by Lola Kidd
***
“Glad you could make it.” Ward Langston moved aside and let Finn into his home. After a relaxing day with the animals, Finn was meeting the groomsmen and the PR director of the island for a final tux fitting at Ward’s home. There were no tailors on the island, so Ward had flown one in for the occasion.
Branch Dunkin and Chet were waiting in the living room. Chet was standing in his tux while the tailor measured him and fussed with everything.
“Looking nice,” Finn told him.
Chet pulled at the neck of his suit. “It feels a little tight. I wish I could wear something a little more comfortable.”
“This isn’t about your comfort,” Ward reminded him. “You have to look nice for the wedding, and Addison wanted you in a tux. You can wear something more comfortable for the reception.”
“I’m not changing out of my suit,” Branch said. “It looks real classy and the women love it. I’m gonna wear this thing all the time.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Chet said. “But I already have a woman and she likes me just fine in jeans and a t-shirt.”
“Not on your wedding day,” Ward warned.
“You’re just worried about your advertising.” Chet jumped as the tailor measured his inseam. “Getting a little close there, buddy.”
Finn laughed. “You do that every single time. Relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” Chet muttered. “How’d last night go?”
“Did Max keep you up again?” Branch asked, elbowing him in the side. “Bet he brought home a pretty little chicky.”
“He didn’t come back last night.”
Chet whistled. “That’s a first.”
“I think he stayed at Shane’s. He’s done that once before, when he was too drunk to get home. No big deal.”
“Maybe he got lucky and stayed at the resort,” Branch said. “Wouldn’t put it past him. Max knows how to live it up. Wish I could keep up with him.”
“You’re only a year older than him,” Chet laughed.
“But I can’t drink and dance all night anymore,” Branch said. “You’d be mopping me up from the floor if I drank like him.”
“I don’t Max can drink like that anymore, either,” Finn said. “He’s been getting sloppier and sloppier this last year. I think it’s starting to take its toll on him. He needs to grow up already and stop this nonsense.”
Branch raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like somebody is jealous.”
“Jealous?” Finn scoffed. “I told him last night that I’m not going out with him anymore. It’s not fun, and it isn’t like we’re going to meet anyone there.”
Finn stopped himself from saying more. He was over the bar scene. He didn’t want to hurt Max’s feelings, but there was no point in going to Club Safari twice a week. It was a fluke that Chet had met his mate on the island. They weren’t going to be able to find anyone to complete their triad. They needed to go home to Florida. There was probably some nice shifter girl there waiting to settle down with them. That was all Finn wanted: to find his mate and settle down.
He didn’t care if he had to leave Safari Island to find her. He couldn’t go on the way they had been. Over the last year, it had been getting to him more and more. It was gnawing on his soul. He needed to find a mate, but he also had to find someone who was compatible with Max—and that seemed like an impossible task given Max’s current behavior. They didn’t see eye to eye anymore. They weren’t on the same wavelength.
It hurt Finn. He and Max had always been so close. Now, it seemed like Max had more in common with his meathead best friend Shane. The hyena-shifter was a nice enough guy; he just wasn’t someone Finn would hang out with on a daily basis. How was he even supposed to talk to Max about anything? If Max thought Shane was great company and clubbing every night was great fun, there was little Finn could say to get him off Safari Island.
More and more, that was where Finn’s head went. If they could get off the island, they’d have a better chance of finding their mate. He had looked at jobs with zoos in Philadelphia, near Chicago, and even one in the United Kingdom. It wouldn’t be hard for him to get an animal trainer job at any of the zoos. But if Max wouldn’t come with him, it didn’t matter. As much as he wanted to find a mate, he wouldn’t go anywhere without Max.
It was a very hard dichotomy and it was causing a lot of problems. Whenever he thought about it, Finn got mad and was nasty to Max. It wasn’t Max’s fault, but Finn didn’t have anyone else to take his frustrations out on. It made him feel bad but it kept happening. Finn would have to find some way to make it up to Max. He deserved so much better but Finn had no idea what to do about his feelings.
“Earth to Finn.” Ward waved his hand in front of Finn’s face. “You just blanked out there, buddy. Everything okay?”
Finn smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about a girl I met at the club last night.”
“You’re up for fitting,” Ward said. “Just throw your tux on and let’s get this taken care of. We’re already way behind. I want to have these suits perfect.”
“The ladies are picking a cake today,” Chet told them. “We only have to finalize the dinner menu and get the bridesmaids’ dresses and we’ve got everything.”
“Except for all the setup and the rehearsal dinner,” Finn said. “This is coming down to the wire.”
“Don’t worry. Ward won’t let anything go wrong,” Branch joked. “He’s more invested in this wedding than the bride and groom.”
“I am literally more invested,” Ward said. “Nothing is going to go wrong. We only have the easy stuff to do now. It’s all fittings and picking food. Don’t worry about a thing.”
Finn was only worried about one thing. His brother and his friends were all invited to the big bash. Shane was fine, but some of the other security guys were entirely too rowdy for an elegant wedding. If they messed anything up, he was ready to give them all piece of his mind. Or take a chunk out of them. His croc was getting a little restless, after all.
