All Dressed Up in Love: A March Wedding Story
()
About this ebook
Tara walks into Elena’s Bridal and finds her dream job—and a handsome man to match.
A third-year law student, Tara Simonetti just needs a job to pay the bills and put food on the table. After her father’s untimely death, she’s determined to give her small hometown what he didn’t have: a good, honest lawyer, but law school isn’t cheap. When she answers a want ad that leads her to Elena’s Bridal one blustery morning, she feels like she’s died and gone to heaven. All of the organza, gowns, and pearls she could ever imagine—her dream job, indeed.
To complicate matters, hotshot lawyer Greg Elizondo is working at the shop, trying to keep it afloat after his mother’s passing. He’s kind and more handsome than Tara cares to admit, but his laser-focus on the corporate ladder makes him the wrong match for her.
As they work to save the shop from its impending closing, their feelings begin to grow. But with Tara bound for the valleys of northern Pennsylvania and Greg set on New York City, all of the outside circumstances scream “NO.”
In the midst of juggling Bridezillas, wedding dress orders, and an upcoming gala for the shop, their attraction deepens, along with the reality that their goals are pulling them in two separate directions. No matter how Tara does the math, it doesn’t add up. Can God orchestrate their desires and goals into one happy ending?
Ruth Logan Herne
Award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne is the author of over a dozen novels for Love Inspired and Summerside Press. The mother of seven children, she loves kids and pets. She is married to a very patient man who is seemingly unthreatened by the casts of characters living in her head. Visit her website at ruthloganherne.com, e-mail her at ruthy@ruthloganherne.com, and visit her on Goodreads or at www.seekerville.blogspot.com
Read more from Ruth Logan Herne
Her Holiday Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Her Christmas Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHis Montana Sweetheart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Montana Sweetheart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loving the Lawman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Her Cowboy Reunion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cowboy in Shepherd's Crossing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lawman's Holiday Wish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Mistletoe Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning to Trust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Hopeful Harvest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5His Mistletoe Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Cowboy Reunion and Hill Country Reunion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYuletide Hearts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Homestead Brides Collection: 9 Pioneering Couples Risk All for Love and Land Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healing the Cowboy's Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lawman's Yuletide Baby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYuletide Hearts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to All Dressed Up in Love
Titles in the series (100)
Oportunidades y retos personales Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/52 Peter, Jude Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Las mujeres lideran mejor: El arte de ser mujer y líder dentro de la iglesia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ministerio juvenil 3.0: Un manifiesto de donde estuvimos, donde estamos y hacia donde debemos ir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Barnabas Helps a Friend Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/51 and 2 Timothy, Titus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mad Maddie Maxwell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A February Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boyfriends, Burritos and an Ocean of Trouble (Enhanced Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me Perdieron: Por qué los cristianos jóvenenes están abandonando la iglesia...y repensando su fe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Do I See?: Biblical Values Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHebrews Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frank and Beans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Isaiah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaniel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommy, May I Hug the Fish? / Mamá: ¿Puedo abrazar al pez?: Biblical Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barnabas Goes Swimming Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Como hablarles a los jóvenes sin dormirlos: A Step-by-Step Guide for Improving Your Talks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jake Plays Ball: Biblical Values Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Matthew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51 and 2 Chronicles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jake Goes Fishing: Biblical Values Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If You're Happy and You Know It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little David's Big Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surrendering to Christ Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Dance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jake's New Friend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think: Figure Out What You Believe and Why Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Love on a Deadline: An August Wedding Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never a Bridesmaid: A May Wedding Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Picture Perfect Love: A June Wedding Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nantucket Love Stories: Surrender Bay, The Convenient Groom, Seaside Letters, and Driftwood Lane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan Of Her Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cowboy's Reality Bride (includes The Reality Bride's Baby) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hickory Ridge Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Bags to Riches: A Jessie Stanton Novel - Book 3 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Takes the Cake: A September