Page 75 of That Kind of Guy

“How does it look?” Elizabeth called. She was sitting outside the dressing room, drinking champagne with Hannah, Max, and Div. Div had stopped in for breakfast at the restaurant yesterday morning and I extended the invitation to him. He seemed like someone who would tell me the truth about dresses.

“She’s breathtaking,” Geraldine called back as she tightened the bodice.

“Too tight,” I gasped.

The dress had so much volume that I could barely fit into the dressing room. Geraldine was pressed up against the walls.

I didn’t have an idea of the dress I wanted because I had never really thought about it. I figured, if I were to ever get married, it would be a simple, private ceremony, and I’d wear a dress that I could wear again and again. Something practical. Maybe a wrap dress that I could wear to work. Nothing against big weddings, I loved attending them, but all eyes on me? Not my bag.

I remembered standing in front of the store with the others. This was just another thing to cross off the list, and the restaurant would be mine. Geraldine had insisted that this one looked better on than hanging up, so I shrugged my shoulders and gave it a whirl. Besides, this experience was just as much for Elizabeth, Hannah, Max, and Div as it was for me. The rest of the dresses hanging outside the dressing room were chosen by the others. I said yes to every suggestion. I didn’t know anything about wedding dresses, and I trusted that my people who were here today would never let me wear something hideous.

One dress caught my eye while we browsed the store, sipping champagne and running our fingers over the fabrics. It was soft cream silk, with capped sleeves that draped slightly, and delicate beadwork on the bodice. It looked like something out of the twenties, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“Oooh, vintage,” Hannah said at my side before grabbing it. “Add it to the pile.”

“No,” I said, putting it back on the rack. “I don’t think it’s quite my style.”

I don’t know why I did that. The dress was so delicate and interesting and unique, and I wanted it immediately but something in me hesitated and turned away. This wedding was fake, I reminded myself. A dress like that would make it feel too real, and that felt dangerous, like putting my fingers too close to the candle flame.

In the dressing room, through the blur of the veil Geraldine had popped on my head, I stared at my reflection. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Carted around and dressed up like a doll, but it was to get what I wanted.

The money had arrived in my bank account a few days ago and Keiko and I had a meeting at the bank a couple days after the wedding.

Part of me couldn’t believe it had happened. He had signed a paper and a bank gave me a mountain of money to buy a restaurant. It felt like a dream. This kind of thing didn’t happen to people like me. I didn’t exactly know whatpeople like memeant, but I knew that I was very, very lucky.

“Alright, princess, go on out,” Geraldine said, opening the dressing room door and shoving me out. The skirt was wider than the door, so she had to push with both hands on my back.

I stumbled out and my entourage gasped. They couldn’t see my face through the veil and I couldn’t see theirs very clearly.

“What do you think?” I asked, squinting at them.

“What doyouthink?” Elizabeth asked, her voice deliberately light.

“Isn’t it divine?” Geraldine asked beside me. “So modern, so elegant, like a Disney princess.”

I lifted the veil up. “I don’t know if this is the dress for me.”

Everyone except Geraldine sagged with relief. Elizabeth and Hannah winced at each other.

“Thank god,” Max said, shaking his head.

“You cannot marry Emmett in that dress,” Div told me. “You look like one of those dolls they sell on QVC after two in the morning that lonely boomers buy.”

“And add to the creepy collection they display in the dining room,” Max added, and they dissolved into laughter.

“My daughter wore this dress at her wedding,” Geraldine told us with wide eyes.

Elizabeth stood and put her hand on Geraldine’s shoulder. “I’m sure it was absolutely lovely on her. Avery, honey, why don’t you try on another.”

Over and over, Geraldine pulled the dresses over my shoulders and shoved me out into the viewing area like a show dog. Over and over again, Geraldine saw my bare boobs. I really didn’t have a choice in either, and after the third dress, I stopped caring.

“This one is nice,” Hannah said, looking at me with raised eyebrows, watching my reaction as I stepped out.

I nodded with a pleasant smile, staring at the satin bodice with clamshell cups. “It is.”

“Your boobs look great,” Div added.

“They do,” I agreed, glancing at the ample cleavage the structured bodice had provided. “They sure do.”

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