Fake Summer Wife

Claudia

For the ten thousandth time, I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Spinning in front of the mirror in a floor-length silk gown, I had to admit that the soft silvery blue brought out my eyes and made my skin glow.

“It fits you like a dream,” my new sales lady Jeanette said excitedly. “Let’s try it with the shoes.”

Although I had begged her for the lowest heels possible, it seemed that two and a half inches was as reasonable as she was willing to go. I hitched up the skirt so that she could slip them on for me in a way that made me feel like Cinderella. They were a very slightly darker silver, and once I dropped the skirt, the toes barely peeped out from under the hem.

“Let’s see you walk,” Jeanette said. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

I was relieved that Vaughan had insisted that he would take care of absolutely all the logistics for our date. Over text this morning, I told him that this was my day off. He had immediately arranged for me to get a dress and shoes this afternoon, and then I was meeting him for coffee later.

Walking slowly past the enormous mirrors, I had to admit that the dress was incredibly flattering. It showed just enough cleavage for a cocktail party, and nipped in at th

e waist, flaring at the hips to give me more of an hourglass figure than I would ever have thought possible.

“Chin up,” Jeanette commanded. “Small, even steps. This is a dress where you have to walk like a princess.”

Since I assumed that princesses normally didn’t cuss, I kept my internal comments to myself.

I managed to walk relatively smoothly across the room, then returned to her with only a slight wobble in the new heels.

“The thing about heels is you can use them as an excuse to hold onto your man as much as you like,” Jeanette grinned. “You’ll have to wear them around the house for a half hour here and there before your event, though, to break them in.”

She turned me around one more time. “I really think this outfit is the one. What about you?”

Since I didn’t know anything about fashion other than what itched and what didn’t, I was going to have to take her word for it. But it was certainly flattering, and pretty simple. Anything fussy or over the top always looked tacky to me.

“Yes, if you’re sure this is what other people will be wearing. It’s not too much?”

Jeanette smiled. “Before you got here I double checked with my friend who is an event planner. She says that hospital openings run the gamut from work outfits, to cocktail dresses, to extremely formal, like black tie formal. What we have here I would consider eighty-five percent formal. Not over the top, but you’ll definitely be one of the best dressed women in the room.”

“Okay. That sounds reasonable.”

“Do you have someone to do your hair and make up?”

I spun toward her, and luckily she grabbed my elbow so that I didn’t fall. “No. Is that normal? I thought I should just...wear a bit more eyeliner.”

Jeanette smiled kindly, leading me over to a velvet seat so I could slip the shoes off.

“Mr. Walsh was adamant that I help you get absolutely everything you need,” she said. “Don’t worry – you change out of that and I’ll find you someone who is available Saturday evening to doll you up.”

“Thank you.”

By the time I came out of the change room, she had a business card in hand. “Lauren just had a cancellation, so I snapped her up immediately. She’s great. I told her about the event, and she already has a plan.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate this.”

She added her own business card and slipped them both into the outside pocket of my purse. “If you stick with this amazing man, I have a feeling you’re going to want to visit me again.”

“Absolutely,” I said with a smile, even though I had no idea whether Vaughan and I would be going on more than one date.

I still didn’t know quite what to think about the whole thing. Vaughan was gorgeous, but it was much more than that. I loved the way he joked around with his coworkers. I loved the way he took his time to actually taste his food. And even though he had only touched me twice, in very innocent ways, there was something about the electrifying prickle of his hand on me that made me need more.

But was it possible to be addicted so instantly? It was bizarre. Yet it was definitely something I wanted to explore further.

Apparently Vaughan had left his credit card number with the store, so Jeanette boxed and bagged everything up for me.

“Just one more thing,” she said, leading me over to the end of the counter where she had arranged three ties that almost perfectly matched my dress. “You can either pick the one that you think matches the dress best, the one that you like best, or the one that you think he would like the best,” she laughed.