And Something Blue (Main Street Merchants Book 1) Read online

  Main Street Merchants

  Book 1: And Something Blue

  by Paige Timothy

  Cover design copyright © 2014 by Jenni James

  This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are represented fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Copyright © 2014 by Paige Timothy

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter One

  Laurie Fletcher drained the last few drops of her mint-flavored hot chocolate before tossing the cup into the trash can in the corner of the break room and checking her appointment schedule for the day. Kelly Reese, her first bride, was due to arrive in ten minutes, and Laurie really needed a sale to keep her numbers above the dreaded red line. Only Laurie and the store’s owner, Millie, would ever see those figures and know where she fell on the charts, but as the store’s assistant-manager-in-training, Laurie had to set an example for the other sales associates, and they’d be motivated by seeing her write up a sale. It had been too long.

  It’s not like she hadn’t been trying or that she wasn’t a good salesperson. The problem was that she’d been spending so much time helping the other girls get their sales that she hadn’t been concentrating on her own. And while she liked being helpful, it was time for her to pay attention to her career. She not only wanted to be the assistant manager, but she wanted to own her own bridal shop someday. That would take a lot of hard work—and money. Lots and lots of money. Which she’d never get if she didn’t land a sale. The stupid cycle just went on and on.

  Sighing, Laurie put on fresh lipstick and straightened her dove-gray smock. She felt presentable right around the same time that the bell over the door chimed, signaling the arrival of a customer.

  “Welcome to Millicent’s Bridal,” the receptionist, Holly, greeted the newcomer. “How can I help you today?”

  “I’m Kelly Reese.”

  And that was the appointment Laurie was waiting for. She took a deep breath and whispered a quick prayer to the patron saint of deep pockets, and then stepped forward, ready to do her job.

  “Kelly, I’m Laurie. Welcome to Millicent’s Bridal.”

  Kelly looked around, appraising the shop, while Laurie took a moment to appraise her. Kelly was around twenty-five, blonde, and obviously from a lot of money. She wore a preppy sweater over her slim skirt, and her low-heeled shoes probably cost more than Laurie made in commissions in a month. Behind her stood an older woman with dark, professionally styled hair, and a young man in a navy business suit.

  “Who did you bring with you today?” Laurie asked.

  “This is my mother, Patrice, and this . . .”

  Please don’t say “groom.” Grooms make things so much harder.

  “. . . is my brother, Logan.”

  Phew. “Please step this way.” Laurie held out her arm and gestured toward a large sitting area off to the right. That was where every appointment began—a place to visit and get to know each other before choosing the perfect dress. An appointment could either be made or ruined by the interactions between the bride and the consultant during these first crucial minutes.

  As the small group made their way across the plush gray carpet, Laurie took a moment to sneak a peek at the brother. He was good-looking. Like, really good-looking. She wouldn’t have guessed at the family relationship right off the bat because their coloring was so different—he had dark hair and Kelly was blonde—but now that she was paying attention, Laurie could see the resemblance in the nose and chin. His eyes could either be blue or green—she’d have to see if she could get a closer look. She checked for a ring—nothing. This was getting better by the minute.

  Perhaps just slightly distracted, she forgot to be careful when they moved from the carpet onto the tile, and the heel of her shoe caught on the seam of the flooring. She stumbled a little bit, but after flailing her arms in all directions for a second and feeling very much like a windmill during a tornado, she was perfectly fine. She straightened and smoothed down her hair. “Will you have a seat?” she invited, motioning toward the comfortable chairs in the consultation area.

  “Are you all right?” Patrice asked, the look on her face a mixture of incredulity and amusement.

  “Oh, yes, I’m quite all right.” Laurie waited until the other three were seated, and then she sat in the consultant’s chair facing them. “Tell me about your wedding, Kelly.”

  “Well, we’re having it at the Aspen Ridge Lodge,” Kelly began.

  Laurie nodded. She could have guessed that. The lodge was just ten miles away up in the mountains and was named after their town. Skiers came from everywhere to try out those slopes, and the merchants in town were more than happy to supply them with whatever they needed—wedding dresses included. She flicked a glance over at Logan—he was studying his phone with a scowl on his face. The scowl didn’t detract from his good-lookingness, but it didn’t add anything to his friendliness.

  “So I’d like to see your Lodge Collection,” Kelly continued.

  Again, no big shocker. The Lodge Collection had been designed specifically for the brides getting married up at the lodge (hence the totally original name). These dresses were huge, over-the-top, and screamed money. Laurie nodded. This would be the sale she’d been crossing her fingers for all month. “And what’s your wedding date?”

  “Well, that’s the thing,” Kelly said.

