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“Oh. Well, she’d be right.” I’d happily spend the rest of the day with Isla around. Losing Janet because of it would actually be a perk. “Speaking of…” I trailed off as Isla and Janet skipped over to us. Well, Isla skipped, but she was practically dragging Janet, so it was like they both were. They made it a few feet from the three of us and then abruptly stopped and stared.
“What are you doing with the mannequin, Margot?” Isla asked, dropping her hold on Janet.
Janet barked out a laugh and covered her mouth with one hand while pointing at Tanner with the other.
Confusion furrowed my brow. I ignored Janet and turned to Isla. “You knew I was dating him. How do you keep forgetting? I’ve told you all about him, and you’ve seen him twice before.”
Isla shook her head. “Yeah, but he was different in the window. Full daylight is…revealing.”
I glanced up at Tanner, anxious about his feelings. He was already gazing down at me with sympathy in his eyes. Thank goodness he was an understanding person.
“How was he different?” I asked, tightening my grip on Tanner’s hand.
Isla’s shoulders rose to her ears, and her mouth compressed. “In the window he was more…plausible.”
Janet laughed again. “This is great. Really, Margot. Just perfect. You’ve made my day.” She pulled out her phone and started snapping pictures of us.
“Isn’t that against your modeling contract or something?” I murmured to Tanner. I hated that my best friend and my sister and my whatever Janet was were all being so weird to him.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” It was time for me to stand up for him. My backbone finally snapped into place. “They can’t treat you like this just because of what you do for a living.” I faced our haters. “I’m so disappointed in you. Even you, Janet.”
Janet lowered her phone, a guilty look creeping into her eyes. To my surprise, Lindsay stepped forward.
“Yeah, you guys. We need to accept Margot and her choice of”—she glanced at Tanner, and he stared back at her with raised eyebrows, obviously curious how she was going to complete her sentence—“partner. Being an ER nurse all through the pandemic and all the stuff she’s been through since then. Well, and she never dealt with Josh leaving her after she loved him and pined for himforever. It’s stressful. People deal with stress in different ways. However they can. We’re all just getting through a day at a time. We need to show love and acceptance.”
I frowned and stepped closer to Tanner. He put his arm around me in support. I wasn’t stressed because Josh didn’t stay for me five years ago. And I wasn’t currently dating a model because I was stressed, either. But I liked that Lindsay was sticking up for me. I had no idea why Lindsay was bringing up my stress level, or why my family felt the need to keep citing it at all. I didn’t know what kind of stress would cause one to steal a wedding gown or date a model, but Isla and Janet looked duly chastened, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Sorry, Margot,” Isla said.
“Yeah, sorry,” Janet seconded.
I lifted my chin. “It’s really Tanner you should apologize to.”
“Sorry, Tanner,” Isla said with a quick glance at me.
“Sorry, Tanner.” Janet rolled her eyes.
“Thank you,” he said. “Sorry to cut this short, but I’ve got to go back to work. We’ve got a meeting this afternoon.”
“It’s okay,” I said and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. “I’ll walk you back.”
He smiled, his eyes sparkling. “Great.”
I turned to my friends. “I’m going to walk Tanner back. Will you wait for me?”
“Yes!” Lindsay said, almost smiling. “Great idea. Walk him back into the store. And leave him there.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Janet said, pulling her phone back out from her pocket and holding it low like she was going to take pictures no matter what, but she’d hold the camera lower as a nod toward being more respectful. I didn’t know why she wanted to take pictures of us again. But if she ended up selling them somehow, I was going to demand that she donate the proceeds to charity.
When Tanner and I arrived at the front of the store, he pulled me close and gave me a goodbye kiss.
“See you later for ice skating?” I asked, nuzzling his neck.
He pulled away. “Absolutely. And we’ll keep it short. I know you have the rehearsal dinner tonight, right?”
I put a hand to my head. “Oh, right! I do.” How could I have forgotten?
