Chapter 6: Say Yes to the Dress

“You have to promise to be honest with me, Evie.” Heather held me by the shoulders, staring me down.

“Always.” I practically choked on the word, thinking about Finn and me in her guest house the other night.

Heather breathed a sigh of relief and released me. “Good,” she said. “Then let’s do this.”

I followed her into the bridal boutique, suddenly overwhelmed with the strong scent of floral perfume. My eyes had to adjust to the amount of white that was around the room, coming from dozens upon dozens of wedding dresses. Soft, lo-fi music played over the speakers, and in the center of the room were two rose-colored loveseats and a marble coffee table. Glasses of wine and a meat and cheese board sat neatly centered on the table.

A young woman came out from the back room, her silky blonde hair pulled to one side and braided. She smiled as she came up to Heather and me.

“Welcome, guys. My name is Lila, and I’ll be helping you find your dream dress today. Are you ready to get started?” She motioned for Heather to follow her.

I could tell right away that Lila wasn’t one of those workers that faked niceness just to get good reviews from customers. I started on a glass of white wine as Lila led Heather around to glance at some dress options. Lila seemed attentive to every concern that Heather voiced, and even though I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I could hear them laughing.

I made myself comfortable on one of the loveseats, and pulled out my phone as it vibrated. It was a text from Caleb. I’d given my number to him after his first shift, letting him know he could text me any time if he had any questions.

He’d sent a picture of a sugar cookie that looked like it had been frosted by a second grader. The red frosting had dried, dripping down the sides. One side had a mountain of frosting, while the other was so thin that I could still see the cookie underneath.

The caption he’d sent with it said “Your mom let me attempt to frost sugar cookies today. Let’s just say I got a batch of free cookies”.

“What’s got you smiling like that?” Heather’s voice startled me. I hadn’t even heard her approaching. I also hadn’t realized I had been smiling basically ear to ear.

“Oh, nothing,” I said quickly, making a mental note to text Caleb back later.

Heather shrugged and helped herself to a glass of wine. “Lila’s getting some options ready for me in the changing room. My mom and sisters should be here soon, I told them I’d at least wait to come out in the first dress until they got here.” She plopped down on the loveseat next to me.

“So,” she continued. “Have you downloaded Soul-Fate like you said you would weeks ago?”

I sighed. “Heather, I told you I didn’t want to sign up for that.”

“Yeah, but you never told me why,” Heather replied.

I couldn’t do anything but shake my head. Soul-Fate was the app some people used to find their soulmate when they were too impatient to wait for Fate to step in and have them meet in some normal way. Once they were signed up, people could scroll through an endless amount of people’s Marks, keeping an eye out for their own. I didn’t know the statistics of how many people found their soulmate this way, but obviously something was working, because the app had been popular for years.

“I just don’t want to scroll through thousands of pictures. Isn’t the whole point of Fate that you meet someone ‘at the time in your life when you need them the most’?” I tried my best not to sound sarcastic as I recited what everyone had been told when first learning about Fate and Marks. Heather knew I was skeptical about the process, but she had no idea just how much, even being my best friend for so long.

“Yeah, but it could be nice to try,” Heather offered.

I really didn’t want to keep talking about it. There was no way I could tell her that I didn’t want to get on some dumb app because I had zero interest in finding my so-called “soulmate”. I also definitely couldn’t tell her that it was because I was already dating our best friend and had been for over a year.

Lila had the best timing and walked up in the middle of our conversation. “Sorry to interrupt. Heather, I have the dresses you picked out ready for you in the dressing room. Are you ready to start trying stuff on?”

Heather squealed as she jumped up, nearly spilling her glass of wine. “Yes, of course!” She chugged what was left of her glass and bounced with glee as she headed to the back.

Lila watched her go, smiling. She looked back to me. “Hey, you’re Evie, right? The maid of honor?”

“Yep, that’s me.” I popped a few pieces of cheese from the platter into my mouth, and instantly wanted to puke. Why did people like aged cheese so much? It smelled funky and tasted like garbage.

Lila didn’t look bothered, so she must not have noticed me resisting the urge to spit out the cheese into the very nice-looking napkins on the table.

“Well, I’m so happy you could make it,” she said. “Heather was telling me back there how excited she is and how grateful she is for your friendship.”

