Page 42 of Playboy Husband
MAISIE
The bridal shop Sadie took me to was the kind of boutique where even the mannequins looked like they had trust funds. I gave her a side-eyed glance as we walked in, wondering if she’d forgotten that I was not from their world.
“I can’t even afford the free drinks in here,” I whispered loudly.
She giggled, nodding her agreement and pointedly widening her eyes. “We can’t, but the Westwoods can.”
She looped her arm around mine and led me to a private fitting area where CC and Laney were apparently already waiting.
“And I’m not one of them yet,” I reminded her quietly. “Even if I was, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable spending their money.”
“You and me both, sister,” she said. “Laney’s the same, but none of them give a damn. Callum made the appointment for us here and this is also the store he brought us shopping for my dress, so…”
As she trailed off, I realized this wasn’t an optional expedition. Not that I didn’t want a dress from here. The designer creations on rails all around us were stunning, but I felt terrible about the amount of money it would inevitably cost him.
Sadie squeezed my arm, her beautiful eyes soft with understanding.
“He wants to spoil you, Maisie. Trust me, I know it’s hard to make peace with them spending eye-watering amounts of money on things for us, but they’re going to do it no matter what.
The sooner you accept that, the less friction it’ll cause between you. ”
We reached the private fitting area and CC appeared, sweeping us inside with the confidence of a woman who knew exactly what she was doing.
Sadie and Laney took their places at her sides, and before I even knew what was happening, I was surrounded by silk and lace, a glass of champagne I hadn’t even asked for in my hand.
“Remember,” CC said to someone on the other side of the curtain as I changed into the first dress. “We don’t want any of those dresses that are going to make her look like she fell into a vat of taffeta.”
Laney’s laughter followed. “That was a good try, CC.”
“I’m not as good at this as Callum, am I?” CC lamented with a smile in her voice. “We’ll have to ask him to send over some voice notes with comments we can just pick and choose between.”
Sadie chuckled. “That’s not a bad idea, but he’s with Brody. Maybe we should let them have some time together.”
A smile formed on my lips as I listened to them. I’d heard the stories of Callum coming shopping with them for Sadie’s dress, and if I was being honest, I would have liked to have him here today, too.
I hadn’t really thought about dress shopping before.
I’d thought my outfit would be the easy part.
With everything else that was going on in my life, this was supposed to be the least of my problems. As long as I found something white that didn’t fit like a potato sack, I had figured I would be good to go.
These ladies had other ideas, and I was grateful for it.
Over the next hour, the dress question morphed into my only problem, swallowing the whole afternoon and most of my sanity. Seven dresses in, I was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
I stepped out from behind the curtain in another sleek, strappy number.
“No,” Sadie said decisively. “You look like you’re about to walk a red carpet, not get married.”
Laney tilted her head. “It’s very pretty, but it’s not you.”
CC clapped her hands once and shop assistants appeared like magic. “Next!”
I agreed and once again headed into the dressing room where a mountain of satin awaited me.
My phone buzzed and I swiped it open, hitting FaceTime to accept the call.
Georgia’s face filled the screen. She hadn’t been able to get away from the office today, but I’d been talking to her on and off throughout the fitting.
Her eyes immediately widened when I lifted the phone high enough for her to see the latest disaster I was in.
“Oh, my god, Mais,” she said, her hand flying to her mouth. “Please tell me that’s not the one.”
“It’s not even close to being the one,” I muttered, angling the phone to show her the back of the dress. “This is, however, dress number eight and I’m slowly losing the will to live.”
Georgia laughed so hard, she nearly rolled out of the chair behind her desk. “Thank heavens. You look like a cake topper from the eighties.”
“Exactly,” I said, reaching for the zipper at my side and tugging it down myself. I wasn’t even going out there in this thing. “I thought this was supposed to be fun.”
Sadie popped her head around the curtain. “It is fun. For us, that is.”
She winked at me and disappeared again, loudly announcing to CC and Laney that I wasn’t exaggerating about looking like a cake topper. I groaned and flopped dramatically onto a little velvet bench, nearly tangling myself in tulle.
“I’m fashionable. I can pull off just about anything, so why do I keep looking like a train wreck?”
Georgia gave me a sympathetic smile. “You don’t need a dress to look amazing, but also, don’t give up. One of them is going to feel right.”
I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment and trying not to hyperventilate.
The curtain rustled, and when I looked up, CC had swept into the dressing room.
With her gray-blonde hair perfectly styled, only just brushing the tops of her shoulders, and white, linen pants with a navy blue, oversized button-down, she looked like she belonged in the pages of a fashion magazine.
Simple gold jewelry adorned her neck, wrists, and ears, and she’d brought a faint cloud of expensive perfume into the room with her. She was the kind of woman I’d always aspired to be, so comfortable and confident in her own skin, a close bond with her boys, and a no-fear, take-charge attitude.
Yet her hazel gaze was soft as it held mine. “Alright, that’s enough. It’s time to stop playing around.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, but hope flared to life in my chest. If CC was actively stepping in, that meant this fitting really had been a disaster so far, but also that we might just finally stand a chance at finding something I liked. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Oh. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” She didn’t waste any time, just flashing me a smile before she pulled the curtain back and disappeared. I heard her quietly issuing instructions to the store attendant. Curious about what was going to happen, I followed her into the waiting area.
Sadie cringed when she saw the dress I still had on and Laney’s eyes widened, but neither of them commented. A few minutes later, our attendant was back, pulling a rail on wheels behind her. Immediately, I could tell that these gowns were different.
They were more timeless and less make-a-statement modern. Beaded silk and delicate lace, they looked vintage, like they had pieces of history stitched into every seam.
My heart skipped, but CC smiled her approval at the attendant. “Now this is more like it. What do you think, honey? I asked her to bring us pieces from designers who are more classic and traditional.”
