Love Letters (2 page)

She walked over to a rack of gowns and fingered them. The gowns were hung on high-quality, white satin hangers with bows in the middle. The purses were a variety of small satin and beaded purses in either white or off-white from top designers: Jessica McClintock, Carolina Herrera, and Vera Wang.

“
Why do you want to have your wedding in Half Moon Bay at the Ritz when you’ve lived here your whole life?” Nicole asked. “If I get married, I’m flying to Vegas. I don’t want to waste time planning a wedding.”

“
C’mon, Nic, you know how much the Ritz means to me. That’s where I met Richard, and it’s where he proposed to me this morning. You need to be more romantic.” She would never forget the day she met Richard. She closed her eyes, remembering. He was dashing in his gray Armani suit. While she watched the sunset from a corner table in the restaurant, he kept eyeing her from where he sat with a client. He finally approached her after his business meeting. She smiled at the memory then opened her eyes.

“
Yeah, yeah.” Nicole pursed her lips.

Chloe suddenly grew teary-eyed. “Dad won’t be here to walk me down the aisle,” She sniffed. “And with Mom not talking to me, all I have is dear Greta.”

“
I’m sure he’ll be watching over you,” Nicole said, patting Chloe on the back.

“
I’m sure Daddy would have loved Richard,” Chloe said, looking down at the dress her father would never see. “I mean, you have to agree with me that Richard’s a good catch with his flawless fair skin, short dark hair, broad shoulders, and lean hips.” She turned her back to the mirror examining her dress. “Not to mention how hard he works.”

“
But he’s busy
all the time
,” Nicole reminded her.

“
I know, I know, but he’s so smart and decent with good family values. He and Dad would have gotten along great, don’t you think?” Chloe said as she hurried into the fitting room to change back into her work clothes. “Of course I don’t know what
Mom
will have to say about him.”

“
I guess you know the answer to that one, don’t you?” Nicole grinned as Chloe exited the fitting room. “Suzanne will scrutinize every flaw she sees.”

“
You’re right. Are you free this weekend?” Chloe asked, as she hung her dress on the reserve rack. “I want to start looking at flowers, invitations, and cakes. What do you think my theme should be?”

“
Let’s talk about it this Saturday. I have to go now.” Nicole shrugged into her coat. “A makeup artist’s work is never done.” Nicole, known for her beauty tricks, appeared flawless, unlike Chloe who struggled to keep her makeup looking perfect. “It’s like painting a house,” Nicole had once told Chloe. “Simple maintenance.”

“
All right, ciao,” Chloe said, and watched as her friend hurried out of the shop toward Hairworks Salon, just down the street.

Moments later, a customer entered the store and picked up the first dress that she saw. “Do you have this in a size eight?”

“
Size eight?” Chloe said, inspecting the customer who was a size fourteen by Chloe’s estimation. “Let me check in the back.” Chloe examined the tag.

She left and came back with a size eight. “It’s your lucky day,” she said, eying the woman, then the dress.

“
It’s not for me; it’s for my daughter. She’s getting married to husband number five.”

“
Oh,” Chloe said. “Shouldn’t
she
be the one choosing her dress?”

The woman shook her head. “If it were up to her she wouldn’t even bother with a wedding dress.”

“
Right,” Chloe replied. “Daughters can be temperamental,” Chloe said to appease the woman.

It had been more than two years since she and her mom had spoken to each other.
What started as a small argument led to a shouting match after Chloe had blurted out that she was angry with Suzanne for spending time away when Chloe’s father was dying of lung cancer. It was
Chloe
who took care of her father. Her mom
was so upset by her outburst that she never gave Chloe a chance to defend herself. The last thing she knew, her mother had walked out on her . . . a few months after her father died. Chloe had made a few half-hearted attempts to call Suzanne, but her mother had never responded. Who knows? Maybe it was better this way.

“
Yeah, tell me about it.” The woman leaned in, her eyes on the one and a half carat diamond. “A pretty nice ring you have there.”

“
My boyfriend proposed this morning,” Chloe said the thought now bittersweet knowing her mother might not attend the wedding. And her dad
couldn’t
attend. Her eyes misted over as she recalled his final days. Though she hated to admit it, he would have preferred she marry Josh, she felt certain. A flash of Josh’s smile entered her thoughts again.

“
Are you sure he’s the one?” The customer grinned.

Chloe’s smile fell as she rang up the purchase. Why did everyone think they knew better than she did?

The woman handed her a credit card. “I better get going or else my daughter’s going to be looking for me.” Then she bent forward and whispered, “Just a piece of advice – make sure he’s Mr. Right.”

Chloe bristled. What was
that
supposed to mean? “Okay, do you want your receipt in the bag?” Chloe asked, wrapping the gown in linen paper.

“
You can toss it inside.”

“
Have a nice day,” Chloe said, handing her the bag.

The customer shrugged, grabbed the bag, and then walked to the door without a backward glance.

It was a cool January afternoon and the shop was now empty. Chloe had been overwhelmed by the morning rush without Faye and Maureen. Normally, they would display the gowns and arrange the new stock. For Chloe, selling gowns was more than providing the right dress and accessories to her customers. Most of them needed reassurance that their wedding was going to be perfect, and that’s what she gave them. She sighed, wishing she had been given the same reassurance.

Chloe looked at the other shops on Main Street through the window. She loved living in Half Moon Bay, just minutes away from the beach. She didn’t mind that it was cold and foggy most of the time. Half Moon Bay was where she had grown up and she had a lot of fond memories there.

Time to close up.

