“Yes,” Bess decides, nodding at the assistants. “Get pictures. I’ll have my fiancé drop in on the weekend to try it on.” She shoots me a grin. “My fiancé! It never gets old.”
I grin back. “You are sickly sweet.”
She laughs. “But oh, so delicious.”
Josh rejoins us as Bess begins trying on veils.
I glance at my watch. “Crap. Sorry, babe. I have to go,” I say, pulling out my phone and opening the Uber app.
“But—” Bess turns from the mirror, where assistants are retouching her makeup, styling her hair, and adding accessories. She looks wedding-day ready. “—the bridesmaid dresses!”
I shrug, grabbing my tote as I stand. “You have more appointments tomorrow. If you find the perfect dress here, I’ll come back and try it on. Otherwise, we’ll see how we go at the other places.”
She presses her lips into a pout. “Boooo!” She blows out a breath, turning back to the mirror with a small smile playing on her lips as she twists from side to side. “Tomorrow we’re at Vera Wang at one.” Her eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Don’t plan anything for the afternoon.”
I salute her before spinning on my heel and heading out. Josh and Candy follow.
On the sidewalk, Candy stares down at her phone, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
“Everything okay?”
She blinks, looking from Josh to me and back to her phone. “Yes, of course. I have to go.” She tucks her phone into her pants pocket, offering a small smile. “See you at the next fitting.” She strides down the street, her long legs eating up the pavement.
“She’s a strange one,” Josh mutters, watching her disappear into the crowd. “Where to now?”
Around us, pedestrians swerve like water flowing around a rock. I ignore the muttered complaints of a fellow Charsian.
“Back to work.” I pull my phone from my coat, glancing at the screen. My Uber driver is less than a block away.
“To the office?”
“No,” I mutter, fingers flying across the screen as I reply to an urgent email. “New Start.”
“Can I come?”
I glance up. “Sorry?”
“Can I come?” Josh rocks on his heels, shrugging. “I’d like to see what you do.”
I narrow my eyes, taking in his form. I try not to notice how good his shoulders look in his coat, even as I note the earnest expression on his face.
“Okay,” I finally agree, tucking my phone back into my pocket. “But on one condition.”
He grins. “Hit me.”
“You donate something to my next silent auction.”
He rolls his eyes. “Such a hardship. What do you want? A dinner with our next lead?”
I shrug, stepping to the curb to flag down the car. “You can decide the details, but the walk-on role was very popular last time.”
“Look, I’ll only offer a prize like that if you can guarantee that Lottie Pincaster won’t ever win.”
The car pulls to a stop as I chuckle. Josh beats me to the curb, holding the door open. I slide in, greeting the driver.
As the car pulls away, I twist to face Josh. “I told you Lottie wanted to be an actress.”
He shudders. “She didn’t even have a line. All she had to do was sit in the back of the diner and eat a donut. Do you know that one scene cost me more to film than the rest combined? The woman demanded vegan, gluten-free, paleo frou-frou donuts be flown in from somewhere in Europe. She caused such a commotion Jim nearly walked.”
