When Clyde Parker, the wayward son and the rotten-apple of the Parker family-tree, storms his way back into Avery Fields, he sets out a flurry of butterfly effect in Dawn Marshal's life.
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HER STOMACH TWISTED IN dread as soon her eyes landed on the gown lying on her bed, the gown she had seen hanging on the clothing rack of a thrift store two days ago when she had gone in the quest for a ball-gown for Mia with her and Alec.
As Mia swiped through the array of vintage ball gowns and dresses, her gaze landed on the juniper-green gown sandwiched in between two appalling magenta gowns. Mia Thompson had found the one—not for herself but for her best friend. "This is Dawn Marshal in a gown!" she gasped, her eyes roaming around the diamond she had found in the dust. Dawn Marshal wanted to tell her best friends that she won't be needing a gown because she won't be attending the ball but those words never seemed to walk out of the threshold of her lips. Mia's giddiness and Alec's encouraging smile, she didn't know how to let it all go to waste.
That was two days ago—she didn't have to worry about the future then. She swept her curtains apart to see Mia's car parked in her backyard and could hear the chattering of people downstairs. The knots in her intestines coiled even more. She didn't want to go and she didn't know how to climb down the 27 steps and walk into a room full of everyone she loved and voice out the four-worded sentence: "I don't want to go!"
She looked longingly at the lovely dress—it was too pretty, too pretty for her and far too delicate too. She scrunched up the lacy hem in her palms and thought bitterly, "what a waste!" She didn't want to put it on, almost fearing that it would rip apart by the seams the moment she did. And she couldn't go to that stupid ball because if she did, she'd rip apart by the seams. But her mother, god bless her heart. Her mother had spent her night by her sewing machine, pricking her fingertips with needles to alter the dress and upcycle it to match her modern tastes. She couldn't let her mother's efforts go to waste.
She was fifteen minutes too late and she had expected Mia to burst into her room any second but it was almost if her family and friends were playing some manipulative, sick and emotional blackmailing ploy with her where she was left to face her distraught thoughts alone and come to a decision herself. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her mother's hopeful eyes running through her thoughts and then Mia and Alec's excited babbling was ringing through her ears.
Slowly, with quivering fingers she picked up the dress and unzipped the back. She let it fall around her in a puddle of lace and tulle, caressing her bedroom floor. Before she tugged the straps over her shoulders. The moment she reached out to get the zipper, there was a soft knock on the door. "Come in," she mumbled suddenly feeling giddy with nerves. She wiped her sweaty palms on the sides of her dress when Mia's head pocked out.
Mia's eyes sparkled the moment they landed on hers. She had expected Mia to breakdown her doors not have her feet rooted on spot, dawdling outside her bedroom. She'd have appreciated the distraction and the company.
"Mia, I want to see you." She said to see Mia's cheeks darken seven shades redder than the blush she put on before Mia walked in and gave Dawn a little twirl. The dusty pink satin gown swayed around her body, flaring at the bottom. And the sweetheart neckline parted, flaunting her cleavage a little and letting the two puffy sleeves droop down her shoulders. "You are so beautiful and this dress is so gorgeous." Dawn's eyes wandered from Mia's simple make-up that made her blue eyes pop to the way her long blonde tresses cascaded down her back in bouncy curls.
