“So, where are we going?” I ask, as we walk outside to meet Dex.
“It’s a surprise.”
I raise an eyebrow and shake my head as he smiles.
“I guess I’m driving?” I ask.
“I’ll drive… but we have to take your car… as long as you don’t mind me driving it.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s a loaner, but they didn’t mention anything about not letting anyone else drive it.”
We walk over to the Q3 and Dex gets in the driver’s seat. Rose starts toward the back door, so I get in the back with her.
“You’re not sitting up front?” she asks.
“Nah… I thought Dex could drive us around.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a chauffeur,” he says.
We both laugh as he starts the car and pulls through the gate once it’s opened. The back seat is fine, not as comfortable as the front… but I really just didn’t want Rose to sit back here by herself. It would’ve made her feel like even more of an outsider.
“So, Rose… did you hear back about your audition?” Dex asks.
“No… they are supposed to make their final decision by tomorrow, so I’m just kind of holding my breath.”
“I’m pretty sure she’ll get it,” I say.
“My only advice,” Dex says, “is don’t feel bad if you don’t. I hope you get it, of course, but this is a tough business… and plenty of people work for years to get their first role. If you keep at it… and work hard… there’s no reason you can’t make it in this town.”
“Thanks… I appreciate it.”
Dex has always been good at pep talks and I can see a shift in her body language… Rose seems much more relaxed than she did when we were talking in my room.
I glance out the window as I try to figure out where Dex is taking us, but none of the buildings look familiar. We aren’t that far from his house… he must have just gone a way I’ve never been before, which isn’t all that surprising since I’ve just started driving.
“You look confused,” Dex says.
I glance up and can see him looking at me with the aid of the rear-view mirror.
“Oh… I just have no clue where we’re going.”
“Good… that’s the idea behind a surprise.”
I smile and shake my head. I’m at a total loss as to where he could be taking us, but I’m certain it’s going to be pretty cool. It’s nice to do something fun… and yet I can’t stop thinking about Jarvis and what’s going to happen with the film. I really need to push those thoughts out of my mind because it’s not doing me any good and it’s not going to help him get better.
Dex pulls the SUV into a small parking lot next to a brick building that looks like it could fall over at any moment.
“Is this where you are taking us?” I ask.
He smiles and nods.
“Why?”
“It just… it looks a little old.”
“It is old… but so am I… and that doesn’t make me any less fun.”
I roll my eyes as I get out of the car. He’s not old, but I get the point he’s making—just because something looks different than I expect, doesn’t mean it’s any less interesting or amazing. It’s a fair point… it’s almost like judging a book by its cover.
The whole side of the building is covered in graffiti, most of which is letters and words I don’t know. I’m a little skeptical about this place… but I’m going to stay positive and keep an open mind.
I start to walk back toward the street and Dex stops me.
“This way, Amy.”
I turn around and catch up with them as they reach a door on the side of the building. Dex presses a button next to the door and then looks up at the security camera just above it. There’s a loud buzz a few seconds later and he pulls the door open.
My eyes struggle to adjust as we walk down a dimly lit hallway. We reach the end of it and walk through the ajar door. I shake my head in disbelief as I scan the room. The building, which looked like two stories, is open on the inside and the ceiling must be thirty feet high. Every piece of wall space, from the ground to the floor, is covered with shelves and racks that house thousands of articles of clothing.
“What… what is this place?” I ask.
“This is where my friend, Essie Lupie, keeps her clothes.”
“Wait… as in Essie L?” Rose asks.
“You know her?”
“Yeah… we used to have a few dresses of hers in the store I worked in.”
“Oh… that’s right… Amy said she met you in a clothing store, in Chicago.”
I’ve never heard of Essie L, but she must be pretty well known to have such a massive collection of clothes and to be selling them in places as far away as Chicago.
“Dexter!”
We turn and see her walking toward us. I was expecting an older woman who worked her whole life to create something as magnificent as this, but I couldn’t have been more wrong—about her age at least. I would guess she’s not even thirty and she has a warm smile. Her dyed-silver hair frames her smile and I can already tell I’m going to like her.
