The Fairy Tale Bride(4)

"Are you sure that basket's big enough?" Adam's deep voice had a hint of  laughter about it. Maybe he wasn't such a grump after all.

Lisa swung around towards him. To be fair, he looked tired. He'd  probably been up most of the night. "I'm just trying to make my new  guests feel welcome. What girl, or guy," she added, "doesn't like  chocolate?" She waved her hand towards the counter. "Go on then. What's  your poison? But I'm warning you, if it's the orange ginger truffles  we'll be out there duelling at dawn."

The edges of his tired lips hinted at a smile. "You're safe, I'm here  for four bars of the single origin cinnamon and hazelnut chocolate bars.  Can't see past them."

Sage tapped a few she had sitting on the counter behind her. "And I keep  them specially for Adam." She nodded towards Lisa and laughed. "He gets  cranky if they're sold out."

"Cranky?" said Lisa as she couldn't help but grin. "Oh no, Sage. Not Dr.  Brady. He'd never be cranky." She raised her eyebrows at him as Sage  rang up her chocolates on the cash register.

Sage smiled back at Adam and lifted her hand. "It's two against one.  Don't even go there. Are you playing poker with Dawson and the guys  tonight?"

He gave a nod. "Unless I'm called back on duty, tonight is free. I'm looking forward to it."

She turned to Lisa. "What about you, are you going to Grey's tonight?"

Talk about a setup. Lisa felt color rush to her cheeks. At some point  she would kill Sage for this. She liked to try and play matchmaker for  others. Lisa felt as if she had a sign above her head. Single and  desperate.                       
       
           



       

She picked up her chocolates from the counter and handed over her cash  just as Adam put his cash on the counter at the same time. Their fingers  almost brushed together. "I'm meeting Magdalena later. We might have a  few drinks at Grey's." She could see Adam watching her out of the corner  of her eye. Was he smiling? Did he sense Sage's setup too? She started  to pray that the ground would just open up and swallow her now.

She did her best to completely ignore Adam Brady. His hair was sticking  up in all directions and he'd dark circles under his eyes. The guy  looked as if he just wanted to grab his chocolate and head straight to  bed.

Instead, he gave a little smirk, leaned over and grabbed one of the  chocolates Sage had just placed in a wicker basket for her and popped it  in his mouth.

"Hey!" she yelled as he tucked his chocolate bars into his pocket and  disappeared quickly out into the street, laughing the whole way.

*

Everything was perfect. Everything was just as it should be.

She'd pulled a rail through from the back stockroom and sat it in the  middle of the store, filling it with every variety of bridesmaid dress  that she had. As the rail was on wheels it was easy to manoeuvre and  meant that Ruby and Polly would be able to sit comfortably on the pink  velvet-covered chairs and view all the styles.

The chocolates were on a small table between both chairs, along with  some slim glasses which she planned to fill with sparkling wine or water  if required.

Lisa glanced at her watch. The pizza ovens next door would fire up soon,  so she lit a candle to let the aroma of summer flowers fill her store.  Perfect. She rubbed her hands together as her stomach turned over and  over. Now, she just needed her potential customers.

So, she waited. And waited. And waited …

*

It was after 2:00 pm before the wedding party finally arrived. Nancylynn  looked harassed to death. Paparazzi pictures always showed her as  immaculately groomed with not a hair out of place. Today, her  dyed-blonde locks were pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes a little  red. Lisa hadn't seen Nancylynn in years  –  apart from the TV. Nancylynn  had been six years below her at school, so their paths hadn't crossed  often.

"Lisa, I'm so sorry we're late," she gushed as she hurried into the  shop, crossing the small space and enveloping Lisa in a bear hug.

Lisa was surprised. They'd always known each other to say hello to, but  never been friends. Her professional persona slipped easily into place.  Nancylynn was a bride. It was her job to make sure everything went  perfectly for her, and from the strain on her unlined botoxed face, it  was obvious she needed some support.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Nancylynn. Congratulations on your  upcoming wedding. I'll do everything I can to make things easy on you."

