”
Getting dropped off by her mother made Leigh feel like a kid instead of a twenty-four-year-old professional. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she was an adult who could make her own decisions. Hopefully her car would be done soon. She headed down the sidewalk to Avery’s shop.
Bride Pride occupied a prime corner spot on Main Street across from Mann Cakes and Two Sisters Cupcakes. But the bridal shop got the benefits of both Main Street and First Street traffic. The train that ran along First Street occasionally caused a backup, but for the most part, the shop was easy to see and find.
The store had already been a bridal shop for years before Avery bought it. Once called Bargain Bridal, they were known for great secondhand deals on all things wedding attire, from dresses to tuxes, shoes, and lingerie. Avery changed the name so it didn’t sound cheap and so she could sell designer brands. But that caused a stir among the veteran locals who resisted most any change to their historic downtown. Avery, being the stubborn woman she was, told them if they didn’t like it, they could drive two hours into Louisville and find a better shop. The naysayers were pretty quiet after that, which opened the door for new businesses like Mann Cakes to stake their claim to Main Street fame.
Leigh opened the door and stepped into Bride Pride.
Avery, busy with some customers near the fitting rooms, waved her over. “Leigh! Come here, sweetie.”
Today must have been Treat Leigh Like a Kid Day.
Leigh smiled and shook her head. “Yes, ma’am?” She headed to where Avery stood with a woman in a flamingo pink bridesmaid dress.
Three angled mirrors showed a full-figured, flushed woman who looked like she could bite through nails.
“For God’s sake,” the woman cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “Do you have to bring everyone in to watch? Just cut the thing off already.”
“Oh, hell no,” Avery shot back. “That’s an Alfred Angelo. It’s worth more than your Coach purse.” Avery glanced at Leigh, her eyes flashing with pent-up frustration that could erupt into an ugly fit of rage at any moment. “It’s just a batch of bad zippers. I’ll return them all and get better ones.”
“Whatever. Just get it off.” The stuck zipper strained halfway down the woman’s back and didn’t look like it could zip up at all, stuck or not.
“Leigh, any ideas besides cutting up an Alfred Angelo?” Avery asked. For a five-foot two-inch petite woman, she had an incredible temper. She yanked the blue silk headband from her blonde bob cut and tossed it over her shoulder, growling with frustration.
“Well…” Leigh laid a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder. “What’s your name?”
The woman exhaled and put a hand on her hip. “Michelle. And what are you? A first responder?”
“No, I’m Leigh Meriwether. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She let her English accent become a little more pronounced.
Michelle’s expression softened a bit. “Thanks. Normally, I’d love to chat, but I really need to get out of this thing.”
“Okay, let’s try something…” Leigh dug through her purse and found a tube of lip balm. She opened it, applied some of the balm to the teeth of the zipper and massaged it in. A couple of tugs was all it took to get it unzipped.
Michelle’s eyes went wide. “You’re a freaking genius!”
“Not really. I just read a lot of Better Homes & Gardens.” Leigh smiled, thinking about Jesse and his feng shui. Maybe she should have taken him up on his offer. But she squashed that notion as fast as it came. She couldn’t risk getting close to a client outside the office, not with only a few hundred hours left to get her license and Dr. Gadbury breathing down her neck all the time.
“Thanks so much. I’d hate to rip this thing and have to pay for it.” Michelle gave Avery one last glare before she retreated to the changing room.
“Oh my God, I thought one of us was going down,” Avery said, sinking into an overstuffed armchair nearby. “Thank God she’s the last one, and thank you for coming to the rescue.”
Leigh sat in a less-stuffed chair next to her. “Did I have a choice?”
“Not really. You want to stay, you have to work,” Avery said with a grin. “That was a cool trick with the lip balm. I should kick myself for not coming up with that on my own.” She glanced toward the dressing room, then whispered, “I try to avoid telling women that they’ve gained weight since their last fitting since the time a whole wedding party stormed out when I told them the truth. Now I’m thinking, fuck that, it’s not worth the hassle. I’ll just have to let her dress out again, if there’s enough fabric left, that is.”
Leigh laughed. “That’s probably a wise thing to do.”
“Yeah. I need to do something crazy to relieve some stress.”
“What, like take up running?”
“I’m not that crazy.”