She balanced the bills, put the money in the safe, and then got her jacket and purse.
After closing the shop, Chloe went to get gas before going home. On the way she passed Surfing Buddies to be sure she hadn’t imagined it. Josh was back in Half Moon Bay, but why? That was the question.

***

Richard came over that evening and they snuggled on the couch while she watched her favorite Lifetime Channel, and he made several phone calls, never once removing his blue tooth earpiece.

“
Are you ever going to get off the phone?” This was supposed to be
their
time together. Yet it gave her time to think about Josh and why he had come back. She had been crazy about Josh. Everyone had teased her that they would end up married one day. And now?

“
I need to close some deals, baby,” Richard said. “How do you expect me to provide for our future?”

Chloe frowned. “Aren’t you going to ask me how my day went?”

“
All right, how was your day?” He yawned.

“
Well, aside from finding my ideal wedding gown, there was this strange lady who came to the shop today,” Chloe said, purposefully avoiding any mention of Josh. “She bought a wedding gown for her daughter. Can you imagine that? I would freak out if my mom did that.”

Richard’s phone rang.

“
Did you hear what I just said?” Chloe said, but Richard held up a hand to silence her.

“
Hang on just a sec.” He turned away from her. “Hello, Dan. Uh-huh, escrow on the fifteenth. We have all the documents. Gotcha thanks.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I swear, your phone rings one more time and I’m going to bed.”

“
All right, I’m turning it off.” He twisted a knob. “You see, it’s off.” Richard held up the phone for her to see. Chloe forced a smile. “So you were saying?”

“
I said that this strange lady bought a gown for her daughter who was marrying husband number five. Can you imagine a mother buying her daughter’s gown? That’s supposed to be
her
special day. She ought to choose her own gown.” Chloe didn’t know why it bothered her so much. Maybe it was because the woman reminded her so much of her own mother. Both were control freaks. Seeing the woman in action gave Chloe more reason not to call her mom.

Richard shrugged. “Who knows, maybe her daughter’s blind and she can’t see her gown.”

Chloe hit him with a pillow. “You’re crazy.”

“
And that’s why you love me.” He winked then leaned toward her. Greta barked and jumped on the couch in attack mode.

“
Down, Greta!” he said. “Chloe, do something about your dog.” Greta didn’t budge and growled some more. Greta had hated him from the first time she laid eyes on him. Chloe had thought she would outgrow it, but she hadn’t.

“
Hon, you don’t need to talk to her that way. She’s not going to attack you,” Chloe said, cooing at the French bulldog.

Richard stood up. “I’m beat. I need to get going. I have an early day tomorrow.”

“
Okay, but will I see you again after work tomorrow?” she asked, hugging her big teddy bear – the one Josh had given her all those years ago. She felt her face flush and hoped Richard hadn’t seen it.

“
We’ll see.” He paused. “By the way, are you forgetting something?”

“
What?”

“
You’ll need to make peace with your mother. Don’t tell me you’re not inviting her to our wedding.” Richard reached over and pulled her to him.

That was one thing she loved about Richard – the thing that had drawn her to him in the first place. He had a close family. She missed that. Chloe sighed.

He kissed her on the nose. “I’m looking forward to meeting my future mother-in-law.”

“
All right, all right,” she said, putting some distance between them. “The wedding isn’t until June, so there’s no rush to tell her.”

Richard shook his head. “Baby, you know my parents want to meet her. You can’t keep making up these lame excuses that she’s traveling around the world.”

“
You don’t know my mother,” she said. “She can really be a pain. Let’s elope instead.”

“
Not a chance!” Richard winked, drawing her close again. How would you feel if our future daughter did that to you? You only have one mother and she deserves your respect.”

“
Okay. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” she said, giving him a peck on the lips then walking him to the door.

Later, as Chloe lay in bed hugging her teddy bear, she thought about the strange encounter with her customer…but her thoughts soon shifted to Josh. She had thought she would never see him again. Now, seeing him after thirteen years, she wondered why he
had come back.

Was it because of his promise?

Chapter Two

A few minutes before ten o’ clock, the doorbell rang. Chloe struggled out of bed and took so long to open the door that Nicole began pounding on it.

“
Wake up, sleepyhead. I thought we were going cake shopping today.” Despite the fog outside, Nicole was dressed in super skinny jeans, a black lacey top and a glimmering set of four-inch high heels.

Chloe groaned. “Is it ten o’ clock already? After Richard left, I stayed up late watching
The Notebook
.”

Nicole shook her head. “Again? How many times have you watched that movie?”

Chloe laughed and gestured Nicole inside. “More than a hundred times. You know I’m a sucker for a good romance.”

“
Yeah, yeah, it’s too cheesy for me.”

“
Why are you so cynical?” Chloe said, as she traipsed to the bedroom and pulled clothes from her closet.

“
I’m a realist.”

“
Let me get cleaned up.” Nicole sat on the bed while Chloe hurried through her shower.

“
I thought all women want to marry their true love,” Chloe called through the closed door.

“
Everybody minus me,” Nicole said.

“
What’s the matter with you, girl? Are you and Matt having problems?” Chloe asked, as she turned off the water and toweled off.

“
No, but we’ve been together like forever. Why get so excited?” she said, speaking loudly so Chloe could hear her. “I told him, if we do get married we’re flying to Vegas.”

“
Nicole, what you need is to spice up your life. How about you two take a vacation or go to some spa. That should add some excitement to your life.”

“
Hey, enough about me, this is your day. Hurry up so we can go plan your wedding,” Nicole said.

Chloe tied her hair back and put on some comfy jeans, a pull-over jacket and sneakers then came out of the bathroom ready to go. She hardly ever wore any makeup or jewelry.
“You’re never going to believe who I bumped into yesterday.”