Left to Love (The Next Door Boys) (5 page)

“I really don’t want your parents to come out
here when we’re touching like this and while we’re mostly naked in the pool.” He kissed me softly.

“Fine.” I smiled and swam away from him. I floated on my back, only about two thirds of my body underwater.

“I don’t think this is going to work for me either.” He caught up to me quickly and pulled me into his arms.

“Well, then I guess it’s time to go in.”
             

“I guess it is.” He kissed my back as I walked away from him to step out of the pool.

FOUR

We were officially back to business. Honey
-
moon over. I turned on my website email and was shocked to see an in-basket so full. I had a ton to go through. There were requests for all sorts of sewing related things. There were close to thirty emails asking if I could do wedding dresses.

They all assured me that they lived close by and would pay me well. One girl offered me five thousand dollars to do a replica of her grandmother’s dress and she’d provide the material. I was shocked. How had all of these people heard of me?

There were emails asking where my st
ock had gone—
I’d erased all of it two weeks ago in pre
-
paration for the wedding. There were a few more emails requesting patterns for some of the clothing I’d put up, not just the bags that were so much simpler to do a pattern for. There were a few references to the BYU costume department, which explained some of the traffic but not all of it.

I realized in that moment that I could do it. I could sew for a living. I thought of Lori’s beautiful shop filled with things she’d created. It could be me. I immediately put up all the items I’d taken down two weeks ago. I checked my bank account. There was five hundred dollars from just the few downloadable patterns in the brief two weeks we’d been gone.

“Brian?” There was no hiding the excitement in my voice.

He walked into our sewing room and office where I sat at the computer. “What’s going on?”

“I made five hundred dollars just on the few patterns I have for download in the two weeks my shop was closed!”

“What? That’s great!” He sat in the small chair next to me.

“I also have more wedding dress requests than I could possibly do. You would not believe the amount of money people have offered to pay me!” I clicked on another email request.

He rested his hand on my thigh and leaned closer. “So, what are you going to do?”

“What do you
mean?” I asked. My eyes glanced
his way briefly before continuing down my list of emails.

“Our semester starts next week. If you really want to do this, will you have time for both?”

“Wow. I hadn’t thought of that.” What
was
I going to do? I had an opportunity to do something I loved and make money doing it. Nathan headed to school next week. I’d have his whole school day to sew. “Oh, no.” As the realization hit, my chest sank.

My expression must have been overly dramatic. Brian smiled. “What is it?”

“I’m the girl, the one I didn’t want to be.” I looked at him desperately, grabbing his arms.

“What girl is that?” he asked.

“The one who goes to college, gets married within a year, and quits school.” I grasped him more tightly.

He laughed. “Leigh, you don’t have to quit school, and you’re not quitting for no reason if that’s
what you decide to do. You’d be quitting because you
have the opportunity to make a successful business on your own terms, that with a little marketing from your husband, will make you as busy as you want to be.”

He was right. I looked at him and took a deep breath in. “Brian, I can really do this.”

He took my hands in his. “You can really do this.”

“I’m going to do it.” I turned back to the computer, scanning the list of email requests.

Brian laughed again. “Let’s think on it, but I’ll support you no matter what you want to do, okay?”

I threw my arms around him and then had to feel our lips together.

“Ew, can you two stop doing that?” Nathan asked from the doorway.

“Sorry, Nathan. I know adults can be gross.” I smiled at his expression of disgust.

“Can we eat now?” he asked.

“Is it dinnertime already?”

Brian nodded.

“Sorry, buddy.” I’d completely lost track of time in front of the computer.

“How about pizza?” Brian asked.

“Yeah!” Nathan ran for the door. Our local pizza place took forever to deliver, and we could walk there. It was a little awkward walking home with a large pizza box, but a lot faster.

- - -

Brian and I spent a lot of time on our knees over the next couple of days about my business. I sent Lori an email just to get some ideas or confirmation from her. She was obviously in love with what she was doing. I knew I would be too.

I spent a few days emailing potential clients for wedding dresses. I had no interest in spending the time sewing
a wedding dress I didn’t like—
they were way too much work for that.