Three
Lily drummed her fingers on the table in front of her. “I don’t like any of them.”
“You haven’t tried any of them on,” Gummy said, exasperated. “You have to at least try to them on.”
Lily looked at the shiny, tacky dresses. This guy was supposed to be a big-time event planner and this was the best he could do? She was so disappointed. She’d looked at pictures of his past events and they’d all been fabulous. She couldn’t believe this was the best he could come up with for her. In fact, she was sure it wasn’t his best.
“Did you pick these?” She looked from Gummy to his assistant Hilda. His assistant was a dour-looking woman. She dressed in all black, and she seemed to have a permanent bitchface. She hadn’t smiled at Lily once or gotten excited about the dresses—which made sense, because they were awful. They looked like something out of the eighties but without the fun, cute bright colors. Instead, it was cheap-looking fabric and bad cuts.
Lily knew it was short notice to get a new dress, but that wasn’t her fault. They hadn’t let her pick a dress herself. If they hadn’t insisted on picking one for her, she would have come prepared. This was ridiculous. The pictures from this wedding were going to be splashed all over the internet and in wedding magazines. She would die if she opened a Chic Bride and saw a picture of herself in one of the dresses they were offering her.
“I didn’t pick them, but I think they’re…great dresses.” Gummy smiled, but Lily could see that he wasn’t feeling the dresses either.
“Please.” Addison clasped her hands together. “We have to at least see these to get an idea of what works.”
“Only for you.” Lily scowled and took the three dresses into a fitting room. One of the attendants knocked on the door a few moments later to offer her help. “I’m fine!” Lily said.
The first dress was exactly what she’d feared. It was a satin orange halter dress. She looked like a shiny orange sausage once she had stuffed herself in it.
Her spectacular cleavage was smushed, and her boobs looked like two droopy basketballs. There wasn’t a miracle bra in the world that could fix the problems with the bodice.
Lily stepped out of the dressing room. “Ta-dah.”
She twirled around and let the room get the full effect of the dress. All four of them were quiet for a full two minutes before the attendant handed her the next dress with her eyes down.
Dress number two was a strapless column dress, not something she would ever choose for herself. Strapless dresses did nothing for her top half, and column dresses made her look lumpy. She didn’t have a column body and the dress only emphasized that. She had spent years learning how to showcase her body in clothes. It was hard when you had outrageous curves and more than a little extra junk in the trunk. She avoided clothes like this because they made her feel bad.
She knew it was silly. It was the dress that was made wrong, not her body. That didn’t stop her eyes from zeroing in on all the lumps and bumps in the mirror. She stepped out of the dressing room with her hands on her hips. “Here’s number two.”
“Whoa.” Max was handing an armful of garment bags to the attendant. He must have come in while she was dressing. “That dress is not for you.”
Lily laughed. “At least someone is willing to be honest.”
“No groomsmen allowed.” Gummy tried to shoo Max out.
“I’m Max, not Finn.” He dodged Gummy. “There’s no problem with me staying. Plus, I think you guys need another set of eyes.”
“Why not?” Lily asked. It was a spontaneous choice but it felt right in her gut. “It isn’t like he could spoil anything. Plus, Addison is leaving. I need another honest opinion.”
Addison looked at her watch. “Oh, shoot! I need to see the last dress. I can be a few minutes late to work.”
“I think your co-workers are going to love you getting special treatment and a big wedding.” Lily smirked. “How about you leave us here and I’ll pick something out? You have final approval, of course, but I think I can pick something good.”
Addison bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
“Could I pick something worse than this?” Lily pointed to her bulging midsection. The fabric was stretched painfully tight over her stomach and hips. At least she would pick a dress that fit. That alone would be an improvement over Hilda’s picks.
Gummy nodded. “I won’t make any decisions until you okay them. It’s fine, Addy.”
Addison stood up and hugged Lily. “Sorry. We’ll have something by the end of the night, I’m sure.”
Max took Addison’s place at the table. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, let’s pick a dress!”
“What are you doing here?” Lily asked before returning to the dressing room.
Max raised his voice so she could hear him. “I’m dropping off the tuxes. I happened to drop by while they were finishing up the fitting. The suits look great.”
“What are you doing after this?” Lily came out of the dressing room in her bright pink shorts and lime green tank top. She was glad to be back in regular clothes, and Max had already seen enough of her in that awful stuff. She wasn’t even going to try on the last dress. It was too awful.
“Nothing much,” Max said. “I’m having dinner with Shane later, but I’m free before that. I’d love to help you pick out a dress.”
“Really?” Lily was skeptical. No man enjoyed shopping.
“I’m looking for any way to help out with the wedding. I want to help make it perfect too.”
Lily shrugged. She could use the company, and Max would be honest. Even if he had a terrible eye for fashion, it would give her a second opinion she could trust and he would know what looked hot. She wanted to look classy and hot. It was Addison’s day but it wasn’t like Lily had to look terrible. The better Lily looked, the better Addison would look. It was a cumulative effect. Plus, the men were going to look super hot in their tuxes. The ladies had to look good too!