Wedding Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Turning the Paige Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Christmas Beau Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHer Second Chance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slam-dunk Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreetings From My Sandy Dreams Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Making Things Right Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Second Chance Reception: Texas Tornados, #5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midnight Angel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Twelve Visits of Christmas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Timeless Pleasure: Timeless Hearts Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Informal Christmas: Informal Romance, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doctor's Bride Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetween Breaths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Arranged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Picture Perfect (Weddings by Design Book #1): A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Opening His Holiday Heart: A Winter Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth Country Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Billionaire's Cowboy Groom: Sweet Billionaires, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Hope You Dance: A July Wedding Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Whatever Is Done: The Whatever Series, #3 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spring Broke (86 Bloomberg Place Book #3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Christian Fiction For You
This Present Darkness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Redeeming Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Nefarious Plot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Affair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hinds' Feet on High Places: An Engaging Visual Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Piercing the Darkness: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Jane Austen MEGAPACK ™: All Her Classic Works Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perelandra: (Space Trilogy, Book Two) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Illusion: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Someone Like You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pilgrim’s Progress: Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Harbinger II: The Return Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lineage of Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Beast as Dark as Night: The Winter Souls Series, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eve: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pilgrim’s Progress (Parts 1 & 2): Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Visitation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Teacher's Guide for a Prayer for Owen Meany: Common-Core Aligned Teacher Materials and a Sample Chapter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Room: Prayer Is a Powerful Weapon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Christmas Swap Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for All Dressed Up in Love
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
All Dressed Up in Love - Ruth Logan Herne
This fun novella wouldn’t exist without the grace of the Hall family, owners of a renowned independent bridal store in Rochester, New York. Bridal Hall
was a long-standing and wonderful part of the Western New York bridal industry for decades. As employers, they were marvelous, kind, and caring. As friends, they’re more so! They offered jobs to two of my children in Tuxedo Hall
as Beth and Luke worked their way through college, and on slow winter nights Ed Hall would say, Bring your books and study if it’s quiet. Make good use of your time!
Also, big thanks to Matt and Zach Blodgett, my two boys who attended the University of Pennsylvania. Their years in Philly gave me a chance to know and love the city, from the streets of Old City to the hills of Valley Forge, a wonderful place to visit and live! And a huge shout-out to the missions and soup kitchens reaching out to the needy in our communities. Bless you for your living example of Christ’s words among us!
Greg Elizondo stared at the daily ledger on the front desk of his mother’s bridal salon. The white leather-bound appointment book taunted him. He swallowed hard and fought the rising surge of panic.
Six appointments were due in throughout the day and no one to handle them. Six future brides, along with whatever form of friend, family, or foe they dragged through the front door with them, coming to find the dress of their dreams for that oh-so-special day. And no one but him in the store.
Panic escalated to full-bore heart attack mode.
Call some of your mother’s former employees. Someone must be able to help.
They would, too, if only they were available. They had gathered around him at the midsummer funeral, professing their love for his mother and pledging their help. And his mother’s regular employees—her bridal team,
as she’d called them—had done a great job keeping things afloat all fall.
Then Donna delivered twins at Thanksgiving, and Jean needed time off unexpectedly to care for her sick father. Kathy was down with the current stomach bug, and the newest bridal consultant had called in yesterday, the last day of her vacation, to give notice, saying she was staying in Louisiana to save some fish from extinction.
Who did that kind of thing, anyway?
Maybe there was somebody else. Anybody.
His mother’s 1980s Rolodex lay in the top drawer. He leafed through it, searching for familiar names. Two of them had gone south for retirement, one had passed away the previous year, and the only other name he recognized had just been put into a skilled nursing facility near Valley Forge.
Doomed by your own ineptitude. You should have taken care of this yesterday. There is no way Kathy could or should have handled this on her own, so blaming the norovirus doesn’t get you out of the hot seat. At this point, you deserve what you get.
His fingers went numb. His head ached. He could handle boardrooms filled with Armani-clad executives. Toss him into dinner gigs staffed by tuxedo-wearing waiters who faded into the background while taking particular care to be attentive, and he’d be totally on his game.