I gave Brian a few patterns for him to do his magic on, so they could be put into the computer. He was busy with his first week of classes, but happily obliged me. Soon I had three more patterns for sale by download. I made two hundred the first day. I realized that wouldn’t be normal. It would be the traffic from people who’d been sending me email requests for more patterns. B
ut still…

It was official. I was no longer a student at BYU. I owned a sewing business.

- - -

Nathan and Brian left early Saturday morning to see Nathan’s mom before he started school. I was home alone and heavy with disappointment. Brian would go work at the bar that night, and we had church the next day. I wanted some more one-on-one time with my new husband. I sat on the couch feeling a little depressed and very tired. I closed my eyes to take a short nap.

“Leigh?” Brian’s voice was quiet in my ear.

“You’re back already?” I sat up slowly, blinking in the light from the lamp above me.

“Dinnertime, like we planned.” He touched the side of my face.

“Wow.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I must have slept for a long time.”

“Are you okay?” He tried to keep his voice light but his forehead creased together in worry. Mostly leftover concern from watching me way too closely last year.

“Just tired, I gues
s.” I’d been asleep for hours—si
nce just after breakfast.

“Okay, well I’m glad you got some rest then. I got dinner.” He stood up and walked into the kitchen.

“Thanks.” I still felt groggy. I must not be getting enough sleep.

- - -

I went through Nathan’s backpack a dozen times to make sure he had everything. He knew where his class was and where to go after he got off the bus. I couldn’t keep still. The thought of Nathan being so grown up, and gone all day, made me more melancholy than expected.

Brian and I walked with him to the end of the driveway. I gave him another final hug before he pried himself away from me to get on the bus.

I took a deep breath to keep away my tears as the door closed. The bus headed down the street. Who was this bus driver anyway? What gave him the qualifications to drive that bus full of kids? I had to trust people to watch over Nathan for the
whole
day. I wiped a few tears away. Brian put his arm around my shoulders, and squeezed me close.

“I love you. He’s fine. I promise.” Brian kissed my head.

“You can’t promise that. He’s with strangers all day.” It felt so weird.

“Leigh, that kid held his own with whoever Amanda was bringing into the house, and from what I can gather he was left home sometimes for days. He’ll survive a few hours of kindergarten.”

Great. But how would
I
do?

FIVE

The bride-to-be knocked on my door at ten AM, as scheduled.

“I’m Leigh Wright. It’s nice to meet you.” I reached out my hand.

“I’m Amber and this is my mom, Barbara.” I shook her hand as well.

“Let’s see what we’re looking at then.” I could
n’t wait to get my hands on the
old dress
she’d promised to bring with her
.

Barbara laid the dress bag with the antique dress across the couch. “This was my grandmother’s. I’d rather not leave it here, if that’s okay.” She glanced between me and the bag on the couch several times.

“It’ll make my job a little more tricky, but th
at’s fine.”
I unzipped it and rested the layers of old fabric and thin lace on top of the bag. The dress was temple appropriate, but was probably borderline scandalous for the time, the neck was wide and the front dipped low for a wedding dress in the nineteen teens. I lost myself for a moment, imagining the dress being worn, the snug waist and floating layers drifting toward the ground.

“So, do you think you can do it?” Amber’s body tensed with anticipation.

“I can do it.” I nodded.  It would be a challenge, but for five thousand dollars, I could afford to take my time. “Let me get your measurements so we can get started.”

“Great.” She smiled. “I wore snug clothing to help you out.”

Amber build was teeny tiny, even smaller than me. Her hair, nails and skin were perfectly manicured and groomed. I’d guess she wasn’t a real blond, but paid a lot of money to look like one. I wasn’t surprised. A
nyone willing to shell out five
grand for a dress replica would probably be well-off.

“Honey, I’m going to run a quick errand, mind if I leave you?” Barbara was a more grown up version of her daughter. Same blond hair, same neat nails.

“Sure, Mom.”

I started with Amber’s neck and took measurements in way more places than I’d need. It was better to have more than I needed, rather than less.

“Okay.” I said as I stood up, finally finished measuring everywhere I could think of. “Don’t gain or lose any weight, alright?”