and I’m not sure Julie knows how to do that.” She smiled at her sister and then her sister-in-law, finally relaxing a little bit. “I want a simple dress too, Kait.”
“You’ve told me fifty times,” Kait said, slowing down so she wouldn’t get to the door of the bridal shop first. “Our appointment is with Caroline.”
Sally opened the door and held it for Beth and then Kait to push her stroller through.
“You must be Beth,” a woman said. She wore a sharp skirt suit and had every strand of hair in the perfect place. “I’m Caroline.”
“Nice to meet you,” Beth said, shaking the woman’s hand. She shook Sally’s too, and then hugged Kait, as they were old friends.
“I have three dresses ready for you back here,” Caroline said, leading the way past a long counter where another woman in another equally pressed skirt suit stood. “Kait said simple but elegant. I know this isn’t your first wedding, and we don’t have a lot of time for alterations. She sent your measurements, and I chose dresses that typically don’t require much tailoring because of the cut or style.”
Beth felt like turning around and running to the nearest fried chicken shop. Maybe if she consumed enough fried food what she was doing would make sense.
Her phone chimed, and she plucked it from the pocket of her purse, hoping there was some problem with TJ she’d have to immediately attend to. The text wasn’t from Hugh, but Trey.
Try to have fun today, he’d said.I can’t wait to see you tonight.
A smile touched her lips and slid through her soul. How had he known she was about to flee? As Caroline continued to talk, Beth sent him a heart emoji, a brand-new feeling of calmness flowing over her.
She’d asked him to marry her so she could enter the Sweetheart Classic. Deep down, though, Beth wondered, then hoped, that a relationship with him could be…real.
He hadn’t said as much, but he’d said he liked her before her crazy idea. He kissed her like he liked her and wanted their relationship to be real.
Maybe, she thought. Just maybe…
“Here we are,” Caroline said, drawing back a curtain to reveal a room easily as big as Beth’s oversized kitchen. “Everyone can come in. I’m assuming Beth brought you to hear your opinions.”
The women all filed into the dressing room, and Beth hung her purse on Kait’s stroller before facing the wall where three wedding dresses had been hung.
Caroline stood next to them, her hands clasped in front of her, that gloriously perfect smile on her face. “I’ll go over them all,” she said. “You tell me which one you want to try on first.”
Beth swallowed and nodded. Sally slipped her hand into Beth’s and squeezed, and that helped ground Beth a little bit more.
* * *
“No, you can’t see it,”Beth said later that night. She set a bowl of green salad in the middle of the table. “TJ, time to eat.”
Her son had curled into the couch when they’d returned from the mall, and Beth had left him there while she went out to the ranch and did the few chores to sustain the animals until morning.
“I want to see it,” Trey said. “It’s not like the wedding is going to be canceled if I see the dress.”
“It’s bad luck,” Beth said with a small smile in Trey’s direction. TJ hadn’t moved, and frustration filled her. She went back into the kitchen to grab the spaghetti and meatballs she’d thrown together. “TJ, now. It’s time to eat.”
She went around the island the other way so she could walk behind where he sat on the couch. He still ran his colored pencil over the pad of paper Hugh had bought for him. “Put it away, bud,” she said. “You can finish it after dinner.”
Beth took the pot to the table, a sigh leaking from her mouth when she didn’t hear any movement behind her. She looked back at TJ, still on the couch. Still coloring.
Trey looked up at her and then over his shoulder. “TJ. Dinner. Now.”
Her son looked up as if he hadn’t heard a word anyone had said until Trey had spoken. “Comin’,” he said.
Beth glared at Trey. “I hate that he listens to you and not me.”
Trey blinked at her, obviously surprised. “I…just tryin’ to help.”
She took her spot at the table as TJ skipped toward them, happy as a clam. “Spaghetti,” he said, though she’d told him what she was making for dinner half an hour ago when she’d started it. “I love spaghetti.”
He climbed into his chair across from Trey. “Do you like spaghetti, Trey?”