Michelle came out of the dressing room, carrying her dress, and went to the counter where one of Avery’s employees, Glen, offered her a sympathetic frown. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“The zippers are crap,” Michelle said.
“Hmm.” He looked over at Avery and shouted, “The zippers are crap!” Then he winked, not at all trying to hide it. “We’ll get it fixed up for you, honey. Don’t you worry.”
“I swear, if my sister winds up divorced for a third time, I’m not going to be a bridesmaid.” Michelle held her purse strap with white-knuckled fingers and stomped out the door.
Glen followed, locking it behind her. Then he flipped the Open sign to Closed. “That’s a wrap!”
“I really should be mad at you,” Avery called out to him, “but I’m too damned tired to care.”
“Jeff and I are going to the movies. Want to come along?”
“No, I’ve got plans, but thanks for asking.”
“Okay.” He walked toward the back of the store. “Bye, Ave. Bye, Leigh. Don’t get too crazy, but if you do, put it online and sell it.”
“Get out of here, you nut,” Avery said with a dismissive wave then turned to Leigh. “I swear, he and Jeff must be the only gay couple in Beach Pointe. He keeps trying to convert me.”
“Good luck with that.”
“No kidding. Now what’s going on with you?”
Leigh sat up, fidgeting with the fringe on one of the pillows in her chair. “Never mind. It can wait.”
“No, ma’am, it cannot. Tell me what’s up. I need to rest my feet for a while anyway.”
Leigh took a deep breath, second-guessing her decision to bring Avery into her most recent troubles. This place, along with the beauty shop, was gossip central. Could she trust her friend to keep her mouth shut, considering how Jesse had treated Avery in the past?
As if Avery read her mind, she slumped farther in the chair and rested her head on her hand. “I won’t go blabbing about anything. Spill it.”
“Okay, then. There’s this guy…”
Avery’s eyes widened just a bit. “No way.”
Leigh play-swatted at her and laughed. “Yes way. He’s my newest client and well, I don’t know, I just never expected to see him there.”
“Is he a lunatic?”
“No, I don’t get a lot of those, thank goodness. He’s someone with a bad reputation in town. He came to me with extreme guilt and insomnia. So I told him to make a list of all the people he had wronged, apologize, and do something kind for them. At first I thought he was beyond redemption, that he’d try a couple of half-hearted ‘I’m sorry’s and be done with it. But he’s sticking with it and doing really nice things for people.”
“I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is…” Leigh shifted in her chair, unable to look Avery in the eye.
Avery gasped and sat up at attention. “Oh my God, you’re falling for him! Our Leigh just may not be celibate for the rest of her life after all. Who is it?”
Nope, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Avery had already had a bad day. She’d blow her top if she knew who Leigh was attracted to. “I can’t tell you, and it’s not funny.”
“Not at all. I mean, you could get in trouble messing around with one of your clients, right?”
“Right, and I have to keep my nose clean if I want to pass my certification exam and open my own practice.”
“True, but I’m assuming he’ll finish his sessions eventually, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So what would keep you from hooking up with him after that?”
“A million things. I mean, he’s… And I’m…You know I’m not a sure thing for the long haul.”
“I’ve heard all that before. No reason to deny yourself love as long as you’re on this side of the dirt.”
“And he’s…” It wouldn’t do any good to mention the one memory Leigh had of young Jesse Maddox. Even now it brought a knot to her throat and made her lip tremble. Avery knew his bad side far too well for Leigh to ruin the evening by bringing it up.
“Hey,” Avery said, leaning in to take Leigh’s hand. “Stop worrying so much and go out with me.”
“Where?”
“Some place that might give you a little practice when it comes to men.”
Leigh cringed in her chair. “Where? The bar? Way too much cigarette smoke and men who have no control of their hands.”
“Nope. It’s new in town. No smoke, wandering hands, or commitment. Let’s go.” Avery jumped up, her energy level back to its usual hyperactive, and headed for the counter.
Leigh followed, not nearly as energetic or eager. “Not until you tell me where we’re going.”
“Not until you promise you’ll go and not be a stick in the mud. Besides, you don’t have a ride.”
“So this is a kidnapping?”
“Damn right.”
“Okay, fine. Where is it?”
Avery fetched her purse from the locked drawer behind the counter and looked at Leigh with a devilish grin. “Speed dating.”
“Oh Lord, I think I’m going to be sick.”