to let him do it as a thank-you for what we’ve done for his girls.” Mitzi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cut herself a big chunk of blue cake. “I couldn’t say no.”
“Then it’s not a date?” Jody squealed.
Mitzi groaned. “I don’t think so. Do y’all remember Rita?”
“Skinny, short, and blonde hair.” Jody nodded.
“A gold digger,” Paula answered.
“Exactly.” Mitzi picked up a fork and started on her breakfast cake.
“So?” Jody asked.
“Short and small is what he’s attracted to, and he probably has trust issues, so it can’t be a date,” Mitzi answered.
“If he kisses you before you leave, it’s a date,” Paula said.
“I agree.” Jody headed to the refrigerator and removed a takeout box. “Y’all can have dessert for breakfast. I’m heating up a bowlful of leftover spaghetti and meatballs.”
Mitzi polished off the last of her cake and carried the plate to the trash can. “I’m going upstairs to make myself decent. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother. God knows I won’t be able to shrink myself down to a size six by any means. I’ll be down in half an hour.”
“The girls will probably show up in a few minutes,” Jody reminded her.
“I’ll hurry, then.” Mitzi zipped into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and returned to find another message, this time from Dixie, saying that her dad would meet them at the party store with a truck to help carry heavy stuff.
“Well, that changes whether or not to use a curling iron on my hair,” Mitzi said as she rushed through applying makeup, threw outfits on her bed as she discarded one after another, and finally changed twice—all in half an hour.
Chapter Fourteen
Paula stood back a few feet and looked at the four plus-size mannequins lined up before them. Did she really look like the size-eighteen one when she was naked? She avoided mirrors when she wasn’t dressed, so maybe she did. She cocked her head to one side and decided that her breasts were smaller than the mannequin’s and her butt a good deal bigger.
Mitzi put in her two cents. “I vote that we get a bald one so we can change her hair color with wigs. The one with the preformed hair looks a little weird.”
Paula stepped back and studied them. “I like the idea of changing out her hair color, too.”
“Agreed. That way it looks more real,” Jody added. “What do you think, girls?”
“Why do you need a second one?” Dixie asked. “The one at the shop is fine.”
“We’ll use that one for the wedding dress until a few minutes before you model it. We’ll use the new one to display a bridesmaid dress. Paula still has the one that she wore to her sister’s wedding,” Mitzi explained. “We might be the only exclusively plus-sized custom wedding-dress shop there, and we really want to show off what we can do.”
“Like if the bride is skinny but her bridesmaids are all big girls?” Tabby asked.
“That’s right,” Paula said.
“So it’s decided on that one?” Jody pointed to the mannequin in the middle of the lineup.
All the others nodded.
“Now we need to give her some hair.” Paula led the group to the back of the store, where the wigs were on display.
“I think she needs to have red hair like Mitzi’s.” Tabby walked down the length of the shelf lined with all shades of auburn hair. “Like this one.”
Dixie cocked her head to one side. “That one has too much red.”
“Third one from the end,” Graham said.
At the sound of his voice, they all whipped around.
“Daddy! Where’d you come from?” Dixie asked.
“You snuck up on us.” Tabby grinned.
“Y’all were pretty intent on wigs. What are they for?” Graham asked, his eyes never leaving Mitzi.
“Our new mannequin,” Tabby answered. “And it’s going to wear the bridesmaid dress that Paula wore in her sister’s wedding. The dress is emerald green, so we thought it should have red hair.” She finally stopped for a breath. “Oh, my gosh, you’re right. This one is perfect.”
“We have both blonde and brunette wigs, so it makes sense to buy an auburn one,” Jody said.
“Sure does,” Paula agreed and then whispered to Mitzi, “Better get one last long look at him before we go to the next store. After he loads our mannequin, he might go on home and you won’t see him again today.”
Mitzi ignored her. “Thank you so much for helping us today, Graham. We’d have had trouble getting our new mannequin in the van with all the seats up.