“Essie, how are you?”
“I’m amazing… how are you?”
“Good. This is Amy… I told you about her… and this is her friend, Rose.”
“Nice to meet you,” Essie says, shaking our hands. “What brings you in?”
“Well… Amy has been having a bit of a rough week… and Rose just moved here… so I thought this would be the perfect place to bring them.”
“There’s nothing to change your mood like some new clothes.”
I smile and nod. Essie is right about that. I’m still in shock about this place, as I look around. From the outside, I would have never thought twice about this building… but there must be a small fortune in clothes within these four walls.
“What did you girls have in mind?” Essie asks, turning to us.
“I… I’m not really sure,” I say. “This was a surprise… Dex didn’t say where we were going, so I’m still trying to take this all in.”
Essie nods and smiles as she steps over to the closest rack and pulls a dress from it.
“I get it,” she says, “there’s a lot here. I’ll find a couple of pieces for each of you, things that will fit you perfectly. I know every hanger of this place.”
“Did you design all of these?” Rose asks.
“Yes… and I also sewed almost all of them myself.”
My mouth falls open a little as I try to process what she just said. I can’t imagine designing all of this over the course of an entire lifetime, let alone sewing it.
“Amy… why don’t you try this on,” Essie says, holding out a dress to me.
“Where’s the….”
“Far end of the building,” Dex says, pointing.
I nod and smile as I take the dress. I look down at as I walk. The fabric is something else… it feels like a dream. The top half of the dress is sequined, but not the little ones… no, these are blue and the size of a quarter. Behind them, and on the back, is a sheer fabric. The bottom of the dress feels like silk and is black and white horizontal stripes. I would never think two very different designs could work together, but it’s just stunning.
The changing room is right where Dex said it would be. I head inside and hang my purse on one of the hooks. I also hang the dress and take a step back to just look at it. I’m not sure where I could ever wear something so beautiful… it’s not really an everyday thing, but I guess I could wear it to a premier or something like that.
I take off my clothes and change into the dress, which fits like it was made for me. Essie has probably been making clothes long enough that she can look at someone and know what size they are, so it’s not that surprising. I look at myself in the mirror and spin around. It looks cute from every angle. There’s no price on the dress, which is a bit of a scary prospect. There’s a part of me, that no matter how much money I make… I’ll always be practical when it comes to spending money on things I don’t really need. This dress is certainly not something I need… but now that I’m wearing it, I don’t want to ever take it off. I have to have this.
“How does it fit?” Dex asks, his voice carrying through the door.
I adjust the dress and open the door. He smiles and nods as I step out of the changing room.
“It’s amazing,” I say.
“Essie really knows her stuff… and she makes beautiful clothes.”
“Yeah… I can see that.”
My phone, which is still in my purse, starts to ring.
“Sorry… one second,” I say.
Dex nods as I turn and grab my purse. I take my phone out and see that it’s Harriet calling… which means there’s news about Jarvis.
“Hello?”
“Amy?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s Harriet. I just left the hospital where they took Jarvis.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes… he’ll be fine.”
A wave of relief passes through me. Even though the doctor on set seemed to think he would be okay, I was still worried considering they found it necessary to put him on a gurney and take him away in an ambulance.
“What a relief.”
“Yeah….”
It’s obvious by the tone of her voice that something else is bothering Harriet, which is surprising since it seems like we can move forward with shooting the film.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Well… he has a concussion… and his doctor wants him to rest for at least five days.”
“Oh… dang.”
“Yeah… the studio isn’t going to be pleased.”
“Are there some scenes we can shoot without him?”
I know it’s probably a stupid question because I’ve read the script, but she knows more about making films than I do… so maybe there’s something I don’t know about.
“Eh… not really. All of the main scenes, the ones we still need to shoot… they have both of you in them.”
“Yeah… I kind of thought that.”
Harriet pauses and I can hear her sigh.
“I guess… take the next few days off… there’s not much we can do for five days.”
