The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(46)

“Lexie, come on, this will be fun!” Olivia said. “I can’t wait to see my little sister in a wedding dress.”

Alexa turned to look at Maddie.

“That’s what I thought the first time! ‘This will be fun!’ I thought. ‘I can’t wait to see myself in a wedding dress!’ I thought. That was before the women in the bridal shop all made me feel like I was too fat to ever find a man to even look at me, much less to marry me. And between their attitude and Mom asking me if I was sure about having the wedding date so soon because it didn’t give me much time to lose weight before the wedding, I almost lost it.”

Olivia winced. Theo had always thought Alexa and Olivia got along well with their mom, but then he’d also heard that weddings make everyone go over the edge.

“Lex, I could have told you not to bring Mom. You knew she would do that!”

Alexa glared at all three of them in the rearview mirror. Why him? He hadn’t even said anything!

“I got lost in the moment, okay? I got all excited about having a wedding date and trying on dresses and wanting my mom to see me in dresses and I kind of forgot what she would be like. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again; as you know, today is a secret from anyone except the four of us and Drew. If I ever find a dress, she can come back then to see it, but that’s not looking likely.”

Olivia and Maddie exchanged worried glances.

“Lexie, I’m sure we’ll find you a great dress,” Olivia said. “That was just one place!”

Alexa changed lanes to head toward the Bay Bridge.

“Maybe that was just one place, but every dress I tried on at that place looked terrible on me. I’m not even exaggerating, am I, Maddie? Tell them!”

Maddie sighed and shook her head.

“Unfortunately, no, she isn’t. But that’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have taken her to that store. They were awful there. I don’t do bridal often enough to know how they are with non-standard-size brides. But trust me, none of my clients will go there ever again.”

Olivia patted her sister on the shoulder.

“Okay, that sucks, but that was just the one shop. What happened at the other shop?”

Alexa slowed as they approached the tollgates for the Bay Bridge.

“They weren’t as terrible about what I looked like there, but they flipped OUT about the wedding date. Apparently, unless it’s at least nine months before your wedding, you shouldn’t even think about getting a wedding dress.”

“Wait, really, they need nine months of lead time just to make a dress?” Theo asked. “Are you kidding me? What the hell are they doing to it?”

Alexa pointed at him.

“Thank you! And I have no idea what they’re doing to it. It’s all a mystery! They give you some bullshit about craftsmanship and blah blah blah. Come on. My great-aunt was a seamstress. Making a dress doesn’t take that long! But apparently if you’re getting married with less time than that, you should just find scraps of fabric on the floor of a thrift store and piece them together, because that’s all you deserve.”

Maddie looked at Theo and opened her eyes wide.

“Okay, now you’re exaggerating a little,” she said.

“A LITTLE, maybe, but not that much. They had literally three dresses they thought it might be possible to get made before the wedding, and they were all very, very ugly.”

Maddie poked the back of Alexa’s seat.

“Two of the dresses were very, very ugly, I’ll give you that, but I liked that last one! I’m not saying you had to like it—it’s your wedding—but still.”

“It was very, very ugly on me. I don’t care what it looked like on the hanger.” Alexa glanced back at Theo. “Are you ready to watch me put on a bunch more dresses that look fine or even good on the hanger but very, very ugly on me? Well, you’re in luck. Looks like that’s what’s going to happen for hours this afternoon!”

He hoped Maddie and Olivia knew how to talk Alexa down. He knew exactly how to do it in a work context, just as Alexa knew how to talk him down. But when it came to wedding dresses? His role today was going to be to stay silent and let the women talk.

“That is not what’s going to happen today,” Maddie said. “There will be plenty of things for you to try on, and at least half of them won’t be ugly, I promise. And like I told you, I’ve heard good stuff from a lot of people about this place and their options for brides of all sizes. And I called ahead to make sure they’re aware of your wedding date. It’ll be better here. Trust me.”

He never should have doubted. Maddie was so good at this.

Alexa shrugged and was quiet for a moment.

“You guys, is my mom right?”

“NO!” all three of them shouted. Olivia was the loudest.

“Not about the losing weight thing, that’s not what I mean. But were we rash to jump on this wedding date? I was so excited about it, but everything that’s happened since we decided on it has been . . . deflating. The Rose Garden is perfect, and I’m not at all worried about marrying Drew, but . . . everyone seems so upset about the time line, between the dress people and the catering people and even the damn makeup artists. Am I going to be able to get this done?”

Now this Theo knew how to deal with.