Nancylynn blinked. "It's just Nancy now," she murmured, glancing over  her shoulder as her bridesmaids trooped in behind her. "I prefer just  Nancy."

Lisa smiled. "No problem, Nancy it is." One bridesmaid was chewing gum  and the other on her phone. Neither of them paid the slightest bit of  attention to Lisa or the bride-to-be. Being this up close to Nancy was  illuminating. There was no getting away from the fact she was a gorgeous  girl, with perfect skin and clear blue eyes. But the dyed blonde hair  was just a little harsh. Nancy Parsons had been more attractive with her  naturally colored auburn hair. In Hollywood it made her stand out from  the crowd of cardboard cut-out blondes. Today? Not so much.

Nancy walked over towards the rail of hanging bridesmaid dresses and  took a deep breath. "We've been to seventeen stores. I swear, we're not  leaving here today until they've agreed on a dress."

Lisa glanced towards the bridesmaids. They were still totally ignoring  her. She cleared her throat to no effect. Something sparked in her brain  and she walked over to her white wicker glass-topped counter and lifted  the bottle of Prosecco. "Would anyone like a drink before we start?"

It seemed those were the magic words. Nancy snapped to attention.  "Sorry, yes. Lisa, this is Ruby Cole and Polly Parker, my bridesmaids."  Lisa held out her hand towards both of them. They practically had ‘hard  work' stamped on both of their foreheads.

But it was weird. Up close and personal they looked so similar. Lisa  guessed that Hollywood's plastic surgeons all worked to the same ideals.  In another few years Nancylynn would probably be identical to the other  two.

Ruby's eyes never left the bottle the whole time Lisa popped the cork  and poured the pale sparkling liquid into glasses. She almost snatched  the glass from Lisa's hand.                       
       
           



       

Lisa never even blinked, just waved her arms towards the pink covered  velvet vintage chairs. "Have a seat, ladies. I have some refreshments  for you." She turned to Nancy. "Nancy, do you remember Sage Carrigan  from high school? She's opened a chocolatiers in Marietta. I thought you  might like to try some of her creations."

Something flickered across Nancy's face. Of course. Hollywood. Every  calorie was a prisoner. Polly didn't seem to have any such thoughts. She  plopped down in a chair and stuffed two in her mouth at once. "Great.  Now, what you got for us?"

Lisa waited a few moments for Nancy and Ruby to sit down. She turned to  her dazzling array of dresses. "Let's start with color. What's your  preference?"

She could tell in an instant the range of shades that both women should  be wearing. With their Hollywood tans, perfect teeth and bright blonde  shoulder length hair, the taupe colors would look best on them. It would  complement their hair and skin tone. Pale was definitely best.

"I want red," said Polly. "I want people to notice me."

Because of course, you wouldn't want them to look at the bride. Lisa tried to push her thoughts aside.

"I was thinking electric blue, with lots of sparkle," said Ruby.

Lisa bit her lip. "What about something like this?" She lifted a pale  shimmering green dress with crystals on the bodice from the rail and  held the dress out with her other hand. "What do you think, Nancy?"

Over the past few years she'd learned that in a lot of cases, what the  bride wanted overruled everything else. Even if it was the wrong color  and style for the bridesmaids. In some cases, Lisa even suspected the  bride wanted to make sure her bridesmaids didn't outshine her.

But Nancy was different. Nancy seemed a bit distracted. "What? Oh,  sorry. I'm not sure." She leaned forward and touched the fabric of the  pale green dress. "That's kinda nice." Her head tilted to the side as  she fixated on Lisa's left hand holding the dress. She raised her gaze.  "Didn't you marry Joe Talbot?"

Of course. The empty ring finger. It had been so long since anyone had  commented that for a second Lisa was completely thrown. She stared at  her finger for a few seconds. It almost mocked her.

"What? Oh, sorry. No, I never married Joe Talbot. We broke up and he  left town." It seemed the simplest explanation and it was what most  folks in Marietta actually thought had happened. Was there any  possibility that Nancy knew the truth  –  the fact that her sister,  Melody, had been the person she'd caught Joe with?