I lower my head. She’s right to call me out on it. As devastating as it was to lose my career in dance, and my relationship with Fisher, I coped well for the most part. But the incident in Paris with my ex shook me, and the recent increase in my leg pain has left me feeling tired, angry, and vulnerable. Three things I don’t like to feel.
A girl comes from the back area that Laurel and Sabrina disappeared too and hands me a glass of champagne and sets a small plate of pastel-colored macarons between us.
When she’s gone, Whimsy groans and picks up a robin’s egg blue one.
“Don’t judge me,” she says at my amused look. “I can’t resist these.”
“I’m not.” I swipe up the lavender one.
The door to the store opens and I look over my shoulder to see Sabrina’s best friend Lucy, and her wife Alyssa, hurrying into the store.
“We didn’t miss anything, did we?” Lucy asks with wide, panicked eyes.
“Not at all,” Whimsy says, scooting against my side to make room for our new additions.
I hold out the plate toward Lucy and Alyssa. “Do you guys want one?”
Lucy does a little dance in her seat and takes the pink one.
“None for me,” Alyssa says with a smile. “But thanks.”
We catch up on basic things while we wait for Sabrina to come out from the dressing room. When she does, all our breaths catch.
Stunning is too insignificant of a word to describe her.
Ethereal, maybe, but even that doesn’t truly encompass how she takes my breath away. Noah might pass away when he sees her.
The dress is simple, but in the most elegant way, with sweeping low sleeves and a skirt that drapes in a way that makes me think of royalty.
“Oh, Sabrina,” I gasp, feeling myself get a little choked up. “You look … wow.”
Whimsy wipes away a tear. “Beautiful. So beautiful.”
We helped her with dress shopping, but there’s something so vastly different in seeing her in the dress when it’s perfectly altered to her body.
Sabrina smiles at her reflection in the mirror and lifts the skirt to turn to us.
Laurel, and a woman who I assume might be the seamstress, smile off to the side and let us have our moment with our friend.
“What do you guys think?” Sabrina asks with a watery smile. “Do I look okay?”
“Okay?” Lucy scoffs. “You’re a total knockout. Noah’s going to swallow his tongue.”
“You think?” She bites her lip.
“Sabrina,” I say, pausing to think of the right words to say. “You are a goddess. No one has ever looked as good in a wedding dress as you do.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Did Lucy pay you for the compliment?”
“Not at all. I mean it.”
“Thank you.” She turns back to the mirrors, beaming at her own reflection. “Wow,” she murmurs. “I can’t believe I’m getting married. Noah’s going to be my husband. How crazy is that?”
Laurel steps forward and says, “Since you all are here, we have your dresses ready for final fitting as well if you’d like to try them on.”
I keep conveniently forgetting that Sabrina asked me to be a part of her wedding party. Not because I’m not ecstatic to be a part of her big day, but because she has me walking down the aisle with Fisher. It makes sense to put us together, I can’t deny that, since Elias will be walking with Whimsy, but it still grates on me that no matter what I do I can’t seem to get away from that man.
Whimsy and I follow Laurel and who I presume is the seamstress to the back. The first one who fitted us was a different lady, so I can’t be certain.