The Complete Where Dreams - Volume 2 of 2

Chapter 18-1

Chapter 18

“You look très misérable, Perrin.” Melanie’s light greeting did nothing to cheer Perrin. She sat alone in her design studio and wondered why she bothered. A place where she always found joy and inspiration now only felt empty. She kept wanting to glance over her shoulder and see Tamara’s intent frown as she concentrated on pinning a seam just right. To hear the girl’s laughter at the simple joy of learning something new.

And each of those thoughts was accompanied with the void where Jaspar stood. She didn’t know how he looked when upset, happy, sad, mischievous… Perrin had inklings, but they weren’t anchored in her heart the way Tamara’s were. It wasn’t that she loved Tamara better, a grown-up couldn’t afford to do that between children, but Perrin certainly knew her better.

“Perrin?”

“Sorry, Melanie. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Non. That is not so. You did not sleep at all and your heart, I can see how your heart is hurting. The little girl, she is not here.”

Perrin did her best to close the topic. “Only me today. Let me show you the sketches I made for you.” She pulled them out of the portfolio and spread her drawings across the cutting table.

Melanie watched her for a long moment and then came around the table. She turned to inspect the sketches, but not before pulling up a stool so close that their hips touched. She wrapped an arm around Perrin’s waist and pulled her close as one friend would with another. In that position they went through the design in detail.

Melanie pointed out a line of the hem that she had seen Donatella Versace put on the Paris runway just last week. To avoid being labeled derivative, between them they restructured the lines.

Perrin slowly shifted beneath Melanie’s kindness and her shared passion for original fashion. The model’s casual, friendly embrace, her deep insights, and her gentle understanding did almost as much as Maria’s no-nonsense kindness. Cassidy would have worried and fussed. Jo would have been her typical quiet, steadfast, pillar-strong self at a loss as to how to help and never understanding how much being herself did just that. Melanie simply let Perrin be her own, upset self without comment or judgment.

When they were done, there was a peace between them. The design would be stunning. Not merely analogous to the opera costumes, but uniquely its own statement. Enough so that Perrin knew she’d need to dig Russell out of his cave to make sure he was there to photograph Melanie’s arrival at the opening. Which was another thread of her life she’d have to re-tie.

And she’d have to get him to talk with Wilson Jarvis about how to turn the Emerald City Opera opening into a red carpet event that the entertainment news would cover. Yet another future payoff for Seattle and the Emerald City Opera. She had almost a dozen designs that Raquel had sold from the store that would be walking the lobby on opening night, though none were like Melanie’s showpiece.

Melanie tried to coax her to go out, to call her friends and make an afternoon of it. It was tempting, she definitely had some fences to mend there. But there was another one, far more important. And just because it was hard, she wouldn’t shy away from it this time.