My Widowed Mate

Bridal Store

The store was now open after the employees came in. We had 5 employees on today with several brides coming for fittings today, and whoever else comes in today looking for a dress. I began checking to see if all the dresses were the correct size for each bride.

A small, soft "hey" came from behind me, I knew it was Jessie. I turned to see her giving me a small, weak smile. She was nervous. I liked Jessie. She was a good, kindhearted person. She had platinum blond hair that hung to her shoulder, and pearly white teeth. Her eyes were a light blue that lit up her face. She was drop-dead gorgeous, I offered her a few modeling jobs, but she always turned it down.

"Welcome back." She said with a smile.

I gave her a smile back and shrugged my shoulders a bit. She was a nice girl, but she didn't really have much background. I didn't know much about her. It was like she never had a past. Whenever she was asked about her childhood or anything, she seemed to avoid the question. It made me wonder what had happened to her as a child. She was younger than me but she acted older.

Jessie still stood there, and I'm sure she wanted to say more. But It was an awkward moment, of course. There wasn't much to say to comfort me. Luckily, a bride she was waiting to arrive entered the store. She went off to help them, so I turned my attention back to the dresses again.

Sometime later, another employee I had never met before, named Ashley, approached me.

"I'm sorry Jessie, but a bride is requesting you." She said, looking upset.

I had already heard the bride-zilla yelling from across the store before Ashley approached me. I followed the sound of the voice cursing and yelling. I found a young woman standing in front of the 3 way mirror yelling at who I assumed was her mother. I took a deep breath for patience and cleared my throat. The woman's eyes shot daggers at me, glaring me down. Her eyes went into my name tag, which stated I was the manager. Yay me.

"The dress won't zip up! I'm getting married next week, and my dress doesn't fit!" She yelled at me as if it was my fault. She didn't know I was just off for months for a...vacation. Still. It didn't give her a right to treat people that way. Silently, I checked the tags and the dress for the size. I pulled out my book of measurements before I addressed the woman.

"In my book, it said you were measured at a size eight 3 weeks ago, and the dress is a size 8. May we do your measurements again?" I asked, pulling out my measuring tape.

Her eyes widened as she nodded, so I measured her again. She was obviously panicked that she had gained weight before her wedding. Doing my measurements, I noticed she had gone up half a size. She wasn't going to like this at all. I sighed and took a few steps back so she wouldn't hit me. "Well, it's looking like you went up half a size, I can -"

I was cut off as the woman began screaming about how it was impossible. Told me my measurements were wrong. That the measuring tape was lying.

Quickly thinking of something say to, just to get her to shut up."It's not your fault. It could be possible they placed the wrong tag on the wrong dress."

The woman seemed to think about it for a moment and relax.

"Of course. That has to be the only explanation." She said, looking to her mom."You know I've been barely eating." To which her mom just nodded.

I offered to try some of our Spanx, and if that didn't work, we would rush it to get it taken out and have it back before the wedding. She decided to try the Spanx first.

I nodded and directed Ashley to get some Spanx and me know how it goes afterward. She nodded and went off to find some. I turned to leave, but that woman's mother stopped me thanking me for my help.

"My daughter is just very nervous, wants everything to go right." The mother told me with a smile apologizing for her daughters outburst.

I smiled back "Its my pleasure, I want her to have the best day as well."

The mother took notice of my rings. "I bet you have a lot of experience since you're married yourself." She said, pointing to my rings.

I looked at my rings,giving them a twirl on my finger with my thumb. They were beautiful. My engagement ring given to me first was a silver band lined with small diamonds. Right in the middle were several bigger diamonds placed together in the shape of a flower. My wedding ring was a silver band as well with diamonds and blue sapphires. I turned my attention back to the mother and gave her a weak smile, and nodded before walking away.

The rest of my day was simple after that. The woman decided to get the dress taken out, and I chose to do that myself in my office. It was easier to keep the dress here instead of mailing it out. It wasn't a hard fix. Plus, it would be an excuse to hide myself in my office instead of being near blushing brides. It wasn't their fault I felt so overwhelmed by them. I just should've taken more time off, I suppose. But it was too late now, here I was and I needed to handle it day by day.

It was closing time for us. We closed earlier than most stores in the mall. Not many women went shopping for wedding dresses after 6 pm. I said goodbye to everyone as we headed to leave. Everyone headed towards the elevators to head to their cars. Not really wanting to be trapped with them, I headed for the stairs that would lead me down to the first floor.

The mall wasn't as busy since online shopping was a thing. A few teenagers hanging out, some shoppers, and most just walked around window shopping. I headed down the steps, keeping my eyes on my feet, hoping not to fall. I kept my hand on the polished wooden banister to hopefully catch me if I were to fall. I looked around really quick once I reached the bottom, trying to decide which exit to take.

As I began walking, I swear I heard something that sounded like a soft growl. I paused for a moment but shook it off. I must be hearing things, I told myself as I headed to my car.