Bursting at the Seams

“That woman was gorgeous, wasn’t she?” she comments as she rifles her fork through her bowl.

“We’ve had about twenty women here today,” I sigh, letting her know I don’t know what she’s talking about.

“Oh, come on. The lady dressed in the skirt-suit? Looks like a CEO but all she’s in charge of is her ditzy little sister.”

I cock a brow at her. “The Fosters? My, my that’s mighty presumptuous of you. How do you know she’s not a CEO, and that her sister is a ditz?”

Hanna tilts her head side to side. “Fair point. Maybe she is a CEO. I don’t know anything about her other than she has money, is a doting sister, and that the two of you were making some serious eyes at one another.” I take the opportunity to roll my eyes to show my annoyance with where she is taking the conversation. “Oh, come on, Manny. You don’t have to be shy about finding someone hot. We’re both adults.”

“We are. And she is a client,” I remind her before taking a big bite.

My sister kicks her legs up onto my desk and cross them as she stares me down. “Yeah, sure. She’s a client now, but in eight weeks, she won’t be. Why not live a little see where things go? Get flirty in her fittings and see if she needs a plus one to her sister’s wedding, or if she’s already destined for one of the groomsmen.”

“How are you sure she’s single?” I snort.

She shrugs. “Generally women who are in a relationship don’t visually undress their tailor.”

“Enough,” I chuckle, shaking my head. “Please, I’m trying to eat and it’s a bit nauseating to talk about my sex life, or lack thereof, with my little sister.”

“Fine,” Hanna huffs and stands. She places a stack of dress designs onto my desk for me to go over before our next collection launch. “I’ll leave it alone but please learn to live a little. You used to be fun.”

Her tone is teasing with only a hint of sincerity, but once I’m alone in my office, my mind reels a little. She’s right, I used to be fun. The fun, carefree Emanuel was the version of me that my ex-wife, Eliza, fell in love with. But that was years ago, before life really took hold of me and fundamentally changed me. It was before losing my grandmother and my mother, before severing ties with my father… And before I watched the only woman I ever loved slowly fall out of love with me because I could no longer be her solid foundation because I didn’t have one myself. It’s been a year since the divorced finalized. Maybe it’s been long enough and I’ve done enough mourning over the life I once had. It’s time to find myself again, but I’m not going to find myself in between a client’s legs.

And yet, as I finish my lunch and start looking through the designs, I find my thoughts trailing back to Wren and her long, shapely legs and wishing that her body could be the roadmap of my self-discovery journey.

Chapter Three

Wren

Caroline and I have spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for a slew of arbitrary items for the wedding. An outfit for the morning of the wedding, an outfit for the bachelorette party, party favors for the bridal shower, and so on. Her car’s backseat is completely filled with shopping bags from the dizzying array of stores we’ve gone to. As much as I long to swear off shopping for the rest of my life, I know there’s still so much to do before the big day. It’s the third wedding of the Foster sisters, and she is certainly going for the largest celebration. Thankfully, her fiancé, Levi, is paying for everything. The wedding dress was my contribution.

As we ride through downtown, the conversation falls into a lull, and the only sounds are traffic and the radio playing faintly, my mind wanders. At all times there is an ongoing editing of a to-do list for work going on in my head. A list of emails to send, files to finalize, presentations to build, and meetings to book. I’m already planning my emails to send while we have dinner, and it exhausts me just to think about. I’ve been my role as Marketing Manager for a year, and it’s been a learning-on-your-feet kind of job.

Un-Standard is a healthy lifestyle company and blog that I started at right out of college and have managed to rise through the ranks at a break-neck speed for the marketing field. Being twenty-seven with a career like mine doesn’t leave room for much else, which means my personal life takes a hit. I remind myself that this is the life I’ve made for myself, and I need to just accept it. I’m good at my job, I’m already operating at a level of financial freedom most people these days don’t reach until their forties, and there’s only room for growth.