“Perfect. Professional opinion then?” Keira waved the dresses at her.
“The blue. A boat neck is not it for your body shape, unless you're going tits out which I don’t recommend for this venue.”
I watched Keira wrestle with the idea of going ‘tits out’ at my sister's wedding. After I gave her a look that said ‘don’t you dare’, she threw the other dress on the bed.
“Grace says she can’t join us for cocktails,” I told her. Keira scowled.
“Grace can talk shit to someone else. You’re coming. You designed the dress, right? And you’re family.” She threw herselfon the bed. “Lo, who’s the cutie outside working on that sculpture with you?”
“That’s Sid. He’s my assistant.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Available assistant?”
“You’re here with Damien,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, who do you think told me there was a cutie outside?”
I blinked at her, taking a moment to process that new development. “He’s coming to the reception tomorrow. I’ll introduce you. Please don’t make my life complicated, I work with him.”
She raised her hands in the air, a look of faux innocence on her face. She grinned at Grace. “Can you believe your brother swung this place on such short notice?”
“Yes, I absolutely can.” So could I, Alfie was nothing if not a miracle worker. “I can’t believe he swungyouthough,” Grace smiled at me, apparently loosening up. “How did that happen? You never told me the details of how you two got together.”
Keira snorted. “You’ll definitely need a cocktail for that story.”
Forty-Three
The next morning, I woke to the sunrise. It warmed my face, stirring me gently from sleep. I turned into Alfie’s body, throwing a leg over his hips and pressing myself close.
“Horny little thing in the morning, aren’t you?” Keira laughed and yelped, snapping out of sleep. “Don’t stop. I was enjoying it.”
I groaned and threw an arm over my face. Unlike Keira, I wasn’t nursing a hangover. I hadn’t wanted to mix painkillers with alcohol and apparently, Natalie hadn’t wanted to ruin the day with a headache either as she’d avoided drinking all night too.
Despite the lack of alcohol for us, I’d say Natalie’s mini-bachelorette was a success. Grace was now Keira’s new best friend and I joked about being replaced. They talked about designers, school in Paris. Despite not knowing any of us, Grace slotted in easily with Natalie’s friends and family, not least because she was the reason Natalie had such a beautiful dress.
I had already seen Natalie’s dress so I was the only one there for the final fitting yesterday – it had been a little tighter than Grace had planned but they made it work – everyone else had been banned, much to her mother’s chagrin. I’d met Paulineonce before and she hadn’t liked me then either. She liked me less now that John was going to be at the wedding, not that that was my fault.
I didn’t blame her. She’d raised Natalie alone and now he was getting to do the fun part without having to do any of the work. I would just try to stay out of her way.
“How did I end up in your bed?” Keira mumbled, a clumsy hand reaching for the water bottle on the night stand. I’d put it there the night before.
“I guess you missed me.”
“Yeah.” She looked over at me, her eyes a little bloodshot. If I knew my friend, she’d bounce back from the hangover in about an hour. Her phone vibrated and she picked it up, reading the message through half-shut eyes. “It’s Damien. Apparently the stripper gave him a hickey.”
“What? They had a stripper!” Oh, I was going to kill Alfie.
“I’m kidding.” She nudged me with her foot. “He’s just sending me a picture of his breakfast. You know, I watched him eat a dozen pancakes one time? How does one even survive that?”
I found myself grinning at my best friend. “You’re in love.”
“Shut up. He matches my freak, that’s all. I don’t know what that means long term but right now, I’m happy.” She sat up suddenly. “Hey! In a year's time, we’ll be doing this for you. Bridal shower, dress fittings…”
“Speaking of which, do you have any designs for my dress yet?” I was surprised she hadn’t been bombarding me with ideas ever since she volunteered to do it.
“Yep. I have designs.”
I waved a hand at her. “And?”
