She felt like an Easter egg, or in the least, it reminded her of a bridesmaid’s dress gone severely wrong.
She tried on a few more dresses and each one was even more completely off the charts as the one before. Laughing at her image in the mirror, Rebecca felt as if she were a canvas and the dresses where pieces of artwork and not something that should be worn.
Finally, Gloria handed her a red dress. Rebecca took it in her hands and instantly fell in love with it; it was so chic. It had a blouson silhouette scoop neckline. One dolman sleeve with embroidered sequin, and the other sleeve was a tank strap. It had an elastic waist and ruching at the skirt, which only fell mid-thigh. Running her hands along the fabric, she had never felt so sexy. There had never been a reason for her to buy anything quite so bold, bright, and red. When she pulled back the curtain, Gloria clapped her hands together.
“Oh we have found a winner. That one is a keeper,” She told her. “Don’t even bother to change darling, just wear it out of the store.”
“I need to pay for it.”
“Oh it’s all taken been taken care of; you just go and knock the socks off of the blue- eyed gorgeous hunk of man.”
“Oh wow! Does everyone know that I am having dinner with him?”
“Not yet, but trust me, sweetie, it will be the talk of the harbor by the end of the night,” She teased her.
Great , Rebecca thought to herself. She never imagined that putting herself back out there would be such a public affair.
“Oh don’t feel bad, it’s just that we’ve all been watching that hunk of meat since he showed up around here. He’s just so mysterious, and did I mention hunky?”
“Yeah, I believe you said that a few times.”
“Well, you go and knock his socks off, girlfriend.”
“Thank you, Gloria. I appreciate it.”
“No problem, darling. You go and have a great time.”
Rebecca gathered her clothes and walked out of the fitting room. Gloria handed her a bag that contained red high-heeled shoes.
“On the house, sweetness.” Rebecca gladly accepted the items and couldn’t thank Gloria enough for all her help.
She walked next door to Solstice. When she opened the door Tasha was already waiting there talking to Emily. They both stopped talking when they saw their friend.
“Oh dear lord, I think she is out of her shell,” Emily said.
“Baby girl, you are one hot mama.” Tasha said as she made a growling sound.
When it was time to meet Ethan, Rebecca nervously placed her hand on the door knob and took a deep breath. Tasha yelled out to her, “Wait a sec.” She pulled out her iPhone and snapped a picture of Rebecca as she was standing at the door. “I just wanted a memory of your big night.”
“Ugh, guys, would you stop? I’m already losing my nerve.” She started walking back into the store as if she’d changed her mind about going.
“No freaking way. You get out that door, or we are throwing you out,” Tasha yelled at her.
Emily started pushing her out the door. Once she was outside, Emily locked the door and waved to her.
“Ha-ha, no going back now,” Emily yelled through the glass. Both Emily and Tasha blew her a kiss and walked back to the counter.
Rebecca was so nervous she thought she was going to trip on the sidewalk. She was feeling very out of her element, and she felt like people were staring at her because they could tell that she shouldn’t be dressed like that.
She walked to Ethan’s store front and noticed the windows were completely covered over with brown paper. She knocked on the door and waited. She could hear shuffling and then she heard the clicking of the lock as it unlatched. As soon as Ethan opened the door, his mouth fell open.
“Wow…” was all he could muster out. “I don’t even have words. You look…wow!”
She smiled at him. He was all cleaned up, wearing a black suit, which looked great on him with the dark contrast of his hair. He stood a good six inches over her five
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