Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"No black!" I declared. "None!"

"Okay, well, tell me how you really feel about it," Viv chuckled as she pushed a few more dresses aside before looking me up and down as she murmured, "Six maybe, eight, or a small ten."

Viv pulled a couple of dresses from the rack and held them up to me as she talked to herself. She nodded as she tossed a navy-blue dress in velvet over her arm followed by an ivory gown and a red gown, then she nodded at me and said, "Follow me."

Viv led me across the thick carpet to a room that looked unlike any fitting room I'd ever seen before. On one side of the room was a small area that had been divided by a tall silk screen covered in tiny violets. To the right of it was a small sitting area with purple velvet chairs arranged around a low table that held a tray of intricately decorated cookies and cakes and a pitcher of frosty lemonade that sweat onto the doily underneath it.

"How did you—" I began.

"Any time the doorbell rings once and doesn't quickly ring again, my assistant preps the refreshments and brings them out," Viv smiled as she moved behind the screen and began hanging up the dresses. She called, "Have something to eat and drink, hon!"

I poured myself a glass of lemonade and turned to look at the other side of the room where an enormous, round platform stood in front of a mirror that nearly encircled it. I walked over and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and then quickly backed away, feeling completely out of place. The panic began rising as I realized just how out of place I was. I had set my glass down and headed for the door when Viv emerged from behind the screen and said, "Now, you're not going to go and abandon these pretty dresses without even trying them on, are you?"

"No, I...I...no," I stuttered feeling trapped. Viv crossed the room and put an arm around my shoulder.

"You know, when I built this store, it was because I was sick and tired of going into high end places and having them look at me like I was gum on someone's shoe," she said as she gently squeezed my shoulder. "I told myself that when I had my own shop, I'd make sure that every single woman who walked through the door would feel like the queen of the world, no matter whether she bought a dress from me or not."

"But I—" I choked out.

"You aren't going to be the one who makes me break a promise to myself, are you?" she asked as she led me to the screen and gestured to the dresses she'd hung on the wall behind it. "Those dresses are just waiting for you to try them on, darlin! Don't disappoint them!"

I nodded as I looked down and bit my lip, then took a deep breath and looked up at Viv and gave her a weak smile. She nodded, satisfied that her pep talk had done its job, and then disappeared on the other side of the screen.

I began with the ivory dress. It was a made of satin overlaid with gossamer lace, and it felt as light as a cloud as I pulled it on, but once I had it on, I knew there was no way I'd be able to wear it out in public. I stepped out with my arms covering my chest and shook my head.

"Too revealing," I said as Viv waved at me to drop my arms. I did and blushed when she wolf whistled.

"Wow, you do that dress justice like it's never been done before," she said admiring the fit of the dress. "But I see your point."

I slipped out of it, and pulled on the red dress. It made of a soft, stretchy fabric that had been sewn together in strips that hugged every curve and left little to the imagination. I stepped out from behind the screen and gasped as I looked at myself in the mirror.

"No, Viv, no! I can't!" I cried as I thought about how my family would react if they saw me in this dress. It was one thing to wear a fitted sheath to the office, but quite another to pull on a dress that was little more than skin.

"Jeez, take it easy, hon," Viv said as she shook her head. "What are you, Amish or something?"

My face fell and I was silent as the blush rose from my chest to my cheeks. The mocking tone of her voice told me that her opinion of the Amish was something of a joke, and I felt ashamed to have been singled out as the butt of her joke.

"Oh no," she whispered. "Grace, you're not really Amish, are you?"

Unable to speak, I simply nodded as prayed for the floor to swallow me up. Viv put a hand on my shoulder and spun me around to face her.

"Grace, I am truly sorry for my ignorance and insensitivity," Viv said as she looked me in the eye. "I've been on the receiving end of cruel things people have said, and I swore I'd never do that to someone else and now look what I've done."

"It's okay," I shrugged just wanting to get changed out of the dress and get out of the store.

"No, it's really not, hon," Viv said as she took my hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's not okay at all. Can you forgive me for being so rude?"

"Sure," I said as I looked up at her and was surprised to see tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't cry about it, Viv. It happens. People make mistakes."

Suddenly Viv's eyes grew wide and a smiled bloomed on her lips, as she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Grace! I think I have just the dress for you! Promise me you won't leave, please?"

"Okay?" I said uncertain of what would come next, but hopeful that whatever it was that had made Grace's eyes light up would actually end up looking good on me. I walked back behind the screen and peeled off the red dress thinking I'd try on the midnight blue one just in case Viv's hunch was wrong, but before I could get the dress off the hanger, Viv came bursting through the door holding a dress encased in a garment bag in front of her.

"I swear, I think this is the one, Grace," she said with a warm smile. "This one will be perfect for you."

She hung the dress on a hook and unzipped its covering. We both inhaled deeply as she pulled the dress out of the bag and held it up.

"Oh my," I whispered reaching out to touch the gray, shantung silk and running my fingers over the crystal beads that covered the bodice. It was designed to drape over one shoulder leaving the other bare, but it covered more than any of the other three dresses. I'd never seen anything so lovely in my life.