  Why was she suddenly nervous? Oh, no. Her wedding was soon, wasn’t it? Laurie tried to keep a bright smile on her face, but she was annoyed. The first rule in wedding planning was to give yourself enough time so you weren’t rushing things at the end—and that most especially included the wedding dress. The dress was the most important part of the wedding—well, aside from the whole actual “getting married” part, which sometimes seemed to take a backseat in the hustle and bustle of planning.

  “The wedding’s in two months,” Logan said, tearing his eyes away from the screen long enough to interject.

  Laurie tried not to react. Two months? Two months? It could take two months just to make the veil that went with the dress, let alone the dress itself. This wasn’t good—and she could see that nice commission check riding off into the sunset.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Kelly said. She flicked her eyes over at her brother, irritation written all over her face. Laurie sensed there’d been some kind of argument between the two of them before they ever reached the shop—the undercurrents of anger were still there. “Will it be possible to get the dress here on time?”

  Laurie took a deep breath. “Two months is really a very short time for a wedding dress order. Do you mind my asking when you got engaged?” Because you really shouldn’t have waited until the last second before coming here to pick out a dress, and I need a good idea of just what kind of slacker you are.

  “Las
t week,” Kelly said, a grin stretching her face from side to side.

  Time for Laurie’s pasted-on smile again. Her cheek muscles were going to need an ice pack at this rate. Kelly got engaged just last week, and the wedding was in two months? This was moving much, much faster than Laurie was used to. Brides typically ordered their dresses six months before the big day, sometimes even a year. They’d get people in from Utah once in a while with a three-month window—Mormons seemed to favor short engagements—but two months? How could she ask any of the designers to work that fast?

  Logan shifted in his chair again. “That’s right. She got engaged a week ago, is getting married in two months, and there’s not anything we can say about it. Excuse me. I have to make a call.” He got up and strode from the shop. What a charming fellow. At least Laurie now had a pretty good idea of some of the family dynamics and what they’d been arguing about. She’d try to keep this appointment as pleasant as possible.

  “And is there a budget I should keep in mind?”

  Patrice waved her hand. “Whatever Kelly wants.”

  Okay. This could go one of two ways. One—Kelly might be so used to getting what she wanted that nothing would be good enough, and Laurie would spend all day trying to find the perfect dress only to end up with no sale and no commission. Or she could end up with a sale after all and a very nice commission, but she was pretty sure that the whole “spending all day” thing was just as applicable to this scenario too.

  “Have you been online to see this season’s Lodge Collection?” Laurie asked.

  “Yes, and these are the ones I like best.” Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out some sheets of paper. Laurie appreciated it when brides came in prepared—it made it so much easier to find a starting point.

  “Great. I’ll go get the samples of these dresses so you can try them on.” Laurie paused. “I do have to warn you, though. I’m not sure if the designer can get your dress here before the wedding. I’ll ask our owner to place some calls while we’re trying on dresses and we’ll give it our best shot, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

  “Let’s see what we can find out,” Patrice said. “I just want my daughter to look gorgeous on her wedding day—she deserves it.” The look on Kelly’s face said that she agreed with her mother.

  Laurie showed Kelly into a fitting room and then went in search of the sample dresses for the styles Kelly had chosen. As Laurie walked across the main lobby over to the stock room—being very, very careful not to trip this time—she caught sight of Logan through the huge glass windows at the front of the store. He was pacing up and down in front of D’Angelo’s, the bakery across the street, obviously irritated as he spoke into his phone.

  It wasn’t Laurie’s job to get involved in the personal lives of her clients. It was her job, however, to keep tabs on the emotional climate of the appointment so she’d know how best to be of service, and she couldn’t help but wonder what Logan was so worked up about. He was definitely upset about his sister’s short engagement—he couldn’t have been any clearer about that if he’d walked in carrying a neon sign. But was his phone call about the wedding, or something else?

  Putting the good-looking and cranky brother out of her mind for the moment, Laurie stepped into Millie’s office and explained the problem.

  “She wants a Lodge Collection dress in two months?” Millie took off her glasses and sighed. “I can call Richardo and see what he says, but the odds aren’t very good. He’s probably the busiest designer we have.”

  “I did explain that, and they’d like us to look into it.”

  Millie sighed again. “All right, see if you can find the dress she wants and I’ll do what I can.” Her hand reached out for the phone before she’d finished her sentence.

  Laurie was able to find the sample dresses almost immediately and took them to the fitting room. Kelly pounced on the second one in Laurie’s arms. “I love this one! It’s even prettier than it looks online.”

  “As hard as we try, sometimes the pictures just don’t do the dresses justice. Let’s see how it fits.”

  As soon as Laurie helped Kelly into the gown, she had a strong suspicion this would be the one. Kelly’s face lit up and she just stared in the mirror while Laurie tightened the laces up the back.

  “We have to show this to my mom,” Kelly said.

  Laurie held the train while Kelly walked out to the consultation area and stepped up on the pedestal before the large mirror. Patrice gasped, her manicured hand flying to her mouth. “It’s perfect,” she said. “That’s exactly what I’ve always pictured my little girl looking like on her wedding day.”

