But if she was honest with herself, Claire knew she was really just trying to buy more time – time to get to know Nina, to figure out whether she was right for Scotty.
‘I swear I’m buying the first dress in this store that fits,’ Nina said as she pushed open the door to Satin + Heels. ‘I don’t care if it’s black or backless or made of wetsuit fabric.’
Claire giggled. ‘You are seriously the most low-maintenance bride ever. I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but when I first met you yesterday I kind of assumed you’d be one of those prissy girls who spend hours in front of the mirror every day.’ She couldn’t imagine Scotty falling in love with a vain woman, but surely Nina didn’t look the way she did without a little bit of elbow grease.
‘No way, I hate that stuff,’ Nina said, wrinkling her nose. ‘Honestly, I’d be happy to get married in jeans and a T-shirt. Except it’s too darn hot in this country for jeans in December. And Scotty says I have to make some effort for this wedding.’ She rolled her eyes as if to imply it was an unreasonable request.
Claire blinked in surprise as Nina glided to the store’s formal section – a single rack of dresses in a corner by the fitting rooms. Scotty says I have to make some effort. It was a curious thing to say. Why would Scotty need to persuade his bride-to-be to glam herself up? Didn’t Nina want to feel beautiful on her big day?
Claire had learned a lot about Nina in the three hours they had spent together trawling the shops of Alison Bay. She was older than Scotty: thirty-one to his twenty-nine. She grew up in Texas – Claire had been right about her faint southern twang – and came from a big family, though her parents had died when Nina was in college and none of her siblings was able to make it to Bindallarah in time for the wedding. She came to Australia a year ago with her boyfriend, some financial bigwig, but they split up not long after arriving. Nina had bounced around different places, often working casually as a vet nurse since she wasn’t legally able to practise as a veterinarian. She met Bindy’s mayor, Alex Jessop, at a yoga retreat in Queensland in October – she was a qualified instructor and teaching yoga had helped her pay for her vet studies. Alex persuaded her to move to Bindallarah and become the ‘face’ of his new yoga studio.
It wasn’t meant to be a long-term thing, Nina told Claire. Her plan was to save ten thousand dollars to sit the National Veterinary Examination, which would mean she could register as a vet in New South Wales. Claire knew all about the notoriously tough exam – she’d purposely chosen an American university affiliated with her Australian alma mater for her postgrad studies so that her overseas qualifications would be recognised at home and she wouldn’t have to take the test herself.
But then Nina met Scotty and all her plans went right out the window. They were engaged a month later.
‘Hey, Nina,’ Claire said, joining her in flicking through the dress selection. ‘You haven’t told me yet how you and Scotty actually met.’
‘This one?’ Nina said, holding up a dusky-pink strapless dress with a full skirt.
Claire shook her head. ‘Too Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.’
Nina returned it to the rack. ‘It was his dog, as a matter of fact,’ she said. ‘You know Tank?’
Claire nodded. She chose a floor-sweeping pale-green Grecian-style gown and held it out to Nina.
‘Well, I hit him with my car.’
The dress hit the floor. ‘You did what?’
‘I know,’ Nina wailed. ‘It’s awful. I got horribly lost trying to find this cottage up in the hinterland that I was thinking about renting. I was stressed out and I guess I wasn’t paying attention, because Tank ran right out in front of me and I just did not see him. It was right by Scotty’s place.’ She stopped herself and smiled. ‘Your old place. Thorne Hill. Scotty picked up Tank and jumped in the car with me and we rushed him straight into town to the clinic.’
‘So that’s why Tank only has three legs?’
Nina nodded, cringing. ‘We both worked on him – which technically speaking I should not have done – but we just couldn’t save the leg. Can you believe Scotty wanted anything to do with me after that? I keep waiting for him to wake up one day and tell me he’s come to his senses.’ She held the green dress at arm’s length, considering it coolly, as if revealing that she expected the man she was eleven days from marrying to change his mind was no big deal.
Was that why Nina was so laidback about buying a dress and planning the wedding? Did she not believe there would really be a wedding?
‘Nina, it was an accident,’ Claire said. She grasped Nina’s forearm. ‘Scotty knows that. Tank is fine, and it’s actually a pretty great “how we met” story. Definitely one to tell your grandkids some day.’
For the briefest of instants, Claire was sure she saw a flash of fear in Nina’s coffee-coloured eyes. It vanished before she could ponder what it meant. ‘You don’t really think Scotty would back out of the wedding, do you?’ Claire asked.
Nina tossed her hair and laughed. ‘Oh, I’m just being silly. Must be pre-wedding jitters or something,’ she said. She waggled the dress hanger. ‘I really like this one.’
