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Chapter 3

Maria had decided to kill time while she was waiting for Candice's call by going to a local coffee shop. She'd ordered herself a hot chocolate with whipped cream and pulled out her organiser to look for designer for a replacement wedding dress. Even with her vast contacts Maria was struggling to think of anyone who would be able to provide the brunette with the dress of her dream with the amount of money she had left in the budget. "Damn it."

Thirty minutes or so later, Candice has called requesting that Maria met her right outside the coffee shop. The redhead had been surprised by the upbeat tone in her client's voice and it didn't take long for her to find out why. As she followed Candice back towards Jeff's studio she had a sinking feeling.

"I called my mom and she had his number for some reason, not too sure why but I called him. He's not officially open but he said for an emergency he would let me in. Isn't that so sweet of him?" Candice asked.

"Adorable."

Candice pressed the intercom on the wall and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Mr Hardy? This is Candice Michelle. We spoke about ten minutes ago on the phone."

"Right, come on in," Jeff replied.

The door unlocked and Candice pushed it open with Maria trailing in behind her.

Candice looked around, "Wow, this place is amazing."

Maria has shrugged, trying her best not to show how bothered she was to be back here so soon.

The designer appeared from the stairs, "Hi, I'm Jeff Hardy."

Candice stepped forward to introduce herself, "I'm Candice and this is my Wedding Planner …"

"Maria Kanellis," Jeff finished for her.

"Wow, you guys know each other?" the brunette asked excitedly.

"Oh yeah, Maria and me go way back. In fact she was just here thirty minutes ago discussing details for another client. Isn't that right, Maria?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Why didn't you say something? This is better than I expected. If you're already using his dresses for another wedding he must be good, right?"

The pretty redhead smiled sweetly, "Oh Jeff's very talented. I'm sure we'll be able to find you something in his collection. You understand that it would have to be a off the shelf creation though, right? Because there isn't enough time from him to start from scratch."

Candice nodded, "I understand. I'm just so thankful that he might have something for me here."

"When is this wedding?" Jeff asked casually.

"Next Saturday."

Jeff smirked, "The wedding is next Saturday and you don't have a dress? How is that even possible? I thought a Wedding Planner was supposed to take care of all those details."

Maria was starting to get pissed, "I did. We had a dress. It was the perfect dress, alright? Until some idiot misread the alterations and made the thing two sizes too small at the final fitting. Can you just show her your dresses and we can get on with this?"

Jeff remained smiling, "Sure." He walked over to the far wall and pulled back a large black curtain revealing a huge rack of all sorts of wedding dresses.

"Oh my god! Wow. I can't wait to try some of these on."

Just then, there was a knock on the door, "Please excuse me," Jeff said as he walked towards the door and opened it, "Oh hey, thanks for coming."

"No problem. Is she here yet?"

"Yeah, they just arrived." He walked back towards Maria and Candice with the new arrival following close behind. "Candice, Maria this is my assistant, Eve. She'll be helping Candice try on the dresses if that's alright?"

"Of course it's alright," Candice replied. "I'm Candice, pleased to meet you Eve."

Eve smiled, "Nice to meet you Candice."

Maria smiled, "I'm sure we'll find something here for you, Candice."

Candice beamed, "I really hope so. Ooh, look at that one, it's so pretty." She grabbed it off the rack and disappeared into the changing area, closely followed by Eve.

Maria raised an eyebrow, "You have an assistant now? Since when?"

The green eyed man shrugged, "She's not actually my assistant, more like my neighbour but I figured we'd need somebody to help Candice with the dresses and if I said she was my assistant it just sounded better."

"Whatever."

A few minutes later Candice returned wearing the first dress, "What do you think of this one?"

Maria studied her closely, "Honest opinion?"

"Of course."

"Hate it. It's all wrong for your shape and I don't like the cut at the bottom."

Jeff immediately frowned, "What's wrong with the cut at the bottom?"

Maria smirked, "There's nothing wrong with it as such, I just don't like it."

"That's not a reason."

"Sure it is."

Candice appeared to be pick up on the tension between the two, "I'm just going to try the next one."

"Okay."

Jeff waited for her to disappear before he spoke again, "I just don't like it, is not a reason."

"I can't help it. It's just the way I feel."

Jeff folded his arms across his chest, "It's still not a reason."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two. Maria willed for her client to appear and luckily for the redhead she didn't have to wait too long.

"What do you think of this one? Personally I love it."

Maria gasped, "Oh my god! That's gorgeous and it fits like a glove. Turn around."

As instructed Candice turned in a complete circle, "I feel like a princess."

Maria sighed happily, "It's like it was made just for you. That's the one."

"Punk is gonna love this. I'm going to get changed out of it."

Jeff watched Candice disappear again, "Punk?"

Maria turned her attention to the designer, "The groom. That's his nickname by the way. His real name is Phil."

"Right."

Candice returned dressed in her original clothing, "I can't believe how perfect it is. How much is that one?"

Jeff answered immediately without hesitation, "That one is five thousand dollars."

Candice's face fell just as quickly, "Five thousand? Damn, I don't have that much left in the budget. Shit, I'll guess I'll have to keep looking. Do you have anything a little less expensive? Say around, fifteen hundred?"

Jeff shook his head, "Not really. The cheapest one I have is three thousand and that was the first one you tried. The one with the cut, that Maria didn't like."

Candice frowned, "I'm sorry to have wasted your time." She turned her attention to the wedding planner, "Do you know anywhere else? Damn it. I can't believe that other place screwed up my big day. It's gonna be a disaster."

Jeff spoke before Maria could reply, "Now, hold on just a second. Let me think about this for a moment." He paused and then smiled as he got an idea, "Tell you what, you can have the dress for fifteen hundred on two conditions."

Candice's eyes went wide, "Just name them …"

"One, I'm invited to the wedding and two, you tell everybody who'll listen where you got the dress from."

"You got yourself a deal." Candice stepped forward and hugged the designer tightly, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have just made my year. I gotta go call Punk and tell him the good news." She walked over to the far cover of the room and pulled out her cell phone from her purse. After selecting a number from her phone book she waited for the call to be answered, "Baby? I got a new dress. It's perfect and best of all, it's within budget. Can you believe it?"

Jeff turned to face Maria, "Did you hear that? I totally made her year."

Maria shot him a look, "You don't have to be so smug about it."

"I'm not being smug," Jeff replied with a smirk.

"You totally are. I have a question, why are you doing this?"

Jeff shrugged, "It was the right thing to do and besides, I'm a nice guy."

"If you say so," Maria muttered.

"I am," Jeff insisted.

"Yeah, you're a regular hero." Even though she was being sarcastic, Maria was speaking the truth. He really had just saved her from the potential massive headache of trying to find a new dress for Candice at such short notice. "Oh and for the record, I still think you're an asshole."

"Charming."