Hidebound

Chapter Nine

I had today off work. Stevie had texted me and said that Harley and Sarah would be in today and that it would be good for Sarah to be in a high stress situation before we gave her a shift that's later in the night. While I believe that to be true, I also believe that this is some kind of punishment for Harley as well.

And apparently Harley had thought the same thing because she texted me moments later, scathing in hatred for Stevie. While I think what Stevie is doing is wrong, I also knew it would end this way and I had told Harley from the start that getting involved with her boss is a bad idea but she did it anyway.

"Good morning, finally" mum greets me as I walk into the kitchen still dressed in my pyjamas. I'd had slept-in this morning, only waking in the early hours to Hex saying goodbye as he left for work before falling back to sleep.

"Good morning" I give her a guilty smile as I have a look in the cupboard for something to eat for breakfast.

"How'd you sleep, honey?" Mum asks as she takes a sip of coffee that I hadn't noticed she held.

"Really good actually. I'm not working today, want to do something?" I ask as I turn and face her. My voice is still scratchy from sleep but I clear it and it helps a little bit.

"Yeah. Any ideas?" Mum questions. I shrug, nothing in particular coming to my mind. Mum apparently has a good idea as I see her eyes light up and the lightbulb above her head turn on as excitement takes over her face.

"What?" I ask hesitantly, a small smile coming onto my face at the look on her own.

"I mean, we could look at dresses?" She suggests.

"Dresses? Why do we need to look at dresses?" There are no fancy parties that we had been invited to, unless mum got an invitation and I didn't or she hadn't told me.

"Wedding dresses, Poppy" her face lights up as she spits the words out and claps her hands excitedly. My mouth forms an 'o' shape, I hadn't even thought about wedding dresses.

"Oh, I don't know mum" I couldn't tell you why I'm hesitant on buying a dress. What if I buy a dress and then by the time we wed I don't like the dress anymore and want a different one? What if it doesn't match the theme we end up choosing?

"Why?" She almost whines "you're not getting cold feet, are you?" She whispers across the island to me, her eyes wide.

"What? No mum, no. I just... I don't know what I want. I don't even have a date booked, surely I should do that first, right?" I ask. I have no idea how weddings work. The only one I have ever been to was my cousin Meredith's and that was when I still worked at Hellbound.

"We can just have a look honey; you don't have to buy a dress today. Maybe you'll have more of an idea of what you want if you have a look" mum reassures me. I begin to warm to the idea, maybe it doesn't sound as permanent as I thought, besides it would be good to spend some time with mum.

"Okay yeah, sounds like a good idea" I smile as I continue looking through the cupboards. A smile pulls at my lips as I hear mum squeal like a little girl behind me.

*

"This one is nice" mum says as she pushes and pulls along the rack of wedding dresses. None of them caught my eye, too puffy, too short, too boring.

"Uh yeah, kind of" I reply and glaze over it. Mum puts the dress back on the rack when she picks up on my obvious distaste for it.

I go through another rack on the other side of the shop but I'm still confused at what I'm looking at. Is that part of a dress or a train?

"Welcome to Bows & Ties, I'm Sasha. Can I help you ladies with anything?" A kind face asks. She's an older lady and her makeup and hair are done to perfection as she stands dressed in a formal suit-dress.