“Okay. Let me know if anything changes.”
“I will.”
Harriet hangs up and I put my phone back in my purse. What a mess Jarvis has caused. I’m sure the studio is regretting their decision, whatever their reasoning was. I guess the blame really rests on Jarvis… he was the one messing around on set. There’s nothing to do now, other than hope he gets better quickly and learns a lesson from this. I’m anxious to get back to filming because every day wasted is another day that I have to wait before seeing Spencer.
I change back into my own clothes, hang the dress up and head back into the main area of the building. Essie and Dex are standing next to a rack of clothes as they chat. There must be another changing room because I don’t see Rose anywhere around.
“How does it fit?” she asks.
“It’s perfect,” Dex says, before I can open my mouth to answer.
Essie raises and eyebrow and smiles, while waiting for me to tell her about the dress.
“It’s amazing… truly a beautiful dress.”
“I’m glad you like it. I just made it this week and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, so I’m glad it’s going to a good home. I’m going to go check on Rose.”
Essie smiles at me and then walks toward the back of the building.
“Is everything okay?” Dex asks.
“Yeah… why?”
“That phone call. You seem a little… off.”
“Oh… yeah, everything is good… sort of. It was Harriet. She was just at the hospital, visiting Jarvis. He has a concussion, I guess… and his doctor wants him to take it easy for like five days, so we have to halt shooting.”
“I’m sure Harriet isn’t pleased.”
“No… I think she’s pretty upset.”
“And how are you doing?”
“Well,” I say, “I’m glad that Jarvis is going to be okay, but delaying the shoot by five days means that I won’t get to see Spencer for that much longer… which sucks.”
“Yeah… that’s no fun.”
Dex’s eyes move from me and I turn to see what he’s looking at. Essie is walking back toward us. Rose is right behind her and is carrying a dress covered in geometric shapes of all sizes and colors. It’s not something I think I could ever pull off, but it even looks good in Rose’s arms.
“Anything else?” Essie asks.
“That’s up to them,” Dex says.
“I’m fine… I already have to think an occasion to wear this,” I say.
Rose smiles and shakes her head.
“Okay… well… thanks for coming in. If you ladies need anything for an award show or just want something personal… Dex has my number. Just give me a call and we can set something up.”
“How much do I owe you?” I ask.
“Oh… Dex took care of it.”
I turn to him and raise an eyebrow. He just shrugs in response.
“Thanks, Essie,” Rose says. “It was nice to meet you.”
“It was nice to meet you, too.”
I smile at her and nod as we start walking toward the door.
“Thank you,” I say, once we’re outside. “That wasn’t necessary… but it was very nice of you.”
“Yeah… thanks,” Rose says.
“You’re both very welcome… I thought it would be a nice treat.”
We put our dresses in the back of the SUV, trying hard to make sure they are flat to avoid any wrinkles. Dex starts the engine as we climb into the back seat and put on our seat belts.
“I was going to suggest we get some lunch,” Dex says, as he pulls out into a gap in the traffic, “but I’m thinking we should head back to the house.”
“Yeah… why?” I ask.
“So you can pack.”
“Wait… what do you mean?”
“Well… you have five days off… and you’ve been talking about missing Spencer. I think you should catch the next flight out of LAX and meet him in Prague.”
It seems like a crazy idea… flying halfway around the world to spend a couple of days with Spencer. On the other hand, I really do miss him. He flew to Chicago while I was filming there and it was an amazing surprise, even if he didn’t stay that long. I guess if I went today, it would mean I could spend three days with him… and still be back in time for when Jarvis is supposed to be cleared.
“It sounds crazy,” I say, “but I think you’re right… I should go see him.”
“Good. I’ll call and book you a ticket while you pack.”
“Thanks… you’re the best.”
I smile as he looks into the rear-view mirror. It’s a wacky idea, but I’m glad Dex suggested it because I would’ve never done it without his prompt.
My heart beats faster as I imagine the look on Spencer’s face when I show up in Prague… and how amazing it’s going to be when he wraps his arms around me.