Designing Abigail Kilton's Dress - #2 The Impossible Dress

Chapter 1 - Actions speak louder than words

People were laughing, drinking, telling stories that would make anyone else she knew blush. Kayleigh was listening, smiling, trying to relax into Jack Monroe's hospitable chest, but she couldn't. She just couldn't enjoy herself. Not with Marcus Burrows sitting opposite her, face ashen, hard as stone. Lips twisting as though he was sucking on a particularly sour sweet.

"And I just stood there, with just my boots in my hands, trying to hide my manhood behind them!" Jean Luc bellowed as Jack roared with laughter and Abi wiped the tears from her eyes, careful not to smudge her eyeliner.

"Oh my God! Darling, you're too much," she cried.

"That's what he said!" the man cackled, making Jack choke on his beer.

"So, what happened then?"

"Nothing. I put on my boots and strutted out of the hotel à poil. My DM's got a boost after that," he added to the group with a wink. "Even Sam Smith was impressed with my derrière."

"You're terrible," Abigail said sipping on her pink drink.

She looked pretty. Devastatingly pretty, Kayleigh thought. Even prettier than usual. She was glowing like a darn deity. It was like she knew she had won, even though she had no idea about the war that was raging around them.

Marcus, on the other hand, knew everything. In fact, he was the only winner. The champion. The only one who at least had an ounce of control over what went on. He made his choice. So why was he acting as though Kayleigh was the one who had promised him the world, and then left him high and dry without even bothering to give him a reason as to why she bailed on him yet again?

"Are you okay, Babe?"

Kayleigh jumped at the sound of Jack's soft voice in her ear. She turned to look at him and was surprised at the concern on his face. "Yes. I'm fine."

"You're pulling on your necklace so hard, the chain is digging into your skin."

Kayleigh looked down and saw that her fingers were tightly clenched around her new diamond pendant. She opened her fingers and saw the imprint the sharp stone left on her palm. Jack caressed the red skin gently and adjusted her necklace to fit just over her heart.

"You look beautiful tonight, Kayleigh," he whispered as he kissed right behind her ear.

The girl felt her face heating up and as though it was second nature, her eyes flickered towards Marcus. Her breath caught in her throat when she found he'd been watching, no, glaring at them all along. She swallowed the bile that rose to her throat and tried to look away, wanting to see anything but Abi's delicate hand slither down Marcus's thigh and squeeze his knee.

Jack pulled her face towards his, forcing her to tear her eyes away from the heartbreaking scene. Talk about jumping from the pan and into fire! The question in Jack's eyes gave away that he knew exactly what was going through her brain.

She gave him an assuring smile. "I'm fine."

Why wouldn't she be? The best man in the world was giving her another chance. A clean slate. He agreed to start over. He understood that she was in love with someone she really shouldn't be in love with. He accepted that. She accepted that. She was moving on from Marcus Burrows.

It will be easier after the wedding, Kayleigh told herself, when she wouldn't have to see him, smell him, talk to him, long for his arms around her. He will have his new wife to tend to. She will be free to live how she wanted and love who she wanted. That life was with Jack. She wanted to give her heart to Jack.

She touched her boyfriend's face and pressed her Chanel-coloured lips to the corner of his mouth. "I'm great," she told him feeling her own mouth ease into a more genuine smile.