I own nothing.
The next night—
Henry picked Vicki up at half past seven. Wordlessly she stepped into his BMW. Knowing her utter distaste for anything resembling the mission they were on, he chose to regard her silence as inevitable.
Soon, they were parked at a chic-looking shop downtown.
"My dear, shall we?" he asked taking her hand.
With a melodramatic sigh, she nodded her assent.
"Liz, thank you so much," Henry said to the woman already holding the door open for them. "You'll never know how much I appreciate this," he said winking.
"Well," Liz began, "I've pulled about ten dresses for you. Henry called earlier and mentioned that it was a garden party wedding set in June in the evening. You'll want something light and pretty but still appropriate for an evening wedding," Liz said, never taking her eyes off Vicki.
Henry took a seat near the fitting rooms, and Liz led Vicki to a room with so much lavender that her eyes crossed. "Don't worry," Liz said, "Henry already told me that you wouldn't want anything frilly, floral, or flashy. His exact words."
Vicki saw the laughter in her eyes and had to chuckle herself. "When did he call you? I didn't even know the wedding was at night, much less a garden party."
"Oh, he called about an hour ago, he said he had just gotten off the phone with your mother," Liz replied.
"HENRY! What would possess you to call my mother?" Vicki asked, leaning around the corner to see his face, livid.
"Love, did you really want to wear a formal gown when everyone else is wearing tea length?" Henry replied innocently.
"What?!" she asked, distressed that he even knew the meaning of 'tea length.'
"Well, I'd much rather see you in formal, there's usually a lot less material involved," he said looking suggestively at her, "but that would hardly be appropriate, so I called for details. Your mother was very helpful after I mentioned that I was making sure you got a lavender dress and heels immediately. Of course she now assumes I'm your date, but since the wedding is after dark, I hardly think that will be a problem."
"Well that's just lovely," Vicki muttered stripping down to her underwear.
The first dress Liz handed her was very light lavender chiffon, a v-neck with flutter sleeves and a peek a boo hem of the same chiffon. As soon as he heard the zipper, Henry was in the room, looking critically at the dress.
"How do you feel in it?" Henry asked.
"Like a fairy," Vicki replied irritated.
At this point Henry looks at the rack of dresses, "Hmm. Liz, I don't seriously think she'll try on all of these, and I don't want her getting one she despises. How about just three more, darling?" Henry asked looking at Vicki.
She nodded enthusiastically.
Walking to the rack, Henry selects three dresses, and says, "There, love, any of these will be spectacular on you." He leaves and Vicki steps out of the frothy chiffon number and makes a face. The first of the three finalists is a strapless number with an empire waist, it goes to her knees in the front but to her ankles in the back. Henry is once again surveying the dress. "What do you thing?"
"I think this would look lovely on you, but it's obnoxious on me," Vicki replied.
"Okay, then, contestant number two," Henry said cheerfully.
This dress was a bit more substantial. Made out of silk, it had spaghetti straps, a sweetheart neckline the bodice was ruched and the pencil skirt lay snugly over her hips. Looking in the mirror, she liked it decidedly better.
"Ah, that was almost a smile. I like it. It shows off your figure to perfection. And it's not lavender exactly, it's a shade warmer. It looks great with your skin. The next is about the same shade."
As he walked out, she looked one last time in the mirror and sighed, it just looked way too much like the black dress she wore to the gallery the night of their 'almost' date.
Putting on the third dress, she gasped. Off the shoulder, with an empire waist, and a slight a-line skirt that feel just to her knees. It was the same warm lavender silk of the second but it had bands of plum satin as trim on the neckline and at the waist. The plum put a blush in her cheeks and made her eyes glow.
When Henry walked in, he said nothing for a moment. Then, he wordlessly passed her a pair of plum sandals, and as she put them on, he smiled broadly. "Liz, we'll take this one and the shoes."
"Excellent," she said as he handed her his credit card.
"Henry, I can't let you pay for this! I don't even want to know how much it costs," Vicki argued.
"And, you never shall. This has been more of a treat for me than you know. And since I am your date, that gives me a reason to go shopping for myself as well," he said winking once again.
Impulsively she kissed his cheek. "You just better make sure you don't look prettier than me," she said only half joking.
"My dear, you're making me blush," he said pleased.
"Impossible, you're shameless," she smiled.
If ya'll are fans of time compression, I'll fast forward to the wedding, so you can see what Henry buys to wear. I think he's gonna want to keep it a secret. Let me know.