Who Wants to Marry A Billionaire?(11)
Out on the sidewalk, Rita started to laugh, “I guess you showed them!” But Nina fumed, “What gives them the right to act so high and mighty?”
Rita swallowed her laugh and pondered things for a moment. “If that’s how the sales clerks act, you better strap on your seatbelt for when you meet the real society women.”
“I’ve met Dominique DeVere, she’s not like that.”
“Maybe…but you haven’t met the women who wish they were marrying Daniel DeVere.”
Nina tried to shake it off. “Com’on, let’s go down to La Bella. I’ve always thought their clothes were classier anyway…at least looking through the window.”
A young woman was arranging clothing in the window display of La Bella as they skipped up the steps to the front door. She smiled and waved at them through the glass. Nina looked at Rita, “This will be better.”
Inside, the woman extricated herself from the window. “Hi! Are you looking for anything particular today or did you just want to browse?”
Nina smiled back. “I need a few outfits, a dress for a nice dinner, a dress for an engagement party…”
“Do you have a friend getting married?” The clerk looked at Nina to guess her size.
“No, that would be me.”
“Wow, congratulations. You’re so…matter of fact about it. Aren’t you excited?” The clerk gave her a smile over her shoulder as she started leafing through things on the racks.
Excited? Nina thought driving the Porsche was exciting; getting some new clothes was...kind of exciting. Getting married to a virtual stranger? Not so exciting. She forced a smile on her face, “Oh yeah, I guess I’ve got too many things on my mind today. So many lists.”
The clerk nodded knowingly, “Planning a wedding is like a full time job. Is it going to be big?”
Was it going to be big? Nina had no idea. “Oh, family and friends. You know, the usual.” She realized she needed to get with Daniel so they could get their stories straight.
The clerk turned to them and held up some outfits, hangers dangling from each of her hands. Rita squealed, “Oh Nina—you’re going to look amazing in these. Nina shrugged, “I think you have to have a new dress for the party too, right?” Rita smiled, and then hesitated, “What about Mom?”
Their mother, crap, Nina thought. It would be a little weird if the bride didn’t have any family at the engagement party, and while Vicki was still a very attractive woman, she didn’t always have the best taste. In fact, Vicki kind of dressed like a tramp. And how was she going to explain that she was marrying a billionaire only to get ‘divorced’ within the year? Nina picked up a sleeve of a blouse, fingering the silk. “Let’s worry about Mom later.”
Three hours later Nina and Rita stumbled back down the steps from La Bella to the sidewalk with so many bags they could barely carry them. Nina unlocked the Porsche and then it took a little time and some creativity to stuff everything in. Finally, after they managed to get everything in the car, Nina looked to Rita and gestured to a nearby cafe, “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
A few minutes later they had secured a sidewalk table and watched as people on the street passed by. Their food arrived and Nina tore into a club sandwich, ravenous. Her blissful munching was interrupted, however, by a familiar and chilly voice calling her name. Looking up, Nina became acutely aware of the fact that a rather large piece of romaine lettuce was hanging out of her mouth. It was Elsa.
Choking the bit of green down, she tried to smile. “Elsa! Hello. This is my sister, Rita Alves. Rita, this is my supervisor, Ms. Elsa Woodruff.”
Elsa looked dismissively at Rita, as Rita politely said, “So nice to meet you.” Nina wondered what she should do next, so she simply fell back on good manners, “Would you care to sit down?”
“No, I don’t have time to be lollygagging around. I’m on my way to a meeting with a foundation donor—the Pruitt's of the Pruitt Paints fortune. Seems they need a tax write-off.” Elsa scanned up and down the street, “I assume you are here doing something about that hideous wardrobe of yours?”
Why did Elsa always have to be so disagreeable? Nina wondered. She realized Elsa’s comment hurt her feelings, but she also realized that since she had a signed contract with Daniel DeVere, she sort of had the upper hand, and couldn’t help but answer sarcastically, “Oh no, actually, we’re just out seeing how much we could charge on Daniel’s AMEX before anyone notices.”
Elsa sniffed at Nina’s impertinence. “Watch yourself Nina, or you’ll find yourself back in Lowell doing temp work alongside that mother of yours.”
Nina gave Rita a concerned look as she bought a little time by taking a sip of water. How did Elsa know anything about their mother?
“Don’t think we haven’t been vetting your family.” Elsa tapped her blood red manicured fingers on the table by Rita. “Like your little sister here—honors French, works at a copy shop. She looks like she’ll clean up enough. But we may have to hire some actresses to play the part of your bridesmaids.”
Somehow, hiring fake bridesmaids was just more than Nina could stomach. “I don’t think that will be necessary. We can keep it…small, intimate.”
Elsa cackled like a hyena. “Small? You are an idiot. You are marrying a billionaire— well the heir to one at any rate. Small is not an option.” She turned to continue up the street, but stopped and turned back, “By the way, I’ll be approving all your outfits before any major event.”