“Like I said,” Drew straightened his bowtie, “you know how to attract them.”
“Luckily, her father had followed her over.” I shook my head. “Anyway, after tantrums, tears, and threats, she went back to France with her father.”
I frowned as I looked at myself in the mirror. My tux felt really snug. I’d sent the measurements to Drew’s tailor. I could hardly move in the jacket and the sleeves sat a few inches up from my wrist.
“That looks a little…” Drew eyes out my tuxedo. He looked very dapper and his tux fit him perfectly. “Snug.” He looked at me wide-eyed. “Either you gave my tailor the wrong measurements or you’ve put on weight, buddy.” Drew grinned.
“I sent the correct measurements and I have not put on weight,” I told Drew rather haughtily. “There must’ve been some mix up.”
“No, sir,” the tailor looked at me. “This is the tux that I was ordered to give to you.”
“Who ordered that?” Drew asked.
“A young lady who said she was your bride-to-be, sir,” the tailor looked at Drew.
“Son of a bitch,” Damon hissed. “I know exactly who did this.” The tailor helped me peel out of the suit and I couldn’t wait to get the tight pants off as they were not doing my injury any good.
“You think it was Carla?” Drew frowned. “Where is the original suit?” He asked the tailor.
“Two young ladies popped past about twenty minutes before you arrived to take it,” the tailor told them.
“Were these the two women?” Drew asked, showing the tailor a photo of his wife-to-be and her bridesmaid.
“I’m not sure,” the tailor told us he was not the one who helped them.
“Thank you,” Drew told him. “Can you help my friend out with a tux that actually fits him and put a rush on any alterations that need to be made, please?”
“Of course,” the tailor measured me and brought out a few tuxedo’s he thought would suit me. I chose one that was as close as possible to the original.
“It looks a lot better than the other one,” Drew told Damon. “Now I want to get another tux from here too.”
“I know; it is a great tux.” I looked at myself in the mirror in the tux. “It fits perfectly too.”
“Well, let’s get these suits off and go get a drink before we have to go to the flower shop,” Drew said, pulling off the bowtie.
“I can’t believe you roped me into that,” I said.
“Well, buddy, that’s what a best man does.” Drew patted me on the back. “He suffers along with the groom for support.”
“Don’t worry,” I told Drew, “maybe one day it’ll be my turn to torture you as my best man.”
“I look forward to that day,” Drew grinned, “I really do.”
CHAPTER 15
Carla
“I can’t believe this.” Hayley stared at the flower shop owner. “We ordered those flowers over a month ago.” I thought she was going to grab the poor woman and pull her over the counter. “You assured me the order had been placed and would be here.”
“I’m so sorry,” the lady said. “I don’t know what happened. I checked with the supplier and they assured me the flowers would be here by yesterday afternoon.”
“Why didn’t anyone contact us to let us know there was a problem?” I asked the woman.
“I didn’t know myself until I came in this morning,” the woman looked like she was about to burst into tears. “I actually thought you’d collected them.”
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “You said the flowers were not here.” I frowned. “Then, where are they?”
“I don’t understand,” Hayley looked at me.
“Did the flowers come in yesterday or not?” I asked the poor confused shop owner.
“According to my delivery book they did,” the woman was frantically turning pages in a book-marked deliveries. “They were signed in by my assistant, Abigail.”
“So, if they were delivered, then where are my goddam flowers!” Hayley raised her voice. Her cheeks were flushed with anger.
“I don’t know,” the woman shook her head. “There is no record of them leaving the store.”
“So, they must still be here,” Hayley stormed behind the counter ignoring the woman’s frantic shouts that she couldn’t go back there.
This was not good!
“Was your shop assistant here the entire day yesterday?” I asked the woman.
“Yes,” she nodded, “I had a family emergency so I had to leave the store to her.”
“Do you think she could have stolen the flowers?” I asked hopefully.
“What on earth would she want with that many flowers?” the shop assistant looked horrified. “And how would she have taken them? She rides a bright yellow scooter.”
Something niggled at the back of my mind but it was forgotten when I heard something crash to the ground in the back office.
“Where are they?” Hayley shouted and stormed back into the front of the store. “So, you’re telling us that out of all the flowers in this shop only mine are gone?”