Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(24)

“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?”

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.”





Four


Max flipped through the book as he waited for everyone to come back. He’d only brought the suits over to be helpful, but now it felt like fate. He was supposed to be in this shop. Seeing Lily again made his stomach do somersaults. She was so beautiful. The two of them running into each other again had to mean something.

Maybe he could try to convince Finn to try one more time with her. The thought of her wedged between the two of them made his cock hard. There was no way he could pass up the chance to make that fantasy a reality.

If he helped her pick a nice dress, maybe she would reconsider going out with them. He liked her, and he knew Finn thought she was hot. He could work with that. That was, if Finn wanted to work with him. He was doing his best, but it was like talking to a brick wall these days. But Finn hadn’t seen Lily again. Max was hoping when he got a look at the smoking hot brunette, he’d have strong feelings again too.