Before I could even respond, the attendant pulled out a pale, dusty rose gown that made me stop breathing for a second. It wasn’t the traditional white, but it was soft and romantic, like it belonged to another era.
“Try it on,” CC said, her eyes already sparkling. “I have a good feeling about it.”
I didn’t argue. While I never would have chosen it between hundreds of other dresses myself, this was the first one that had made my heart beat a little faster.
The attendant preceded me into the dressing room, quickly helping me out of the disaster and then collecting the dresses that had remained in there.
“I’ll be back in a minute to zip you up.” She smiled, then ducked out with her arms full of tulle and satin.
Inhaling a deep breath, I stepped into the vintage dress and even just pulling it on felt different. The fabric hugged my curves without making me feel suffocated, the lining soft and the neckline low but graceful.
The attendant reappeared, professional approval in her eyes after she’d let them skim across me. She stepped up behind my back and smiled as she zipped me in. “I think you’re going to like this one.”
I nodded stiffly, but when she moved me in front of the mirror once she was done, I froze. “Oh.”
She grinned. “What do you think? Should we go show them?”
Another curt nod later, we were in the waiting area with the others, but I felt like I was drifting on a cloud of fairy dust and dreams. Sadie squealed. Laney covered her mouth with her hands, and Georgia, still on FaceTime, sucked in a sharp gasp.
“That’s it,” CC said instantly, satisfaction radiating from her like sunlight. “That’s the one.”
“Yeah,” I whispered because I knew she was right.
As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I felt it. This was the dress. It wasn’t flashy or formal, but soft, strong, and hopeful—like me.
“We’ll do a rush on alterations,” the attendant promised, already surging toward me with a container of pins in her hands. “If you’d like, we can update it a bit, adjust the hemline, and bring it more into this century, but keep the bones of the original.”
Still too emotional to speak properly, I glanced at CC, who nodded like a queen about to issue a decree. “That sounds perfect. We’ll need it by close of business tomorrow. Have you got a veil to pair it with?”
The attendant smiled. “Of course. I’ll go pull some and be back in a moment. More champagne while you wait?”
“I’ll have some more of the sparkling juice,” Laney said and Sadie nodded her agreement. CC took my glass and had it refilled with champagne while the others stuck to the non-alcoholic options.
The attendant disappeared and Laney turned to me, holding her fancy champagne flute in her hand but not sipping just yet. “While we wait, have you got any baby pictures of Brody? I’d love to see them.”
I chuckled. “You’re in that phase, huh? Where it’s becoming real. You’re starting to itch to hold that baby in your arms, and you’re broody as hell?”
Her eyes widened like she was surprised, but then she laughed. “I didn’t know that was a thing, but that’s totally it. It’s starting to feel like this baby is taking forever to grow and I just want to meet her already.”
Sadie grimaced. “I’ve felt that way from the very beginning. I wonder if my phases are accelerated because there are two of them.”
“I don’t know,” I mused out loud as I reached for my purse and rummaged around until my fingers closed around my phone. “It would make sense, though. Sort of, anyway. Or maybe you’re just naturally impatient.”
She laughed. “I’m definitely guilty of that. It kills me when I have to wait for things to get done. That’s why I just try to make it happen myself.”
“I get that, but this isn’t something you can rush, so in the meantime…” I trailed off and clicked into an album in my gallery to show them pictures of Brody as a newborn.
Both girls leaned in, oohing and aahing over the memories I’d captured of those early days. My heart warmed as we moved on from the newborn stage to photos of him on a playmat having tummy time and, later, of his gummy grin in his highchair.
“Oh my gosh, look at those cheeks!” Laney laughed. “I just want to squish him.”
“That little smile,” Sadie added. “He looked exactly the same as he does now. He was just shorter and more compact.”
I was smiling too, until CC suddenly gasped and clutched my arm, her nails biting into my skin. I hadn’t even realized that she was looking at the pictures with us, but as she leaned closer, studying the picture like she was playing a game of Spot the Difference, my blood ran cold.
“Gosh, he looks just like Callum as a toddler,” she said, her voice slightly hushed with awe. “I mean, identical except for the eye color. It’s uncanny.”
I blinked hard, my stomach dropping. Laney leaned closer too. “Really? I guess I can see it. What are the odds?”
“That’s so wild,” Sadie said, glancing at me with a definite thoughtfulness in her eyes. She didn’t come right out and ask, but I could see the suspicion brewing there. My world suddenly felt like it was tipping, the truth so heavy that it was throwing off the equilibrium of my entire existence.
Laney and CC didn’t seem to notice. They were still studying the picture.
CC shook her head as she looked up at me.
“I wish I could show you what I mean, but we barely have pictures of Callum at this age. Middle child syndrome, unfortunately. Jameson had just gotten his first big boy bicycle and he was trying to kill himself every other minute. Sterling wasn’t able to do homework completely by himself yet.
Between those two, we didn’t really get around to taking many pictures of Callum, but I’ll see if I can find one sometime. The resemblance is almost eerie.”
They laughed, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. My heartbeat was roaring in my ears and panic was threading itself around my organs. I managed to keep my smile firmly fixed on my mouth, but I felt like I was about to unravel right there in the middle of the bridal shop.
By the time I got home, my hands were shaking. My phone was already in my hand. My thumb hovered over Callum’s name. I should’ve done this ages ago. Should’ve faced it, said it out loud, stopped running from the truth before he left.
But I was scared. Terrified. I hit call anyway.
The line rang. Once. Twice, then it went to his voicemail.
My heart sank. He was already on the flight to Michigan. With Brody, which meant I was alone until we got to Scotland. Alone with my thoughts, the guilt, and the all-consuming fear that, when he found out, I would end up being alone forever.