But this?
Mermaid gowns with laser-cut lace? Dresses suited for a medieval drawing room with acres of organza? He wasn’t even sure what organza was, but he was pretty sure he hated it by default.
Satin-filled walls pressed in on him as the clock ticked on.
Why did Donna Martin have to go and have twins, anyway? Wasn’t the world populated enough?
With less angst than he was feeling right now, he had faced down oppositional executives and told them that his law firm was about to take over their company, slice it up, and sell it off piecemeal, like leftovers from yesterday’s garage sale. Nothing fazed him. Nothing but . . . well, but this.
The bridal team hadn’t listed phone numbers next to the names in the appointment ledger. If they had, he’d call these women, apologize profusely, and lock the doors on Elena’s Bridal forever. Except that doing so would break his heart.
If he had a heart . . .
He must have one somewhere, because it ached when he thought of his mother, the time he missed, the long weeks he barely saw her, even though they lived in the same quadrant of the city. His corporate ladder-climbing kept him forward focused, but now she was gone, unexpectedly, and there was no more time.
There were no more chances. He was surrounded by the business she spent thirty years developing after his father took off with a long-legged blonde. From three days shy of his fourth birthday, it had been him and his mother, taking on life side by side.
And now it was just him. What could be more distressing than shutting down? How could he even consider ruining thirty years of all her hard work in six short months? He hauled in a deep breath and checked the book again.
Yup. Still six brides scheduled for their initial appointments, a day his mother referred to as feast or famine.
Shopping for a gown either brought folks together or ripped them apart.
Great.
He stood and squared his shoulders. He could do this. He needed to do this.
He didn’t have to dress the women. Their friends or sisters or mothers could do that. Worst-case scenario, they could dress themselves, right? The sight of an alterations room at the end of the right-hand hallway gave him an idea. He’d call the seamstresses and see if any of them were available to help.
No one answered. He left messages for all three, hoping someone would hear his plea and take pity on him. Having one of those talented alterations women on hand would be a huge help, but if none of them came through, he needed a Plan B.
What would his mother do?
He didn’t have to think twice. If Maria Elena Elizondo were here, she would do it herself. Her example had trained him to handle whatever came his way. Today was no different, but it was a whole lot lonelier.
So that was it. He would show the brides and their entourages through the store, let them pick out what they wanted to try on, then guide them through the sales process.
Could it be that simple?
Common sense said no. If selling a wedding gown were that cut and dried, why did his mother list follow-up phone calls as part of her training manual? With hundreds of gorgeous designer gowns to pick from, didn’t women usually just find one that looked great, plunk down their debit card, and leave?
Fittings and alterations. Hems. Veils. Tiaras. Jewelry. Shoes. Hosiery, hoops, petticoats . . .
His mother’s checklist went on to undergarments he didn’t know existed.
The panic re-spiraled. In twenty minutes the store would open, the first January appointment would walk through the door, and he’d be toast. And once word got around that Elena’s Bridal had no help, online reviews would tank and he’d be putting a For Sale sign in the front window.
So much for all his mother’s hard work. Everything he needed in life—everything he was—had come from this shop. Parochial school. Holy Ghost Prep. The University of Pennsylvania. Harvard Law.
His mother had gone the distance for him, working night and day, never a word of complaint. Losing her suddenly was bad enough, but ruining her hard-won business because he was clueless?
That would cost a bunch of jobs. No one wanted to be jobless in Philadelphia right now. Not in today’s tough economy.
So the economy is your fault? Don’t you have enough to do with the Weatherly merger? If you want a job alongside the heavy hitters in Manhattan, focus on what you do best: dissecting inept companies and selling them for parts.
A sharp rap on the front glass snagged his attention.
A young woman stood there, tapping her keys against the glass. A customer? He glanced back at the book and caught a glimpse of a name: Jasmine. It had to be, right?
He stared, spellbound, wondering