Max could be her shopping buddy for the night. Her super cute shopping buddy because he looked smoking hot. Max was wearing shorts and a tank top and his arms were massive. The dresses weren’t the only pretty things to look at all evening.
“Let’s see the other options,” Lily told Gummy.
He looked to his assistant. “Get us the book.”
Hilda sighed and went to retrieve it from her big bag. She plopped it down in front of Lily and Max. “We can do a simple color change if the dress is white, but it’s better if you pick out something that’s already orange.”
“I marked all the dresses that fit the color palette already.” Gummy pointed to the colorful page flags sticking out of the book. “There aren’t a lot of options, but maybe you’ll see something you like. I’m going to step outside for a moment. I have to get in touch with the florists.”
Hilda sat in the corner while Gummy went outside. Lily started paging through Gummy’s marked selections. She caught sight of a few orange dresses as she was flipping the pages.
“That one looks nice.” Max pointed to a sparkling burnt orange dress that wasn’t marked. Hilda got up and went outside after she heard that.
“I guess,” Lily said.
It was nice. It was also only available in sizes zero to eight. She quickly found three more unmarked orange dresses. All of them were beautiful, and none of them were available in plus sizes. She couldn’t believe it. Even super-skinny girls sometimes had to go up one or two sizes in dresses. It made no sense to offer dresses in single-digit sizes only.
She quickly realized Gummy had marked all the orange dresses that were available in plus sizes and they weren’t very good.
“He missed some nice ones,” Max said. He took the book from Lily and flipped back to an unmarked orange dress. “The ones he marked aren’t very good. I think you’d look really nice in this one.”
She agreed. Not for a wedding, since it was a skintight dress covered in glitter, but the cut was perfect. She pursed her lips. “I think I need to talk to Gummy.”
Lily stood up and took the book with her outside. Her phone buzzed as she was opening the door. She sent the call to voicemail and waited for Mr. Angelsen to leave her a message, then put the phone to her ear with a pounding heart.
“You had better get me those files. I’m not playing around, Lily. I’m going write out your termination letter tonight. I swear to God, Lily. You’re making me very angry. Ignoring my calls. You are so unprofessional. I don’t even know why I hired you in the first place. You seemed so smart. God, I cannot believe you…”
He had more to say, but he was cut off. Good thing she hadn’t picked up. Her hands were shaking as she put her phone back in her pocket. She’d worked on the files the night before, but hadn’t made much headway. He had messed them up worse than she’d originally thought. Most of the errors didn’t even make sense to her. If she had any other job prospects she would have called him back and quit on the spot, but for now, she was going to have to make Angelsen Tomorrow Lily’s problem. Right now, she needed to get the dress problem sorted out. Addison was counting on her.
She looked around the front of the shop but Gummy wasn’t out there. She found his golf cart parked on the side of the shop, but no Gummy. She walked all the way around the building but still couldn’t find him. She listened and could barely hear Hilda talking.
Lily followed the voice to a picnic bench hidden behind a giant bush. She could hear what they were saying while she tried to navigate her way around the bush without getting stuck.
“It isn’t my fault!” Hilda said to Gummy. “I didn’t make her that size, and I didn’t make the dresses either. Blame her fork. Maybe if she had slowed down her eating, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
“I didn’t say this was your fault,” Gummy hissed.
“You might as well have. I can see it all over your face. I did my best. You give me subpar material, and you get subpar products. It isn’t too late to get a new maid of honor. Does Addison have any skinnier friends?�
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Lily stopped dead in her tracks. First her boss and now this? It was all too much. She sat on the ground and shook. This was supposed to be a happy vacation and it was becoming very stressful. It wasn’t going to be so easy to leave her work stress at home. She should have known better than to stay in her stupid job for this long. And she knew better than to leave picking out a dress for the last minute. She’d let herself down so many times this month.
Her hands were balled into tight fists and her eyes swam with tears. She pressed her fingernails into her palms and willed herself not to cry. No way! She couldn’t let Hilda and Angelson have that satisfaction. She was better than this. Lily stood up and took a deep breath. She was done feeling sorry for herself.
She stepped out from behind the bush. “Well, thanks for your opinion, but it’s really unprofessional to talk about a client that way.”
Hilda’s mouth dropped open and her face turned red. “I…I…thought we were alone.”
Gummy scowled. “I’m sorry, Ms. Aris. I apologize for what you just heard. I haven’t been this embarrassed in a very long time.”
“What?” Hilda swung around. “There’s nothing wrong with being honest in private. You can’t be serious.”
“You know what? You can take the early flight back to the States,” Gummy said. “I won’t be needing your help with this wedding…or any other. You’re fired.”
Hilda crossed her arms and held her head high. “Fine by me. Good luck getting this wedding off the ground without my help.”
She smirked at Lily, then walked out of the bushes.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Lily said to Gummy.
He nodded. “It was. Now I need to find myself a new assistant.”