Sophie laughed and joked, 'That's Robby's job, isn't it?'
Nina also laughed as the chowder arrived in front of her, and a sandwich was placed in front of Sophie.
As they delved into their lunch, they started to talk about the wedding. 'So, once we get this dress fitting finished today andmydress done, everything is in place, correct?' Sophie asked.
'Yes.'
‘What about Nancy and the wildflowers?’
The plan was to pick masses of wildflowers from down by the river, turn them into gigantic wildflower posies, and pop them into huge jugs on the tables. Basically, Nina and Nancy had decided that there would be wildflower posies on anything that didn’t move. Nina was more than happy with that. From the word go, she hadn’t been interested in fancy florist decorations. ‘She’s got it all under control. I don’t need to do anything.’
‘Gosh, she’s turned out to be gold in this. I’d better watch my best friend status here.’
‘Ha. We’ve been together too long for you to lose that now,’ Nina bantered. ‘But yeah, it’s funny how we just clicked.’
‘I love it when that happens. Another good thing about Lovely Bay, eh?’
Nina mused and nodded. ‘Actually, yeah, I hadn’t realised that really.’
Once they had finished their lunch and were making their way to the tailor's, they crossed one of the Lovely greens, walked under a line of pretty ash trees, and made their way to the long row of terrace houses where Faye both worked and lived.
Arriving at the gate, they stopped outside, and Sophie wrinkled up her nose as she looked at the slightly tatty pale blue front door and huge palm in the corner. ‘Funny place to have a tailor.’
'I know, I thought the same thing but wait until you get inside.'
Nina rang the doorbell, and a few minutes later, Faye opened the door with a smile. After sorting out the pram and getting everything upstairs, Sophie's eyes widened as they walkedinto Faye's workroom, where Nina's dress was fitted on the dressmaker's mannequin in the corner.
Sophie's hands flew to her mouth. 'Oh my gosh, it looks absolutely amazing!'
Nina stood right where she was. She couldn't believe it; on the dressmaker's dummy, the dress looked exactly what she wanted but somehow much better than she remembered. It was a plain skirt with a bodice, but the fabric and simplicity of the cut spoke for itself. 'Wow, it really does look nice on there. Thank you.’
Faye nodded. 'It's actually a beautiful dress, and it was really easy to alter. It should fit you very well.'
A few minutes later, Nina was standing in the dress, or what was actually a bodice and skirt. Faye was standing behind her, with pins on a pin cushion slotted onto her wrist, finishing off the last few adjustments. 'It fits you beautifully,' Faye noted.
'Yes, it does, doesn't it? I’m so pleased.’
'Wow, it’s amazing.' Sophie nodded. Her voice caught at the end of her words. She blinked and shook her head. 'Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Nina. It just reminds me of everything... Of Andrew and what you’ve gone through.' Sophie swore. ‘Seeing you in that, wow, it’s totally taken me back.’
Nina nodded. 'I know. I had the same thought the other day. I suddenly thought I’d done the wrong thing, but now I don’t at all. I love it.'
Sophie shook her head and waved her hand back and forth in front of her face, then rubbed her eyebrow and tried to push away a tear. 'No, no, not the wrong thing, the opposite, in fact. It’s just made me realise how good you are now, how far you’ve come, how you dragged yourself out of, well, you know. It’s amazing. And the dress... The dress is absolutely beautiful.'
Faye also welled up. 'I was thinking the same thing as I was working on it. It must have so many memories attached to it. It’s a really beautiful thing to do. You should be really happy.'
Nina felt pricks of tears, too, so all three of them had tears in their eyes. 'Thank you, thank you. I hope so. I really hope I’ve done the right thing. I just feel like Andrew is with me, but in a nice way, rather than before when it was always so gut-wrenching and horrible. Do you know what I mean? My mum said it was weird.'
'Yes, I know. It’snotweird.' Sophie affirmed. 'That’s so true. It just feels right and nice. I miss him too but this, it’s…'
Faye fussed with the bottom of the dress and patted it down. 'It’s going to be the best day ever, and you’re going to look like a million dollars. Lucky Robby, that’s what I say.'
Sophie smiled and continued to wipe under her eyes too. ‘He’s very fortunate indeed. I hope he knows just how much.’
38
Acouple of days later, Nina walked down the steps with her raincoat on, her basket over her shoulder, and her small umbrella in her hand. The steps through the park in the middle of Lovely Bay were slightly mossy, and the drizzly rain tapped on the top of her umbrella. A council worker wearing one of the Lovely coats stood by the door of his van, chatting on the phone as the rain plopped down onto the pathway. Everything around Nina appeared as if it had been sloshed with a wipe of lush, intense green. Water glistened off the tops of trees and a magnolia tree’s leaves shone in the fresh coating of rain. Nina inhaled the air heavy with moisture, the lovely fresh smell of rain-soaked soil and grass mingled with wet flowers and leaves. She smiled as she watched nature doing its thing as she made her way through the park underneath her umbrella.
The rain pitter-pattered on top of her brolly as she stepped along the sheen of a wet pathway. Sparkling raindrops clinging to leaves and spiderwebs caught her eye as she made her way beside a bank of beautifully manicured beds. As she got to a small stone bridge, she stopped for a second and looked into the stream gushing down in the direction of the sea. Raindrops caused circles to appear on the surface of the stream and asshe leaned over, water trickled over rocks, and the fresh, clean scent filled her nose. Strolling along happily, she walked past a sundial surrounded by rosemary bushes and pondered for a second whether or not she should sit on an undercover bench for a bit and just let the world go by. Deciding she didn’t have enough time, she continued walking, enjoying the feeling of living in Lovely Bay. Stopping at a large patch of ferns, stretching out over an entire bed, she listened to the birds chirping above and wondered how long it would be before the weather changed again and the sun would come out.
