“Oh, honey, I’d kill to have your boobs,” Pilar said.
“I did have those boobs. Before I breastfed Amanda,” Kitty said, referring to the adorable toddler that she sometimes brought into The Bistro for breakfast.
“I paid to have those boobs,” Shea said, causing the rest of the women to laugh even more.
“Believe me, Sarah,” Lauren said, “you don’t want to have these…freakish boobs of mine. Do you know how hard it is to buy clothes?”
“I love those freakish boobs of yours,” yelled Nate from the other room.
“There are kids are in the house!” Lauren yelled back.
“Sorry. Cover your ears, boys,” Nate said loud enough for all to hear.
Everyone laughed, then Kitty got up and closed the door to the nearby family room.
Sarah sucked in a breath while Lauren pinned up the sides of the dress. “I can have this ready in no time.”
Sarah could hardly believe this was happening. She’d never worn anything so beautiful in her life. “Really? You can make this fit me?”
Lauren made a scoffing sound. “Of course. I’m a professional seamstress. This is what I live for.”
After Lauren was satisfied with the way the dress fit with the pins, Sarah went back to the guest room and took it off. She slipped her shorts and shirt back on, delicately draping the dress over her arm and handed it back to Lauren.
“Give me thirty minutes, tops. Then we’ll do a second try on.”
While Lauren was busy sewing away, the rest of the women discussed possible hair and makeup.
“You definitely want to put your hair up,” Pilar suggested, “so that you can show off your bare shoulders.”
“But don’t make it too severe,” Shea said. “You want to keep it sexy.” She took the bulk of Sarah’s hair and, with a quick motion, made a simple, loose French twist that she secu
red with about half a dozen bobby pins. “Now let’s see you do that,” she instructed, taking Sarah’s hair down so that they were back to square one. “If you can’t do it yourself then we’ll have to do something else.”
Sarah did as Shea said, because for one, she didn’t want to contradict the woman, and secondly, the style did look nice. After a couple of tries, she got it to look almost as good as Shea had.
“Perfect,” Pilar said. “Now for makeup.”
“Sarah is so pretty and she normally doesn’t wear much makeup, so I say keep it simple otherwise she’ll look too made up,” Mimi said.
The rest of the women agreed, and after another thirty minutes of trying out different blushes and lipsticks, they settled on “the look” as Shea called it—dark brown eyeliner, mascara, a little powdered foundation, pink blush and red lipstick.
“Red? Are you sure?” Sarah looked at herself in the mirror. “You don’t think I look like a clown?”
“You look sophisticated and beautiful,” Kitty said.
Lauren called out from the guest room. “Get your perky little boobs and butt in here now, lady! Your dress is ready!”
Sarah found Lauren sitting behind a sewing machine. Nate was right. Her cheeks did look flushed. She felt guilty for making Lauren work so hard when she was, as she had jokingly put it, about a million weeks pregnant. “Are you okay?” Sarah asked.
“Of course I’m okay. I’m just excited to see how this fits you. Shoes, too. We need to make sure everything is a go.”
Sarah stripped down again and Lauren told her to take off her bra as well. “You don’t need it. I’ve taken in the bodice enough that it will be pretty snug.” She helped Sarah into the gown then stood back to inspect her handiwork. “How does it feel?”
“Awesome,” she said, blinking back a tear.
Lauren beamed at her. “Go show the girls. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.”
This time when Sarah came out in the dress, the room was definitely not quiet.