Free Web NovelChapter 343: Third Time’s The Charm
The bridal boutique was the kind of place that required an appointment weeks in advance, and this was their third one.
Racks of white and ivory dresses lined the walls, each one more elaborate than the last. A private viewing area had been reserved for them, furnished with plush chairs and a pedestal surrounded by mirrors. The attendants moved without a word, bringing dresses and taking them away, their expressions rigorously neutral. The afternoon light filtered through tall windows, catching the beading and lace and making everything shimmer.
Arianne sat in one of the plush chairs with Lily on her right and Leo on her left. Lily had appointed herself the official opinion-giver and had been taking her responsibilities very seriously. Leo had his tablet ready for assessments, the whale tucked beside him on the chair.
Sam was pacing near the pedestal. "This is the third time," she said. "Third time’s the charm. It has to be." freewёbnoνel.com
"Audrey’s not picky," Arianne said. "She’d marry Gilbert in a paper bag."
"That’s exactly the problem. She’s too agreeable. Someone has to be picky on her behalf, and I’ve appointed myself." Sam gestured at the dressing room curtain. "She’s been in there for ten minutes. That’s a good sign. The last two times she came out immediately."
"The last two times the dresses were covered in sequins," Lily said. "Nobody looks good in sequins."
"Sequins can look good."
"Not that many sequins. It looked like a disco ball."
Sam opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. "You’re not wrong."
Lily nodded, satisfied. Leo typed something on his tablet and held it up: TOO SHINY. HARD TO LOOK AT.
"Leo agrees," Lily translated, though translation was unnecessary.
While Audrey was in the dressing room, Arianne turned to Sam. "Franz asked me to accompany him to the awards ceremony. He’s nominated for Best Actor."
Sam’s face lit up. "I know! Daryll told me. He’s been insufferable about it. ’My client, the nominee. My other client, the future star.’ He’s already planning the press strategy."
"You’re invited too, aren’t you?"
"I am. But I’m going to stick with Daryll and Monica. Safer that way." Sam grinned. "I don’t want to play third wheel between you and Franz. You two have a way of looking at each other that makes everyone else feel like they’re intruding."
"We don’t look at each other."
"You absolutely do. It’s been happening frequently. I’ve witnessed it."
Lily tugged at Arianne’s sleeve. "Mommy Aria. What are you going to wear? To the awards ceremony?"
"I haven’t decided yet."
"You should wear something beautiful. Everyone will see you with Uncle Franz. All the cameras. All the people. You need to look so beautiful that no one says you don’t deserve him."
Leo typed: YES. BEAUTIFUL DRESS. IMPORTANT.
"See? Leo agrees." Lily folded her arms with the authority of someone who had made a final ruling. "You have to look like a queen. Or at least a very important princess. Not a regular princess. A princess who also runs a company."
"That’s very specific."
"I’ve been thinking about it."
Sam nodded firmly. "The twins are right. This is your first official public appearance as Noah Hart’s partner at a major event. You need to make an impression. Something elegant. Timeless. Not sequins."
"Definitely not sequins," Lily agreed."
The dressing room curtain parted.
Audrey stepped out, and the room went silent.
The dress was simple. Elegant. The fabric fell in clean lines from her shoulders to the floor, ivory silk that caught the light without shimmering. The neckline was modest but graceful, a graceful curve that framed her collarbones. The back dipped just a fraction, an unexpected detail that made the simplicity feel intentional rather than plain. She looked like herself. Only more so.
Sam’s hand went to her mouth. "Oh, Audrey."
Arianne leaned forward. "That’s the one."
Audrey turned to face the mirrors, her expression uncertain. "You think so? It’s very simple. I wasn’t sure if it was enough—"
"It’s perfect," Sam said. "It’s absolutely perfect. Turn around."
Audrey turned. The skirt swirled around her ankles. The back of the dress revealed the elegant line of her spine, the delicate curve of her shoulder blades. She looked over her shoulder at the mirror, and something in her expression changed—surprise, maybe, or the dawning realization that she was beautiful.
