She sighs, flattening her hand against the material and smoothing it down the front. “I could. But if it’s just tight from drinking, I wouldn’t alter it. As long as you don’t drink anymore this week and stick with a low-carb diet, it should fit perfectly on Saturday.”
Well, fuck me.
I grimace at the seamstress. “But I love carbs. And I’m a baker. I taste-test all my stuff.”
“I’ll take that burden off your hands,” Joey offers, stepping up and putting his hands on his hips. His gaze trails up my dress to my face. “I must say, it does look seriously hot on you skin-tight. Fashion before comfort, cupcake.”
“It’s too tight. She can barely breathe in it,” Juls states. She smiles up at me. “But you do look amazing. I’ll never forget when you tried this on for me the first time.”
I shake my head at her, playing over the memory of that day in my head. “Only you can get me to try on a wedding dress when I’m not even engaged.”
She reaches out and squeezes my hand lovingly. “I think we both knew Reese was going to be seeing you in this dress.”
I blush, putting my other hand on top of hers. Yup. I definitely knew.
“I must say, I absolutely love this dress, Dylan.” Mrs. Carroll walks up to stand in front of the pedestal I’m on. She motions with her hand for me to twirl around and I humor her. “You look stunning in it. I love all this lace and the pearls on the back. And this train. My goodness. Absolutely gorgeous.” She moves around me and grabs the train of my dress, fanning it out in front of me. “My son is going to lose his mind when he sees you in this.”
“And his sperm count,” Joey snickers under his breath. I glare down at him and he clears his throat as Juls elbows him in the side. “Well, it looks like I’ll be the only one partying Friday night at The Tavern. Fine by me. And just in case this needs to be said, I’m retired from Brooke babysitting duty.”
My mother steps up next to Maggie and looks at Joey critically. “Joseph, I will not have anyone showing up to this thing Saturday hung over, so keep that in mind, please. This will be a classy event.”
“Of course it will be. I’ll be there,” Joey retorts. “Nothing screams class like the sight of me in a tux.”
I spin around on my pedestal and look at myself in the mirror while the four of them talk amongst themselves. Even though my dress is uncomfortably tight right now, it still looks just as amazing as it did the first time I stepped into it. Lace upon lace, it’s so elegant I feel almost undeserving of wearing it. But no other dress is worthy of Reese. This has always been the one he was meant to rip off me. So, even though my love affair with carbs has been my longest and second-most-satisfying relationship, it will have to be sacrificed. Because there is no way in Hell I am not wearing this dress in five days. Maggie says her son will surely lose his mind on Saturday at the sight of me in this.
And that’s exactly the reaction I’m going for.