The Bride's Curse Read Online Free PDF Page A

gift and seek to communicate through her?
    • • •
    Kelly clambered back into the store window. It looked untidy and bare since she had given in to Noelia’s request to remove the vintage wedding gown, so she had to revamp it with another gown and some more wedding paraphernalia.
    She shivered as she began her work—maybe the afternoon sun had gone behind a cloud or something, because it did seem chilly. An elderly man dressed in a classy looking business suit sat on the street bench across from the store. He seemed to be staring directly in the window at her. Kelly shivered again. He’d been there several times over the past few days, and she wondered if he was new to town and lonely.
    Then he disappeared from her mind as the mother of one of the brides whose wedding she was planning came into the store to discuss mother of the bride dresses. After nearly an hour looking at catalogues, magazines, and designer sketches, and discussing what the most appropriate wear was for a middle aged woman who wanted to look glamorous but didn’t want to upstage the bride, they finally settled on a robin’s egg blue linen dress with a matching jacket.
    The delighted customer arranged an appointment to come in for a fitting when the clothes arrived, then asked Kelly to put together a selection of jewelry and accessories for her to try as well.
    Another happy customer! Kelly was about to return to her window dressing when the woman turned at the door and said: “You know, it’s awfully cold in here—maybe you have the air-conditioning turned up too high?”
    Kelly stared at her departing figure. It was at least 80 degrees outside, unusually warm for early autumn. Why was it so cold in here? She wrote a quick note asking Noelia to get the furnace guy to check that it wasn’t blowing cold air or something, then slipped her lightweight jacket on, gathered up her briefcase, a pile of brochures and catalogues, and headed out the door.
    She was actually going to get home at a reasonable hour for a change. Her gaze was drawn to the empty street bench as she crossed the road. Maybe that old man was having an early night, too.

Chapter Three
    He was there again the next morning.
    Kelly thought it odd, an old guy in a smart business suit sitting alone on a street bench right across the road from a wedding dress shop. Was he waiting for someone? Or maybe the poor guy had just lost his job and was filling in time. Why didn’t he sit on one of the benches in the park square behind him? Surely that would be more pleasant than sitting on the street bench, with a lot more to look at besides the commercial buildings.
    He looked so sad and lost and somehow a bit creepy, the way he sat staring so hungrily through Kelly’s store window at the bridal gown, honeymoon underwear, sexy garter belts, and other accessories. He didn’t look the Dirty Old Man type, but she was pretty sure his presence wouldn’t help potential customers feel comfortable enough to come into the store. Almost all her customers were female and Kelly was sure they would react to the old guy in the same way she was—with a shiver.
    Sometimes she considered her job to be a bit like the spider and the fly—she created an enticing display in her window and the clients came in and got stuck in a web of beautiful wedding things. But that was the key—first she had to get them to venture into her web.
    She seriously doubted that this old man was planning a romantic wedding and unforgettable wedding night. Despite his good grooming, he looked pale and thin as if he’d been ill for some time.
    Maybe she should call the sheriff. She knew Selma Francis wouldn’t mind popping over and having a word with the man, just to see what his fascination was with Wedding Bliss and to encourage him to find another perch. Selma had been one of her customers, purchasing some ravishing honeymoon wear from the store earlier in the year. The two women had become friends and Kelly knew the law