Page 32 of Untamed Billionaire
It fit perfectly.
Chloe thought she’d be more relieved at this outcome. But after yesterday’s wedding, Saturday’s wedding ceremony had now become a mere performance, a mockery of a wedding, actually.
“It’s beautiful!” the manager exclaimed, obviously relieved that it still fit. “Here are your shoes. Let’s check the length.”
Chloe slipped her feet into the shoes. Yep! The length was perfect!
“This will work,” Chloe announced. “Can you unzip me?”
The manager hesitated, startled by the request. “Don’t you want to show it to your mother?”
Chloe shook her head. “Nope. I can see that it fits perfectly.” And with that, she lifted her arms to unzip the dress herself.
Jocelyn must have a sixth sense about any sort of defiance because her mother stepped into the dressing room area, carrying two other wedding dresses. She stopped short when she discovered that the dress fit perfectly. “But…I thought…” she lifted the dresses uselessly.
The manager smiled with obvious relief. “No need for any adjustments, Ms. Forsythe. The dress is perfect!”
Jocelyn looked Chloe over, obviously trying to find something to criticize. But the dress truly was perfect. It was simple but elegant, and there was even room for Chloe to breathe.
Chloe grabbed the zipper and awkwardly tugged it down.
“Chloe, stop that! I need to see the dress to make sure that it…”
“It’s perfect, Mother. And I have to go. I have other errands to complete this afternoon.”
She had the zipper tugged halfway down her back by the time the manager stepped up and helped. Carefully slipping out of what Chloe was now considering her “costume” for Saturday, she changed back into her street clothes. “Mother, you’ll have the dress delivered to the church Saturday morning?” she asked, stepping into her black heels and adjusting the pearls at her neck as she checked her image in the mirror. She looked cool and professional!
Looking back at her mother’s confused expression, a thought occurred to her. Had her mother done something to try and sabotage her wedding dress? Had her mother…Chloe’s mind tried to figure out what her mother might have done to ruin the dress. As she watched, Jocelyn glanced at the tag, noting the size and…that’s when it hit her. Chloe’s mother had somehow worked it so that the dress was a size smaller than what Chloe had originally tried on! Her mother had tried to embarrass her! Good grief.
Had Marco stopped this from happening as well? He’d gotten her a dream wedding dress. Had the wonderful man also figured out Jocelyn’s plan and stopped it?
Oh, she loved him!
Turning, she headed out again, determination on her features as she headed out of the dressing room.
Time to kick some good ole boy butt!
Jerked out of her confusion, her mother lifted her gaze and glared at Chloe. “Yes, of course,” Jocelyn replied curtly. “Everything is arranged, no thanks to you! You’ve done nothing to help with this wedding. I don’t understand why you can’t take time this afternoon to go over the details.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it this time. “Because all you allow me to do is follow you around so that you can do all of the decision making. Nothing about this wedding is for me. It’s all for you. So I’ll show up on Saturday and go through the motions. But today, I have some business to deal with.” And with that, she grabbed her purse and walked out of the salon, unconcerned that her mother was sputtering with anger.
Emma was safe! Chloe could ignore her mother, because there was nothing she or her father could do to hurt her now! Their manipulations were at an end!
She walked down the street to her car but paused. Something felt…off. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was and looked around. The sun was out again today. It was in the high seventies with low humidity. Everything felt good. However…?
Nervous now, Chloe ducked into her car and carefully pulled into traffic. By the time she was two miles down the road, she chuckled to herself. Her mind had been playing tricks on her. She hadn’t experienced true freedom for so long, now that the threat of losing Emma was gone, her mind was making up danger!
Twenty minutes later, she stepped into the air-conditioned building where Bill Jennings handled his business. She wondered why he rented space here in one of the most expensive buildings in Charleston instead of working out of one of the warehouse buildings. She knew that there was office space available in addition to the storage areas. She then accepted that Bill worked here in historic Charleston merely to have a presence in this area. And perhaps he’d gained a few clients over the years by being in the heart of the business district.
However, the business district had shifted during the last twenty years. Most of the larger companies now worked out of the high-rise buildings a bit further away. Only the “old guard” still considered the historic downtown area to be the business district now.
It was yet another demonstration of why Bill’s business was failing.
“Good morning, Ms. Forsythe,” Bill’s assistant greeted Chloe. “I didn’t know that you were coming to see Bill this morning. Does it have something to do with your wedding on Saturday? Are you excited?”
Chloe smiled, nodding her head. “Yes, everything is going to go very smoothly on Saturday, thanks to my mother. She’s orchestrated everything.” She paused. “Do you think I could speak with Bill? Just for a moment? I won’t take up much of his time.”
The older woman smiled kindly. “Of course. I’ll just let him know that you’re here.”