  The dress was cut in a mermaid style with criss-cross ruching on all sides. The train was four feet long, and Laurie had seen photographs of a bride in this very dress up at the lodge. The train filled up an alcove off to the side of the reception hall and created a gorgeous visual reminder of the event. It was impossible to go wrong with this dress. Unless, of course, your wedding was in two months and you couldn’t get the dress.

  “This gown has a price tag of ten thousand dollars,” Laurie said, wondering if Patrice had really meant it when she said Kelly could have anything she wanted.

  “Great,” Patrice murmured, not taking her eyes off her daughter.

  Kelly and her mother stared at the reflection in the mirror while Laurie went to talk to Millie. “Any luck?” she asked.

  “It took a whole lot of begging and pleading and promises of my famous brownies next time he’s here for a trunk show, but Richardo agreed.”

  “Oh, thank goodness. Thank you, Millie.” Laurie scurried back across the shop, nearly bumping into Logan as he came inside. “I’m sorry,” she stammered, taking two steps back. He smelled like expensive cologne, but she couldn’t tell what kind. Maybe she’d have to pay a visit to the men’s fragrance counter at the drug store to see if she could identify it. It was a little woodsy, but she thought it also carried a touch of cinnamon. And she was staring at him. Great. Avert the eyes, avert the eyes . . .

  He just shook his head and followed her back over to the consultation area.

  “Logan, what do you think?” Kelly asked, turning to face her brother. “Isn’t it lovely?”

  “It’s nice,” he said, his eyes barely flicking over the gown. Just then, his phone chimed again, and he pulled it from his pocket. Seriously? Seriously? Why had he even come if he was going to spend the whole time being grumpy and yelling into his phone and not even looking at the dress?

  “I have some good news,” Laurie said, trying to shake off her irritation. “Richardo, the designer who brings us the Lodge Collection, has said that he can work in your dress.”

  “Oh, I just knew he would,” Kelly said. “I’ve been following his career in all the fashion and bridal magazines, and he seems like the nicest man ever.”

  “He is very nice,” Laurie agreed. “But his schedule doesn’t often allow him to do rush orders. We really are very lucky.” She wasn’t sure why she felt it was important to drive this point home, but she didn’t want the Reeses to think that this kind of thing happened every day.

  “So, is this the dress you’d like, or should we try on any others?”

  “I like this one so much, I can’t imagine liking anything better,” Kelly replied. “This is it.”

  Laurie blinked. That had actually been very easy. “Great. Let’s get your measurements, and then we’ll send the order right away so Richardo can get to work on it.”

  After the measurements had been taken and Kelly was back in her street clothes, Laurie sat down with Kelly and Patrice to go over the sales agreement.

  “The dress is ten thousand dollars, and the veil you chose is an additional three hundred.” Laurie ran through the costs and totaled them up. She then handed Patrice an itemized sheet and the grand total at the bottom. “It’s important that you understand that the dress is nonrefundable because we’re doing a rush order to your daughter’s exact specifications, and we’ll also ne
ed her to come in for a final fitting. Where do you live?”

  “Denver.”

  That would be about a ninety-minute drive—not too inconvenient.

  “We’ll call when the dress comes in, all right?”

  “Great.”

  After making sure that everyone understood the agreement, Laurie ran the credit card Patrice handed her. Patrice insisted that she charge the full amount now instead of the fifty percent most brides opted for, and Laurie was more than happy to comply. Millie would be very pleased when it came time to settle this credit card batch.

  Logan came back in—again—and watched his mother tuck her card in her wallet. “Waste of money,” he grumbled.

  “Logan, this is your sister’s day, and you will behave yourself and be happy for her,” Patrice scolded.

  “I will behave myself, but I don’t have to be happy for her. I don’t remember that being in any of the brother handbooks,” Logan retorted.

  “You’ve made your feelings perfectly clear, but I am getting married,” Kelly said, turning to face her brother. “And it’s not in the sister handbook that I have to get your approval for everything I do.”

  “But it is my job to protect you, and you’re running right into the path of an oncoming train.” Logan clenched his fists at his sides. “I don’t even know why you brought me here.”

  I don’t either. You can go away again now. Laurie wished the floor would just swallow her up. She hated being in the middle of family arguments—literally in the middle. Logan was standing on her left, and Kelly and her mother were seated on the right.

  When the Reese family left, Laurie flung herself into the chair nearest the door.

  “Hard appointment?” asked Emma, one of the other consultants. She’d been busy helping another bride on the opposite side of the store, but Laurie had been so busy with Kelly that she hadn’t had time to check in to see how Emma was doing. Okay, she should be honest—she was busy with Kelly and distracted by Logan. What was with that guy? People that good-looking shouldn’t be that disagreeable. It just wasn’t right.