Ed had known that a bridal boutique called Love Shack would be achingly hip. So he wasn’t surprised to open the door to a space that looked more like a contemporary art gallery than a store. The room was long, double height and aggressively lit, resulting in a stark and clinical aesthetic. Sombre-looking sales consultants in sharply cut black trouser suits hovered with iPads.
He’d started shortlisting bridal boutiques the second Emily had left for school that morning. He knew he could just phone around and would certainly be able to talk to more people that way. But he had taken the view that he had way more chance of securing an appointment in person than he would have done over the phone. Although Ed had been good at his job in telesales, it had cemented his belief in the importance of face-to-face interactions. You can’t build a rapport in the same way with a disembodied voice. There’s no eye contact, no smiles, no tiny non-verbal signals.
Ed assessed the three sales consultants. They only seemed marginally more human than their iPads.
‘Excuse me,’ he said, selecting one at random and giving her his most beaming smile. ‘I wonder if you could help me with a little problem I have?’
The woman cocked her head to one side.
‘My daughter is getting married next May. I live in the States and I’m over here visiting just until next Monday. We’d planned to go wedding dress shopping together. Her mother passed away, very sadly. I was supposed to book up some appointments for her to try on dresses this weekend, but I totally forgot.’ He gave his best self-deprecating laugh. ‘Men just aren’t great at this stuff.’
The woman looked him up and down. ‘We don’t have any appointments available this weekend.’
‘I understand,’ Ed said. ‘But I was wondering if there was any chance you could squeeze us in? Just because I don’t live in the UK, which means this is the only chance we have.’ He paused, taking in the woman’s impassive expression. ‘As I mentioned, my daughter’s mum isn’t around anymore. We lost her to cancer. As I’m sure you can imagine, the whole wedding dress shopping thing is quite hard for my daughter. I mean, every woman wants her mum by her side for that, right?’
‘We don’t have any appointments for this weekend.’
Jeez, had the woman not heard everything Ed had just said? He’d almost made himself cry.
Seconds later, Ed stepped back into the rain. He mustn’t be discouraged. He still had three shops left on his list and, assuming they were staffed by actual humans, he’d definitely be able to sweet-talk someone into giving him an appointment.
Ed had selected the shops on his list on the basis of them looking decent and being within a small radius of each other. It was a myth that lazy people aren’t organised. Ed planned lots of things with military precision. Organisation was the best weapon he knew against expending any extraneous effort or energy.
The second bridal shop had a very different feel to the first. It was stuffed with baroque furniture, huge, ornate gold mirrors, and flower arrangements the size of a small child. A gaggle of women were clustering around a bride-to-be trying on a big, puffy dress and their laughter and squeals of delight bounced off the pale pink walls.
It was only now Ed realised he hadn’t seen a single customer in Love Shack. Perhaps they were too messy for the shop floor?
He had a much higher chance of success here. He picked out an assistant who he reckoned was about his age. She had a friendly, open face. ‘Hi, I wonder if you can help me get out of a very deep hole?’
The woman laughed. Great start!
‘My daughter is getting married next May.’
‘Congratulations,’ the woman said. ‘So is mine actually.’
‘Aww, lovely.’ This was going better than Ed could possibly have imagined. ‘I bet you’ll be a radiant mother of the bride.’ For a second, he wondered if the compliment had been too much, but the woman grinned and rolled her eyes before telling him that flattery would get him everywhere but to tell her what he wanted.
He gave her a sheepish smile and made his eyes go very wide. ‘My daughter’s mum died of cancer. Emily was only seventeen at the time and it was a devastating blow to her. She and her mum were so close. Although Emily’s obviously very excited about the wedding, well, as you can imagine, it’s bittersweet.’
‘Poor thing,’ the woman said, looking genuinely upset. ‘I hate to imagine my daughter having to organise her wedding without me. I go with her to everything, from menu tastings to make-up try-outs. I love it, but honestly, it’s taken over my whole life.’
The bride-to-be who was trying on the dress yelped in protest as one of her friends jammed an ornate jewelled hair clip into her hair.
‘Yeah,’ Ed said. ‘So when it comes to shopping for wedding dresses, well, I’m all the poor kid has got. Which isn’t ideal. I mean, I do my best, but blokes aren’t great at this sort of thing, are they?’
‘Oh, no. My husband wouldn’t be able to tell you what a fishtail skirt was if his life depended on it.’
‘Me neither,’ Ed said. ‘But that’s not the worst of it. You see, I was supposed to book up appointments for this weekend. I live in the States and I’m just over here until Monday night. Anyway, I’m ashamed to say, I messed up and didn’t book a single appointment.’
The woman’s face scrunched. ‘Oh.’
‘So I was wondering if there was any chance you could save my life and squeeze us in on Saturday?’
The woman shook her head. ‘I’d really like to help you but there’s no way, I’m afraid. We’re absolutely booked solid.’
‘We wouldn’t need that long,’ Ed said. ‘My daughter is the decisive type. And we could come in very early or very late. Whenever really.’
‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said. ‘Our whole ethos here at Hearts & Flowers is making sure every bride gets the time and attention she deserves. Choosing a wedding dress is a big moment. You only do it once. Or, at least, that’s what we all hope. It wouldn’t be fair to give your daughter an appointment if we can’t give her the service we pride ourselves on. I’d love to help her, though. It must be terrible to lose your mum when you’re so young. Maybe we can book your daughter an appointment in a few weeks’ time, and I’ll make sure I look after her myself?’
‘But I won’t be here in a few weeks’ time.’
The woman nodded. ‘I’m so sorry.’
And just like that, Ed was back out in the cold.