Free Evolving Dreams (New Beginnings Series) by Mandie Tepe

they have excellent seafood. I love that place.”
    “I didn’t really bring any nice ‘date clothes.’ Can you help me find something?”
    “This is going to be fun! Let’s see.” Trish looked around the room intently, tapping her index finger on her cheek. “We want something classy and nice, but not formal. Over here.” She walked over to one of the racks and started sorting through the garments there.
    Meg reached out and ran her fingers over the soft silks. “These fabrics are beautiful.”
    Trish started pulling dresses and, before Meg knew what was up, she had six or seven over her arm. “Come in here and start trying these on.” She hung the dresses in a dressing room and pushed Meg inside. “Call if you need anything and I’ll keep looking.”
    “No, please . . . let me try these first and if none of them work you can keep looking.” She looked through the dresses hanging there.
    “Okay. I know I get carried away sometimes. No pressure,” Trish laughed and shut the door.
    Meg tried on a beautiful gauzy celery green dress first. It had a lace inlay around the scoop neck, little puffed cap sleeves and fell almost to her ankles. She stepped out of the dressing room. Trish walked around her. “No, I don’t think so. You have those great dancer’s legs and we don’t want to cover them completely up.”
    Next she tried a gold halter baby doll dress with a moderately full gathered skirt that fell below an empire waist. “I love this one. The gold looks almost metallic and the cut is great.”
    “Yeah, I think this one is a contender. We’d need to shorten it a bit.”
    Meg shuffled through the remaining dresses and found a satiny silk one toward the back that caught her eye. She pulled it out. It was made of deep garnet red raw silk that gleamed gently where the light hit it. When she walked out of the dressing room Trish’s eyes lit up. The dress was deceptively simple with a wide rounded neckline and narrow one-inch straps. It molded to her body, but not in a skin-tight way. The side seams were lightly gathered to form faint ruching from below the bust line. The dress fell to mid-calf and Trish reached down to lift the hem to Meg’s knees.
    “We’re going to shorten it to just here. It looks beautiful on you—with that hair. I’ll put a rush on the alterations and you can pick it up by this time tomorrow. Will that work for you? Will you have time to come by and pick it up before the big date? Trace is going to love you in this dress!”
    “Slow down! I never said I was going to take this dress.”
    Trish stopped short. “Oh, you have to take it. It’s perfect for you.”
    “Of course, I’m going to buy it,” Meg laughed. “I’m just kidding.” She turned back around to look in the mirror. “It is beautiful. Are you sure it’s no trouble getting the alterations made by tomorrow?”
    Trish walked over toward the counter where she grabbed a pincushion and then began marking the correct dress length. “No, we’ll make it happen.”
    Meg went back into the dressing room to change back into her own casual sundress and lightweight cardigan. When she came back out she carried the red and the gold cocktail dresses. “I think I’m going to take them both. I won’t need the gold one tomorrow, though, so your seamstress can take her time with that one.” She handed them to Trish. “Do you have a wrap that would work for both? And maybe shoes.”
    They found a pale gold satin wrap that complimented both dresses and a cute pair of gold strappy sandals with a few rhinestones on them. “I’ll give you my preferred customer discount for all of this.”
    “No, don’t do that,” Meg protested.
    “Well, you are a preferred customer and I want to do it as a ‘thank you’ for the tickets you’re giving me for the showcase.” She winked at Meg, “I’m holding you to that.”
    “You don’t have to give me a discount for that. No bribe necessary.”
    The bell over the door jingled and