"What's up?" he asked, eyeing the bag.
"Hear me out, before you say no," Piper said, laying it across one of the huge pressboard tables they used to cut material.
"Always a great start to any conversation." He crossed his arms.
"Anna's dress doesn't fit," Piper said, unzipping the bag so the silk fabric spilled out. "I had her try it on, and we went through everything together, and even if we let it out, it's not working."
The back of his neck went itchy. "Okay."
"I had her show me pictures of dresses she likes," Piper said. "And I don't sew, I don't know exactly what's possible, but I think we could let this one out as much as possible, then add to it from a style she likes and…somehow…make it work."
Before he could say anything, her phone was out, and she was pointing to the different styles Anna liked.
She wasn't wrong. Each of these styles would work with the dress Anna loved and would give her extra room in the midsection.
Piper ran her fingers over the line of tiny stitches. "We talked about getting a totally different dress, and she is good with it."
"Because Anna will go with most anything," Zach added.
Piper nodded. "But she worries she'll feel like she is going to be wearing someone else's story."
He nodded. "Where do I come in?"
"I think between the two of us—mostly you—we can make the dress she loves like a little hug of who she was, who she is, and who she's becoming."
The original gown was super tight through the bust and waist with a flowing skirt.
"That silk's gonna pucker like crazy if I misplace a stitch," he mused.
"I know I can go find someone to fix this, but you know what you're doing and you know the bride. Do you know enough about fashion to make it work?" She shifted her weight.
"No. I don't really know much about fashion in the runway sense, and one wrong cut? This dream dress is toast."
Piper worried her bottom lip.
"But I do know how to pull things apart and put them back together. And I definitely understand how to make clothing more comfortable." Zach nodded slowly, mentally dismantling the dress. "If we let it out and use as much as the dress has to give with the seams, then I can add a drape right here that will cover any of the parts that aren't perfect because of the alteration."
He pointed to the seam along the neck, flipping it over to see how much room they had to work with on the stitches. "If I lower the neckline and add a touch of sheer overlay, we'll give some extra space in the chest area, so she can move easily."
Piper leaned in, her tone hopeful. "You could really do that?"
"I mean… yeah," he said, already reaching for a pencil. "It's fabric and a sewing machine. That's kind of my thing."
He sketched a quick idea, then quickly crumpled it. Too boxy. So he tried again.
"Anna was a stressed-out mess about this. I figure we fix it for her and then show her. Worst case? We go buy another dress off the rack because that's what we'd have to do anyway. Best case? She loves it."
"She'll love it," Zach assured, jerking his chin toward the brown paper bag. "What's in there?"
"Supplies," Piper said, pulling out lace, organza, and satin. "I stopped by the fabric store to see what they had."
"I might need her to try it on so I can get sizing and not mess it up."
"I thought of that, too, so I got her measurements." Piper pulled out her phone and held the list to Zach.
"Okay," Zach said.
"Okay?" Piper asked. "You're just good with this?"
