Shaking my head, I turned back to the mirror. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to wear this the entire night. It’s going to be tight,” I said. Who knew if I would grow even more by then?
The boutique door opened, and James walked into the room. “I’m not late, am I?” he asked, giving me a big smile. “Mia, you look amazing, sweetheart!”
“What are you doing here?” I asked, turning around.
He hobbled in with his cane—a huge improvement from his previous walker—and looked at Donata. “You haven’t told her?” He turned back to me as Donata disappeared into the back. “Your mother told me that you didn’t know if you’d like the way your dress fit or if you’d be able to wear it the entire night since it’s restricting, so …”
Donata came back out with a flowy off-white wedding dress and handed it to him.
“So, I thought I’d find you a dress that you could eat in and have a fun, easy night in after you walk down the aisle,” he said. Tears welled up in my eyes as James handed me the dress. “Why don’t you try it on?”
I shook my head. “I can’t accept this. I …” I covered my mouth with my hand and bit my lips, so I wouldn’t let out any cries. This was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for me. “It’s so expensive, and I …” I shook my head, unable to believe that this was real.
After Dad had left, I’d never thought Mom would find someone who loved herandloved me too. And James doing this, buying a dress for me because Mom had told him that she didn’t think I’d want to spend the entire night in such a restricting dress … it was more than Dad had ever done for me.
“Nonsense, Mia,” James said. “Go try it on.”
Donata ushered me to the back and pulled off the dress I’d get married in, telling me that she’d get right on the alterations. I pulled on the boho-style wedding dress, feeling so free in it, and let out a small giggle, unable to hold back my excitement.
When we walked back out, James nodded and gave me a wink. “There you go,” he said. “I hope you like it. I went through hundreds of them to find one that I thought you’d like.”
“I love it,” I whispered.
CHAPTER12
MIA
After I thanked James and nearly cried my eyes out for how happy and grateful I was that Mom had someone like him in her life, Serena drove us back to her place for a last-minute bachelorette party.
Michael had said he didn’t want a bachelor party, that he’d already experienced that once in his life and he didn’t need to do it again. As far as I knew, he was going out with a couple guys from work tonight, like he did occasionally for a beer.
We sat on the couch, watching movies and drinking lemonade. I might’ve dropped a couple slices of an orange into the drink, satisfying all my cravings. I lay back on the couch and smiled to myself. Everything seemed as if it was getting back to normal. This was how it had been before Melissa found out I fucked her dad and I found out she’d been sleeping with my boyfriend at the time.
Now, things were so much simpler.
Serena sat up and paused the movie. “Okay, we can’t do this all night. Let’s gossip.”
I nearly snorted and pushed myself back up to a seated position with some help from the couch. Yep, life was definitely getting back to normal. “What do you want to gossip about?”
“Cam,” Serena said with a smile on her face.
“Cam?” Melissa and I said in unison.
“Cam,” Serena said, wiggling her brows. “How is he? Has he found a different girl to obsess over yet, or is he still hitting on you, knowing that you’re getting married to a hottie?”
I shook my head. It had been a few weeks since that party, and I hadn’t gone back to another one. At first, I’d thought it would be a bit awkward to go back to school and my internship with him, but he made sure to not make it awkward at all. In fact, we had grown closer in a friendship kind of way.
“He was never hitting on me. We’re just friends.”
Serena playfully rolled her brown eyes. “I think he likes you,” she said, twirling her hair around her finger. “He definitely checks you out, stares at you like he likes you. It’s the same way Victor stares at Melissa.”
Melissa rolled her eyes. “Victor does not stare at me like that.”
Serena smirked at me. “Both Victor and Cam definitely do.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Melissa and I said again.
I pulled an orange slice out of my lemonade and bit into it. “When I told him about Michael a few weeks ago, he looked happy for me but sad too,” I admitted.
