Invisible String

Chapter 5 - Dress

The box was wrapped in a white lace bow and smelled of flowers. I walked to the living room and Sandra tipped the bellboy ten dollars, then shut and locked the door. She turned on her heel and met up with me on the couch.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," I stared at the big, bright blue and white thing in my hands, debating whether or not to open it. However, Sandra got impatient and pulled off the top of the box. "Sandra! There could've been a bomb in there!"

"Highly doubtful, unless you've made some evil arch-enemies that I don't know about. Besides, why would they put it in such a pretty box?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged and looked down. Atop the lovely white satin inside was a note. I picked it up and read it.

Hannah,

I really don't want you to worry about this date too much. So to take some pressure off of your shoulders, I had my publicist find the perfect dress for you. And I do believe it is perfect. You'll have to call and let me know what you think.

Love,

Alex

"Oh boy," Sandra sighed as I set the note down and moved the tissue paper in the box out of the way to reveal a royal blue strapless gown. I lifted it and it only got more beautiful as the end of it tumbled to the floor. A short train of sparkly, royal blue tulle hung from the back and a long-running slit went up to the middle of the thigh. The bustier was stiff to hold up my breasts and the dress, since the back of the dress went down to right above where, I assumed, my butt would be.

I turned to Sandra and she shook her head. "Alright, maybe he's not so bad. Think he'll buy me one, too?"

We laughed as I set the dress back in the box. I carried it into my bedroom and set it on top of the dozens of dresses. I pulled his gift out of the box and hung it up on one of my very few velvet hangers. I held it up, stood back and stared at it for a moment. The dress was stunning. I'd never seen anything like it. I mean, I'd seen plenty of pretty dresses, but this was unbelievable. How he got his publicist to find this, I'll never know.

His publicist was a nice enough woman, middle-aged, married with two kids. Her name was Heidi, I believed, and we'd only met a few times when he and I were dating before. She'd made two brief statements about his relationship status when we first got together publicly and when we'd split up. I remember her face when she first met me, though. She'd been awfully surprised by my normalness, especially seeing as he had been known for dating models. He'd dated at least four that I'd known of. But when we took that walk two years ago, something happened. We stood on that beach and he'd slipped his fingers through mine. Once the sun was completely up, he stood in front of me, held my head between his hands, and kissed me. There was no tongue, no bodies rubbing upon one another. It was just a kiss. A simple but perfect kiss. And that was the start of this whole thing.

Now here we were again, trying it out for a second time. It seemed stupid to me. I'd never been one for second chances or do-overs. Once things were over, I was done. That was it. The end. But it was Alex. We clicked.

Besides that, circumstances change. People change. They grow and their lives certainly change.

I hung the dress from the top of my closet door. I left my bedroom and headed into the living room where Sandra was now sitting with two large bottles of red wine and two wine glasses. "Want a drink?"

"It's noon." I reminded her. She pouted and shrugged. "We can't drink at noon!" I exclaimed.

"Why not? I'm thirsty now." She winked at me and set the glasses down on the coffee table and poured them both half-full. "One glass, and then we can stop. For now."

I walked over and sat beside her. "Fine, one glass and then we're done."

She nodded and handed me a glass. We clanked then and she toasted, "To life, love, and good health."

"And writing a new book," I added.

We drank the glasses slowly, savoring the exquisite crisp sweetness.

"So, want to go shopping for some accessories now that you have the dress?"

"Actually, I think I have the perfect accessories for that dress." Embarrassed, I slowly raised my head and her eyes caught mine. Both her eyebrows raised, so I stood and gestured for her to follow me.

We walked into my bedroom and across the room to my vanity table. I opened the second drawer on the left side and inside was a thin, black velvet box. I pulled it out and opened it. Inside were two diamond earrings, a choker necklace with a hundred tiny diamonds spread across it, and at the bottom of the velvet display box was a small bracelet that resembled the necklace.

"What on Earth is this? Are they real?"

"Yes."

I removed the bracelet, wrapped it around my wrist, and it fit perfectly. Sandra pulled out the necklace and wrapped it around her neck and it was breathtaking against her flawless skin.

"This is beautiful!" she said, admiring herself in the mirror.

"I know." I sighed as I placed them back in the box.

"What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing, they're perfect," I said, staring blankly at them.

"Then why do you not seem happy? Where'd you get these? Ex-boyfriend?"

"Yeah, sort of..." I hesitated. "I got them from Alex."

"What?" Her eyes widened at me. "When?"

"Back when we were dating before. He got caught on a flight and had to cancel a date with me last minute after we hadn't seen each other for a month. And well, it was only a few weeks before we broke up. He sent me this stuff as an apology. It's beautiful but expensive."

I sat down in the vanity chair and she sat on the edge of the bed. "So it was apology jewelry? That's why you don't like it?"

"This is a lot for an apology, though, right? I mean, at least a hundred thousand dollars for an apology? It always seemed like way too much."

"So why didn't you give it back to him, or return it?"

"I tried! The damn jewelers wouldn't take it back and he certainly wouldn't hear of me giving it back to him. Even after I broke up with him."

"Well, he's crazy. I would've taken it and given it to a new girlfriend. Seriously, that's way too much to waste on an ex."

"Yeah." I shrugged and shook my head, taking a sip of my wine. Suddenly I remembered something I hadn't bothered to ask about and I turned to her quickly, "All this time I've been going on about this stuff with Alex and I completely forgot to ask how Mandy is? Are you guys still good?"

Sandra laughed and smiled, "We're really good. She moved in with me last month."

"You're kidding!" I touched her arm, "That's so awesome, Sandra! I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thank you." She put her hand on top of my own and squeezed it.

"I love you." I got up, wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hopped into her lap.

"I love you, too," she laughed, hugging me back as tightly. We sat like that for a while before she said, "Okay, now get off, you're killing my legs."

"I'm so happy you're my best friend," I said as I stood up and gathered myself. "And that you're here. It's been too long."

"Yes, it has."

"So, what should we do now?" I asked.