He considered ignoring it. Except Vivien might have borrowed a phone.
“Hello?”
“It’s Alecia—at the dry cleaner. I’ve got the dress.”
And with those four words, Boone smiled.
Yes. Today, he would be Vivien’s hero.
CHAPTER 8
WEDNESDAY, 2:15 P.M.
Nothing against Kate, but if Vivien had to spend one more minute in the shop, she just might break. And yeah, the fact that Boone had left her there while he gallivanted off to deal with a crisis at the Crisis Response Team didn’t make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Shouldn’t the team be able to help themselves?
She took a breath, the words of the hymn still weaving through her mind.
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth…
She shouldn’t have sent Ree away, but she just couldn’t stand to see the pity in her best friend’s eyes. Not when there was nothing anyone could do for her besides try to scrape together the rest of their wedding plans. But she had passed off half her to-do list to Ree, at her insistence.
The jangle of keys caught Vivien’s attention. Kate stood with her coat on, purse over her shoulder. “I need to run to pick up my mom for an appointment. She’s not feeling well. Can I give you a ride? Or is Boone coming back?”
Vivien looked at her, no answer on her lips. She managed to shake her head before adding, “He said he’d be back.”
Kate gave her a hug. “Hey, it’s okay. You can wait here. Just lock the door when you go.”
“Sure.”
The lingering feel of Kate’s hug didn’t lift Vivien’s spirits nearly as much as the sight of Boone walking through the door a couple minutes later.
And he was carrying a box. A gigantic dress box.
And he had a big, silly, super-excited grin plastered across his face.
“Alecia called. She found your dress. Something to do with the new guy misplacing it.”
She processed his words. “Found…my dress?”
He stomped the snow off his boots and walked to the large table, set down the box, and lifted the lid.
Embroidered lace. Overlay with tulle. V-neck. Sleeveless. Yes. Yes! Her dress.
“It’s my dress!” Vivien covered her mouth with her hands and jumped up and down. “Thank you!” She threw her arms around Boone.
His soft laughter vibrated against the crook of her neck. “Of course.”
She lifted the dress from the box, holding the yards bundled in her arms. “It’s going to be totally wrinkled.” Not that she cared. She had her dress. And that left her positively giddy.
“Do I need to look away?”
“No way. Not after all this. You’ll understand all the fuss once you see it.” She laughed and hung the dress from one of Kate’s racks, then set about unfolding the length of it. “I’m going to have to buy my own steamer, though. I don’t want to let it out of my sight again.”
She shook out the folds of fabric and smoothed the bodice and skirt.
Oh no. No. No. No…
A brown stain darkened the front of the dress, near the hips. Mud? Coffee?
“Oh, honey.” Boone’s fingers wrapped around her shoulder. “I’m sure we can get that out.” But it seemed even he couldn’t keep the doubt out of his tone.
“It’s ruined.”
“It’s not—”
“It is!” She’d worked with enough costume fabrics to know. The stain wasn’t going to come out.
She shoved the dress back into the bag, hot tears flooding down her face. Everything was wrong. The moment she’d dreamed of yet never thought would ever come.
She drew in a breath. “What if we wait?”
“Wait for what?”
“I can have another dress sewn. The same dress. My dress.”
“This took four months to finish.” Boone’s jaw had gone slack. “You want to wait four months?” He probably didn’t realize he was nearly shouting.
She reached for him. “I just need the dress. I need everything else to work out. I need it to be the perfect wedding we planned.”
“Why?”
“Because if it doesn’t—” And okay, maybe she sounded like she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. “I don’t want to be lying on our bathroom floor giving birth, scared and alone while you’re off saving someone else.”
He stepped back, a heavy crease between his brows. “What are you talking about?” He pressed a palm against his chest, his face suddenly pale. “Vivie—you can’t be—we haven’t—”
She gasped. “No, of course not! I mean in the future.” She threw her hands in the air. “I just…need you to choose me.”
Again, he gaped, clearly still flummoxed. “I did choose you. I am choosing you—I’m marrying you.”
She wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining herself. “But work—the Crisis Response Team.”
“What about it?”
“Maybe I’m afraid it’s more important—that it will take priority over me. Us.”
“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I want to be number one in your life. I don’t want to come after anything else.”
“God?”
“Okay, fine—God can be first.” She palmed her forehead. “That didn’t come out right. But I mean, after God. I need to know that I come first.”
His shoulders sagged. “Vivien, I’m the same man you started dating a year and a half ago. Back then, I had my job as a detective. Then I moved here—took the CRT coordinator job. You’ve always known that sometimes that means I have to drop everything and go.”
“I know, but I guess I just figured once we were married that we’d…that you’d…stay.”
He threw out his arms. “Vivien, if people are in trouble and it’s my team’s job to save them, then that’s what we do. That’s what I signed up for.”
“But what about me? What about anniversaries? What about birthday parties?”
“I hope to be at every single one.”
“But you can’t guarantee it.”
“How could I? And why have you never brought this up before?”
“Because I thought it would be different once we got married, and I’m starting to realize that it won’t be.”
“Vivien, I can’t walk away from it.”
“I’m not asking you to—but can’t you say no sometimes? I thought you were all-in on this. On us.”
But the look on his face said his answer far louder than any words could. He shook his head ever so slightly, as if he couldn’t even process her words. Like she’d asked him to let someone die. “What are you saying? Say no when someone needs me? Just walk away?”
“No—of course not.”
“Then what, Vivie? I thought we were talking about a dress, and now, somehow, we’re talking about the team and my commitments.”
“I don’t know—The storm. The dress. Maybe this is a bad idea. Or…maybe it’s God’s way of telling us to wait until the timing is right.”