Caught in the Frame (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by ReGina Welling (novel24 .TXT) 📕

the competitive gene. She wanted everyone to look their best at all times. If there was a dress that suited EV’s willowy frame while making the most of Chloe’s curves, Lila would find it.

Meanwhile, loathe to sit around waiting, Chloe grabbed a bag of possibles and pulled out a dress for EV and one in her size. “How did you know EV’s size? You never asked.”

“Hmm?” Lila was absorbed in evaluating, “You sent me photos from Halloween.”

“She’s a savant.” Chloe grinned at EV as she handed over a spaghetti-strapped number in dove gray. “If carnivals hired dress size guessers, she’d clean up. I bet it fits perfectly.”

“Nothing ever fits perfectly,” Lila disagreed. Even on the rare occasion when she wore jeans, she had them tailored.

In this case, she was correct. On EV the dress billowed too loosely over the hip, and Chloe’s snugged over the bust. Lila appraised the pair of them.

“That’s a no.”

The next two garnered a nose wrinkle from Lila, who was halfway through the last rack and had only added another two bags to the dwindling pile of possible choices. She’d better find something soon, or they were going back to square one. Unless there were four more racks somewhere. Chloe wouldn’t doubt it.

Something about pulling dresses on and off had affected the static in Chloe’s hair; where earlier, it had stood on end, it was now plastered tight to her head. EV’s hair had dried every which way to begin with. The dressing and undressing process created further disarray. EV joked, “The only thing missing is raccoon eyes, and we’d look like the morning after a shotgun wedding.”

Not liking the comparison, Chloe stomped into the bathroom to rustle around in her things. When she returned, she had a coated hair band and a tube of something. A few deft motions formed her shapeless mass into a charmingly messy chignon, and then, after squeezing a dollop of goo into her hand, she rubbed both hands together and turned on an unsuspecting EV. Moving fast, she ran her hands through EV’s hair with a ruffling motion that fluffed it back into attractive messiness.

“There, all better now?”

Lila spared a smile before she went back to perusing options; this was shopping, something she took very seriously.

Three quarters the way through the rack, she finally found a style and color that made her go, “Ooh!”

Lila lifted a spaghetti-strapped silk gown in a shade of blue-gray so muted it was almost silver. Whisper-thin chiffon covered the scalloped bodice in a bust-enhancing criss-cross pattern, and a darker gray, thin velvet sash tied around the ribs.

“I think we have a winner, what do you think?” Lila tossed one dress to Chloe and one to EV. “Try them on.”

“A little plain.” Chloe raised a skeptical brow.

“Trust me.” Lila insisted. “They don’t look like much on the hanger, but when you put them on, you’ll see. This color will be stunning on Faith as well.”

She was right. Even with the wonky hair, Chloe had to admit she looked fantastic, and so did EV.

“I told you, a savant.”

Lila circled Chloe, twitched at the fabric at the back of her waist, “A little tuck here, and take the hem up a half inch,” she pinched at the top of the wide shoulder strap, “nip this a smidge, and you will be the most beautiful maid of honor to ever walk down the aisle.”

She turned to EV, tweaked the material here and there and watched as the small changes subtly enhanced curves that would ordinarily go unnoticed.

“Perfect,” Chloe pulled out her phone and snapped a few photos, including a couple selfies. The occasion seemed to call for a duck-lipped shot.

“We’re meeting Baylee for lunch, and the florist will come in after that. I need to make a call while you get dressed. Chop chop,” Lila called over her shoulder while she rehung the bags of unwanted dresses on their respective racks.

“You don’t need me for this part, I’ll just…” EV made an attempt to get out of the lunch meeting.

“We are meeting Baylee for lunch.” Lila emphasized. “And then we are going to pick out flowers.” Attempt denied. “My dress will arrive by courier tomorrow morning, and I’ll want to have my seamstress check the final alterations. She can take measurements for yours, then, too.”

“And after that, you can stomp down a few villagers, Bridezilla.” EV softened the barb with a smile. “Just think how you’ll look in a plaid flannel bridesmaid’s dress at my wedding.”

“Should fit right in with the hoedown atmosphere—you know, with the pig scramble and all. Just make sure my dress is loose enough not to rip when they fly out of my butt.”

“Oh, you are too funny.”

* * *

“Keep your cop eye on him. I expect a full report when you three get back.” Nate recalled Chloe’s parting request—if you could call it that—as he, Dalton, and Javier headed to the castle’s tailor for tuxedo fittings. Even though Nate wasn’t in the wedding, he would inevitably wind up being photographed next to Chloe throughout the event, and Lila wouldn’t hear of him attending in anything other than a custom-tailored suit.

By that reasoning, Nate couldn’t understand why the same wasn’t expected of Dalton. Just one more hoop Lila expected him to navigate. When he spied the decade-old suit his deputy planned to wear, Nate couldn’t decide between saying nothing and hoping Lila didn’t get a glimpse of it until it was too late, or doing the decent thing and stopping the man from looking like a country cousin. He also made a note to spend time with more male friends when he got back to Ponderosa Pines. This preoccupation with another man’s clothing wasn’t exactly butch.

“Do you really want to be shown up by Remy Vincent in the wardrobe department, man?”

Dalton blanched. “You’re right. I think I’ll go with you guys, if you don’t mind.” Just like that, Nate got what he wanted; maybe it would put Chloe’s mind at ease if Dalton