I put my head around the curtain. ‘Shall I help you into this one, Athena, seeing as it’s got more layers?’
It takes a while to get the dress off the hanger, but eventually I get the fabric under control and find the gap for her body. She steps into it, then slips her fingers through the straps and smiles down at the bodice with its exquisite lace and tiny beads and pearls. ‘This one will have the dowager duchesses gasping. I knew the instant I saw it, it’s perfect for the job.’
I’m easing the dress into place on her waist, remembering the first time she tried it. ‘You flew into it last time, didn’t you?’
‘Flew in, then out again just as fast.’ She laughs. ‘I was feeling dire, but I was also rushing to get back to a black fly invasion on my roses.’
‘My mum had those this year too. She was out round the clock spraying them with fairy liquid.’
Athena rolls her eyes. ‘We have acres of them and our whole confetti crop was under threat. I grow organic cut flowers too, so I can’t look away for a second.’
I’m thinking back. ‘So you don’t live in London?’
She laughs. ‘We’re in deepest Somerset.’ She takes in my reaction. ‘Why do you look shocked?’
She’s caught me off guard. ‘I didn’t think of you having a job.’ I try to cover how rude that sounds. ‘Especially not a practical one.’
‘It’s more of a passion, but it saves me going to the gym.’ She glances at her fingers. ‘Though don’t look at my hands. Themanicurist will have a fit tomorrow, but I can’t help that.’ She goes back to her dress, and pulls at the hips. ‘It feels tighter than it did. It can’t have shrunk can it? It is the right dress?’
My alarm bells are ringing.
I give a cough. ‘It’s definitely the same dress.’ I try to line up the sides of the zipper, but they’re nowhere near doing up. As I push my head out of the fitting room, I’m grateful to Lando for thinking ahead to warn us.
Over by the dress rail Tia takes in my throat cutting gesture and two strides later she’s beside me in the fitting room, staring at the expanse of Athena’s bare back.
She goes round to the front, checks the fit of the bodice, then comes around the back again, and tries to bring the top edges together, but they’re still a mile apart.
Tia takes a breath. ‘Athena, being completely open and honest, we’re having difficulty getting the dress to fasten. We could try to force it, but I’m not sure you’d be able to breathe.’
Athena is a lot cooler than she could be. ‘Show me from the back.’
Tia brings a mirror and holds it so Athena can see her reflection.
Athena pulls a face and clamps her hands to her chest. ‘There’s no way that zip is going up.’
Tia nods at her in the mirror. ‘We feel the same. Shall we talk through the options?’
The fallout from a bride finding her dress won’t fit this close to the day could be catastrophic. I’m counting the seconds of silence, waiting.
On the count of three, Athena’s sob rises to a wail. ‘I can’t believe I’ve grown out of my main wedding dress!’
I grab a box of tissues, and she takes one then sinks down onto the armchair with her head in her hands.
‘It’s all gone to shit. This is just the latest crap shower in my epic wedding disaster catalogue.’ She’s sobbing behind her arm. ‘I’ve let everyone down. They wanted a monumentally huge bash, and I’ve totally messed up on that. My only real job was to find myself a suitably impressive dress, and now I’ve stuffed that up too.’
I grasp Athena’s fingers, squeeze them tight and watch Tia pull in a breath.
‘We aren’t going to dwell on any of that now, Athena. Let’s think how we can best move forwards.’
I’m not wimping out, but apart from the hand holding, I’m leaving this to Tia.
She bites her lip. ‘There’s nothing to steal from the seams. We could add a criss-cross tie fastening, but that might spoil the lines.’
Athene shakes her head hard. ‘My grandmother would never get over a lace-up wedding dress. Nor would my mother.’ She sighs. ‘It’s okay, you don’t have to sugar-coat this. The reason my boobs are pneumatic, and I’ve burst out of all my jeans, is because I’m pregnant.’ Her voice drops to a whisper. ‘People can be so awful. I’d just hate anyone to think the only reason we’re getting married is because of that, which is why I’d hate it to show.’
As I look at her hunched over her hanky, it hits me that despite her gigantic spend, she’s just another woman, with the same worries we’d all have in her situation, and I’m willing her to feel alright.
I kneel down beside her and slide my arm around her. ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to make this okay.’
