right about Sasha and you were wrong but knowing it doesn’t make it burn any less, so that’s still an issue. To make things even more complicated, a part of you wants to go to Isaac’s because Alex is there and you still, maybe, a tiny bit love him. If you call and ask and Isaac says no? Then there’s no possibility of an Alex and Dani future. And you like the idea of a possibility.”
I sat up. “Are you seriously some sort of a crazy-pants, mind-reading genie?”
She grinned. “I am exactly that. At least when it comes to you.”
I sighed. “I don’t know about all the Alex and Dani future stuff. That . . . feels like too much for my heart to process. But you’re right that he will make Isaac be nice to me.”
“Yes. Yes, he will,” Paige said.
“And I will have to tell him the truth about Sasha.”
“Yes. Yes, you will.”
I groaned. “I hate Sasha.”
“Oh, me too. Maybe even more than you do.”
I was lucky that was all Paige had to say about Sasha. She’d handled the theft of her wedding dress better than I’d expected.
“Hey, before we start packing again, I need to tell you something.” She sounded serious enough, I started to worry.
“Okay.”
She winced. “My mom made me buy a back-up dress.”
I froze. “A what?”
“Please don’t be mad. I had every faith in your ability to make me a dress, but Mom wasn’t so sure. The last time I was in Charleston, we went shopping and I bought another dress. Just in case.”
It maybe shouldn’t have stung so badly. It wasn’t Paige’s idea. But after all I’d been through, it felt like one emotional blow too many.
“Wow.”
“It was long before you finished yours, Dani. And it isn’t half as pretty, I promise. Nothing is as gorgeous as that dress. I’m only telling you now because I don’t want you to have to worry about making me another one.”
I was worried about making her another one. I’d been counting yards of fabric and lace and cataloging pearl buttons all afternoon trying to see if I had enough to duplicate the first dress. I didn’t, not by a long shot. And since the lace I’d used had been a vintage remnant, the likelihood of finding the same pattern was slim. If I had access to LeFranc’s resources, I could probably find someone to duplicate it, but that would take weeks. And dollars. And connections I no longer had. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t make it again with different lace. “I have to at least try.”
“I know you could make me another dress, and I love you for that,” Paige said. “But I kind of feel like you’re going to have your hands full these next few months. I want you to focus on figuring your stuff out. If that means I don’t get a dress, I don’t want you to worry. Plus, it’s my fault we lost the dress in the first place. If I hadn’t foisted it on Sasha, we might not be in the mess.”
I dropped back down onto the bed with a huff. She was right. As much as I wanted to do it, remaking her wedding dress really couldn’t be at the top of my priority list. At least not higher than Find a place to live and a way to support myself. I reached over and grabbed Paige’s hand. “You’re a good friend, Paige.”
“I am not. I’m the one that got you in this mess in the first place. I have no right to be mad.”
I squeezed her fingers. “You looked stunning in that dress. I’ll never forget how perfect it was.”
“Me neither.” She sighed.
“I still hate your Mom.”
“She never should have doubted you,” Paige said. “Come on. Buck up. You’ve got lots to pack before tomorrow morning.”
“How about you do it for me?” I whimpered. I sounded like a toddler, but I was past caring. And Paige would love me anyway.
“Eight in the morning, right? Is that when Chase is coming with the trailer?” Classic Paige. She was nothing if not unfailingly optimistic. She always had been. Which is why she was so good at counteracting my tendency to wallow in my bad moods. Forward motion, she always said. Just keep moving forward and eventually you’ll get somewhere.
I let her pull me off the bed. “Yeah. I guess Darius says there’s room in his mom’s driveway, so it can stay there for a couple of weeks until Chase can