That made my stomach turn even more than the cheese did. I finally swallowed my bite, and poured a glass of wine to drown out the taste.

“Yeah, she’s the best,” I said. The sweet wine soothed my taste buds immediately.

Before Lila could boast more about great Heather thought I was, Heather’s mom and older sisters showed up. Lila greeted them and told them to make themselves at home. Once they were settled, Lila headed back to meet Heather in the dressing room.

Heather tried on dress after dress, and twirled for us as she complimented and criticized every option. After it seemed like she’d tried on half the dresses in the shop, Heather came out once more, and all of us fell silent.

She looked absolutely breathtaking in the strapless lace gown that seemed to sparkle when the light hit it in just the right way. Lila helped spread out the bottom of the dress across the platform Heather was standing on, which just helped her look even more like a princess.

I heard a sniffle and saw that Heather’s mom was wiping a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Heather seemed to glow as she looked at our reactions, then studied herself in the mirror.

We all waited for her to make her verdict, waiting for the tiny things she would point out as to why she couldn’t wear it, but the criticisms never came.

“I love it,” she said after a while.

We all erupted into cheers, both because we’d run out of wine a half hour ago and the fact that she’d finally made her decision.

As Heather went back into the changing room, I pulled my phone out.

I finally texted Caleb back: “Maybe you should stick to the register for a while ;)”.

I hit send before I even realized I sent the winky face emoji. Oh, my Fate. I had to hold on to hope that he wasn’t one of those people that read way too much into emojis.

I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when his response was simple as it came in a few moments later: “I think you’re right”.

I got another text, this time from Finn: “Are you free tomorrow night? Finally have a night alone. Maybe we can have that movie night.”

I responded quickly: “Yes yes yes!”

I leaned back in the loveseat, feeling at ease once again. We could do this. We could make it work. We would be together, and that’s all that mattered.

Once Heather had changed back into her normal clothes and worked out the details for the dress with Lila, we were ready to go.

As we linked arms and walked past the downtown shops, Heather couldn’t stop rambling about how excited she was about the dress.

“And that girl, Lila? She was so sweet and helpful. I don’t think I could’ve made the decision without her.”

“I was wondering if you’d ever make the decision at all,” I joked, and flinched as she smacked my arm.

“Shut up,” she laughed. “I had to make sure it was the perfect dress for the perfect day. But for real, Lila was amazing. We really hit it off, too. Maybe we could invite her to brunch soon.”

I nodded. I was always surprised at how easily Heather just made friends with everyone she encountered, no matter how many times I’d seen it happen. “Yeah, I’d like that. She seemed nice.”

Heather pulled me close into a side hug. “Yay.”

We came up on Whitman’s Pastries, and I couldn’t help but glance in through the window just to see how it was looking in there. When I looked in, though, I saw that Caleb had already seen me, and was smiling as he lifted a hand to wave from behind the counter. Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I returned the wave awkwardly.

“Oh, I didn’t know Caleb worked here now,” Heather stated, also waving at Caleb.

“Yeah,” I said. “He started just a few days ago.”

“Huh, I thought he wasn’t staying. I wonder what changed his mind.” Heather shrugged it off. “Oh well, Mason will be happy regardless. Anyway, do you wanna have a sleepover tomorrow night and help me decide on what music we want?”

The next night was my night with Finn. My night that I couldn’t tell Heather about, or she’d most likely want to join us. Because we’re all just friends, so it wouldn’t be a problem, right? And I really didn’t know when Finn and I would have another free night. They seemed to be happening less and less as time went on.

“Actually,” I started, racking my brain for an excuse, “we’re having a family game night at home. Addie’s been emotional about not having her Mark yet, so we’re trying to lighten the mood and get her mind off it.” I silently high-fived myself for the believability of what I’d come up with.

Heather’s face fell. “Damn. Well, I’m sure you ditching her to help plan a wedding wouldn’t make her feel better, so I get it,” she said. Her face brightened again. “That means I’ll just have to force Mason to go through it with me. He had his night off with the boys, so I need to drag him back into wedding planning anyway.”

I was glad she didn’t seem too bothered as we linked arms again and started toward the parking lot.

I stole one last glance through the bakery window and saw that Caleb had already been looking at me. He averted his eyes quickly, but even from where I was, I could see his dimple again as he tried to hide his smile.