“Come on out!” Arianna moved aside and held the phone up so Sydney could see the whole gown.
When she did step in front of the mirrors, Mia felt like she was going to cry. Sydney was right; she shouldn’t have come alone because it was overwhelming.
Wonderful but overwhelming.
“Oh my goodness,” she whispered as she took in her reflection all the way around. It was hard to believe that the off-the-rack gown–only the fourth one she tried on–would be the gown, and yet now that she was staring at herself in it, she knew she’d made the right choice.
“Are you crying?” Sydney’s voice called out. “It looks like you’re crying!”
Off in the distance, the shop phone rang and Ari handed Mia her phone back so she could go answer it.
“I know I’ve been trying it on for a month now, but with all the alterations done, it really feels like it’s mine,” she admitted, wiping a stray tear away.
“You look beautiful, Mia,” Sydney said with a sniffle of her own. “Dammit, now I’m going to cry!”
“That’s fine, Mrs. Evans,” Arianna said as she walked toward the back room. “I know we can match the fabric…”
Mia watched her walk out of the room before focusing on Sydney again. “Okay, no more crying. This is a good thing. A great thing! My gown fits like a glove and I love it!”
“It is definitely the perfect gown for you. It was worth the three-hour drive to find it.”
“I know, right? Can you imagine going all that way and not finding something?” She admired her reflection some more and the two of them continued to talk about hair and accessories while poor Arianna dealt with what seemed like a difficult client over the phone. “I feel so bad, Syd,” she whispered. “I can hear her being sweet and offering every kind of option to the woman on the phone, but it seems like this person just wants to argue.”
“Ugh…I hate people like that. They ruin everything.”
“Exactly. Do you think I should go back there and give her an option to get off the phone?”
“I don’t know…”
“I realize I don’t know Arianna that well, but…this just doesn’t seem like her thing.”
“You mean being a seamstress?”
Mia nodded.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s not. It was her grandmother’s business and she passed away last year. Arianna used to work with her and that business was her whole life. She left it to Ari in her will and I think she doesn’t want to let it go because it meant something to her grandmother.” She shook her head. “According to Parker, Arianna has a real gift for jewelry making. She’s got a shop on Etsy, but I think the seamstress thing takes up a lot of her time. Too bad she couldn’t make a business out of that.”
“Wait…which one’s Parker? One of Mason’s sisters, right?”
“She’s the youngest and forever traveling. If you can ever pin her down to talk for more than five minutes, you’ll adore her.”
“Do you think the jewelry she has in that front case are her designs?”
“I’m not sure. You should ask her. Which reminds me, have you decided on what jewelry you’re going to wear with this gown?”
“I haven’t, but…” In the distance, she heard Arianna raise her voice as she repeated the woman’s name, and that’s when Mia knew she had to do something. “Hang tight. I’m going to go and see about…”
The bell over the front door rang, and without thinking, Mia turned around. It didn’t register at first what she was seeing until she heard Sydney curse.
“I told you! I warned you!! This is bad luck!” Sydney ranted on until Mia realized what exactly was happening.
Austin was standing in the doorway holding the box with her stole in it.
And staring wide-eyed at her in her wedding gown.
He wasn’t a superstitious man, but even he was beginning to question their sudden run of bad luck.
A week after he had seen Mia in her wedding gown, weird things started to happen. First, their photographer fell and broke his arm in three places, so he obviously couldn’t handle their wedding. They’d called a half dozen different photographers before they found one they felt comfortable with. Then the veil Mia had ordered got lost in the mail. A new one was on its way, but…it made them stop and wonder about their luck.
Next was poor Mrs. Henderson. She had been rushed to the hospital to have her gallbladder removed and would be out of commission for a few weeks. Apparently, her niece was coming in to help out, but no one knew if she would be able to handle making their wedding cake. They were looking at doing a cupcake tower as an alternative.
Then, today, someone stole Austin’s laptop from a job site. Normally it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but on his lunch break, he had started writing his wedding vows, and considering words did not come easily to him, this was really going to set him back.
There was no way he was going to tell Mia about it because she was starting to freak out and he needed her to stay calm.
If this were the last of their rotten luck, he’d be a very happy man. They only had another two and a half weeks before the wedding, so hopefully, the worst was over.
Now he was sitting in his office wondering what he should do first. He had forgotten everything he had thought of earlier for his vows, and the more he tried to remember, the more his head hurt. The knock on his office door was a welcome distraction. Looking up, he saw his brother Garrett standing there and he sagged with relief. “Hey, G. What brings you here?”
Garrett took one look at him and knew something was wrong. “You okay?” he asked as he took a seat.
Raking a hand through his hair, he sighed. “Just…rough day. What’s going on with you?”
“I was wondering how attached you were to the DJ you and Mia hired for the wedding.”
For the love of it…
The DJ in question was a friend of Garrett’s from college and he had been the only one they could find on such short notice.
“Why?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Well…the DJ thing was a side-gig for him and he just got a job offer at a veterinary clinic up in Ohio, and…he’s leaving Sunday. So…”
His fist slammed down hard on his desk. “You have got to be kidding me!” he yelled. “Does no one believe in sticking to their commitments anymore? What am I supposed to do on such short notice now? He was the only DJ we could find!”
Holding up his hands, Garrett tried to calm him down. “Okay, okay…I get it. Let me make some calls and see if we can find someone or maybe an orchestra or something?”
With a groan, Austin leaned forward and gently banged his head on his desk. Not three minutes ago, he had hope–hope that their bad luck was behind them. Now they didn’t have music for their wedding and there was no way he could keep that from Mia.
It took a minute to pull himself together, and as angry as he was, he knew it wasn’t his brother’s fault. Straightening, he offered him a weak smile. “I appreciate you delivering the news in person.”
“Yeah, well…I hate that I had to deliver it at all. I’m really sorry, Austin. I’m sure you’re already dealing with a lot with it being so close to the wedding, and now with the weather warnings…”