Lily stood up from her chair. "Uncle Gil won’t be able to look away from you. He’ll probably forget how to talk. He might even cry. Grown-up men cry at weddings. I saw it in a movie."
"He’s not going to cry," Audrey said, but she was blushing deeply, the pink spreading from her cheeks to her throat.
"He might," Sam said. "I’ve known him my whole life. He cries at sad commercials when we were children."
"That was one time."
"It was three times. The dog food commercial. The one with the soldier coming home. And the one about the grandparents."
Audrey laughed, and the sound was bright and startled and happy. She turned back to the mirror, her hands smoothing the silk over her hips. "I’ll take it," she told the attendant. "This is the one."
The attendant smiled and made a note. "We’ll have it pressed and ready for the final fitting. Congratulations, Miss Sawyer."
Audrey caught Sam’s eye in the mirror. "Now you. The measurements came back corrected. It’s time to choose your bridesmaid dress."
Sam groaned. "Do I have to?"
"Yes. You’re the one who said the wedding is once in a lifetime. Now go."
Sam disappeared into the dressing room with an attendant and a rack of dresses in pale blush and soft ivory. Lily resumed her seat beside Arianne, already back to discussing the awards ceremony dress.
"I think you should wear black. Like the dress from the anniversary dinner. That one was very pretty. Or maybe green. Green is an underrated color."
"Underrated," Leo typed, nodding.
Audrey remained on the pedestal, wearing her wedding dress, unwilling to take it off just yet. She turned in front of the mirror, her reflection spinning in triplicate, and Arianne watched her with something warm and full in her chest. Audrey had waited years for this. She’d waited through the breakup, through the silence, through the slow, careful rebuilding of a relationship that had seemed broken beyond repair. And now she was standing in a wedding dress, blushing at the thought of Gilbert’s face when he saw her.
The front bell of the boutique chimed.
Arianne glanced toward the entrance. Gio stood near the door, a folder of reports in his hand. He was dressed in his usual dark suit, his tablet tucked under his arm, his expression professionally neutral. He scanned the room, located Arianne, and started toward her.
At that exact moment, the dressing room curtain parted and Sam stepped out.
She was wearing a white bridesmaid dress. Simple, like Audrey’s, but with a different cut—a softer neckline, a fuller skirt. The fabric caught the light and held it, making her glow. She was laughing at something the attendant had said, her head tilted, her dark hair falling over one shoulder.
Gio stopped walking.
He froze in the middle of the boutique, the folder of reports forgotten in his hand. His face didn’t change—Gio’s face never changed—but something behind his eyes changed. Cracked. For a single, suspended moment, he wasn’t standing in a bridal boutique on a spring afternoon. He was somewhere else. Sam was walking toward him in a white dress, and she was smiling, and he was the one waiting at the end of the aisle.
"Aunt Sam looks beautiful!"
Lily’s voice shattered the silence. Gio blinked. The image dissolved. Sam was on the pedestal, adjusting the dress in the mirror, laughing at something Audrey had said. She hadn’t seen him.
Arianne had seen everything.
She rose from her chair and crossed to him, her expression unreadable. "The reports?"
Gio handed her the folder without speaking. His hand was steady. His face was even, though his eyes had not quite recovered.
"Thank you," Arianne said. "You can go."
He nodded. Turned. Walked out of the boutique without looking back.
Sam finished her fitting. The bridesmaid dress was chosen—blush pink, to complement Audrey’s ivory. The appointment wrapped up with hugs and laughter and Lily extracting a promise from Sam to help choose Arianne’s awards ceremony dress.
Arianne said nothing about Gio. She didn’t need to. She’d said her piece sometime ago in her office, and he’d heard every word. The rest was up to him.
As they gathered their things and headed for the door, she caught a glimpse of her brother through the boutique window. He was standing beside his car, the folder gone, his hands empty at his sides. He wasn’t moving. He was just standing there, staring at nothing, the image of Sam in white burning behind his eyes.
Arianne looked away. Some things, she had learned, could not be fixed by intervention. They could only be witnessed.
