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And now, dressed in new lacy black underwear, Ellie felt good. Admittedly, the bra was like a hammock holding two beachballs and the knickers were more like shorts that came to mid-thigh and rose above her belly button, but they were made of the softest satin and lace and looked, she thought, quite good. She’d never be twenty-one again and she would never have been Miss World, not even back then, so she didn’t ever have unrealistic expectations about her appearance. But in this underwear and after her pampering session, she felt good. Good enough, that was, and that was fine with her. So now, even if someone did cop a glance at her in her undies, she wouldn’t feel completely mortified.
She pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt and slid her feet into her trainers then grabbed her bag. She’d promised Darcie she’d get to the village hall nice and early so they could run through the itinerary for the evening. Apparently, there was to be an auction too, so that would be interesting. It was to raise funds for the local primary school so they could get some new books for the library and that was a cause Ellie would happily back all the way. She wondered what sort of things people would be auctioning and doublechecked her bag to make sure her purse was inside.
As she closed the door behind her, she breathed deeply of the late September air that was delicately laced with woodsmoke and almost skipped along the path. She was really looking forward to having some fun and knowing that Finn would be there too made her belly flutter in ways it hadn’t done since she was a teenager. It hit her then that for the first time in a very long time, she felt alive.
Chapter14
Finn
Finn had worked through the morning then finished early so he could go home to prepare for the evening. Although he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, he’d wanted to have a bit of a pamper before the evening. It wasn’t that he didn’t take care of himself. His job was very physical and he was lean and muscular from it but he also had rough skin on his hands and feet and his hair could get a bit unruly after a day in the wind, so he’d left his second in command in charge and gone to work on himself. He’d worked out, had a shower and buffed all the hard skin off his feet and hands then moisturised before popping to the local salon to get a haircut and his beard trimmed. Now, he felt ready to model at the fashion show, or as ready as he’d ever be, that was.
On his way to the village hall, he couldn’t help wondering how Ellie was feeling and if she was nervous too, although Darcie had told him that there was no pressure with this. She wanted real people to model her ranges not images of perfection. After all, how could real people identify with models? She wanted people to see how good the clothes she sold could look on a normal person with bulges, scars, wrinkles and so on. That had made Finn wonder if she was telling him something about his appearance, but then she’d laughed and told him she thought he was lovely and so did a lot of the female population of the village. Not that it should matter to Finn what anyone thought, and he certainly wasn’t vain, but after being dumped by his wife for another man, his self-confidence wasn’t exactly brimming over. Finn had never been the kind of person to obsess about his looks, but didn’t everyone want to feel like someone who mattered found them attractive? At least found their heart and mind attractive anyway because at the end of the day, people got older and physical appearances altered. It was all about finding a connection with someone and if you found that, well, Finn thought that was as precious as gold and diamonds, more so in fact. As he got older, he thought that being loved and accepted for who he was would be the best thing ever. As for that happening, well, he doubted it ever would. But there was always hope.
When he reached the village hall, he went inside and removed his coat then headed for the back room where he knew Darcie would be setting up. He pushed open the door and nearly walked straight back out to head for home again. The room was full of people of all ages, sizes and shapes getting changed, pushing rails of clothes along or helping others to get dressed. God, he hadn’t signed up for this!
He stood there, looking around and yet trying not to see anything, because there were people in various stages of undress and yet no one seemed to care.
‘Finn!’ A familiar voice, thank god.
Ellie was walking towards him. ‘You OK?’ she asked.
He couldn’t help noticing that she was in a floral satin robe tied at the waist with Crocs on her feet. Her hair was pinned up into curls and she seemed to have grown extra-long eyelashes overnight. When she blinked, they reminded him of cartoon characters and it took him a moment to realise they were false and that it wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said.
‘It’s a bit overwhelming, right?’ She peered up at him from behind those giant lashes and he nodded, chewing at his bottom lip.
‘Come with me.’ She held out a hand and he took it then she led him across the room. He raised a hand to shade his eyes, not wanting to accidentally look at something he shouldn’t, and when they reached the other side of the room Ellie said, ‘You can lower your hand now.’
He did, slowly, and found that she was grinning at him.
‘You’re so cute, Finn.’
‘Cute?’
‘Were you just hiding your eyes so you wouldn’t see anyone’s wobbly bits?’
‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘There’s a lot of flesh around here.’
‘There is. Too much. But most people are wearing massive undies so it’s kind of like going to the beach and seeing people in their swimming costumes. To be fair, they’re actually wearing more than they would at the beach.’
‘Really?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Darcie told them to wear substantial pants and bras or even vests as well if they wanted. There are privacy screens for the shy and those who are very self-conscious can change in the toilets.’
‘OK.’ He looked around for the sign for the toilets and spotted it off to their right.
‘You can change in the toilets too if you like,’ she said softly.
‘Where are you changing?’ he asked.
‘Here.’ She pointed at her feet. ‘Right here.’
‘Oh, OK. I’ll stay here with you.’
‘There you are, Finn and Ellie!’ Darcie marched towards them with garments hanging from her arms. ‘My stars of the show.’
She handed them the garments then stepped back. ‘If you can both get dressed, I can do any final tweaks to the outfits.’
