The Perfect Dress

by Brown, Carolyn

  Mitzi drew in the bow and scribbled some color on it and the dress. “Why would you want to be taller?”

  Tabby tipped her chin up. “Because Mother won’t like it. She’s this little petite thing that barely comes to our shoulders. I think she left us when we were babies because she was ashamed of us. She knew we’d be bigger than her by the time we were in the third grade.”

  Dixie looked a little sheepish, as if maybe she shouldn’t reveal that about her mother, but it was the truth. “Daddy kind of wanted us to play basketball, but neither of us like sports so well.”

  “So what do you like?” Mitzi blinked away the tears in her eyes. Even if Rita had other reasons for leaving Graham, the girls had grown up thinking that she was ashamed of them. And then to disappoint their father, too—bless their hearts.

  “Clothes, makeup, and making flower arrangements. We got to take a class in that at the vo-tech school last summer and we loved it.” Tabby pointed to the mannequin on the stairs. “You should put a bouquet in her hands. You could even change it out with the seasons. Like red roses at Valentine’s and yellow or pale pink for the summer.”

  Dixie’s head bobbed up and down. “And orange daisies for fall and maybe poinsettias for Christmas.”

  “If I get some silk flowers tomorrow, could you come in the afternoon and make a bouquet for her?” Mitzi asked.

  “Yes!” they both said at the same time.

  “Ask your dad if it’s all right, and let me know. Right now let’s go look at fabric.” Mitzi picked up her sketches and carried them into the huge old living room.

  “Oh. My. God!” Tabby’s hands went to her cheeks. “Have I died and gone to heaven? Look at all this beautiful stuff.”

  Dixie wiped her hands on her jeans before she touched the bolts of lace and satin. “I could live in this room.”

  “This one.” Tabby immediately pointed at a bolt of soft-pink silk.

  Mitzi took down a bolt of the same material in a dark burgundy and laid it beside the pink one. “With the bow out of this? We have satin shoes here that we can dye to match either color. So what do you think?”

  “Yes, yes, yes.” Tabby clapped her hands. “Can we try on the shoes and see what heel height we want?”

  “Of course.” Mitzi pointed. “Shoes are right there. Just find your size and start trying on. There are footies in the basket right there. So we’re agreed on the fabric and the style for the dress?”

  Jody came into the room and went straight to a container with dozens of tiny drawers full of beads. “Hello, ladies, I’m Jody. You must be the Harrison girls. Looks like you’ve chosen some pretty colors.”

  Paula came in right behind her and laid the bodice of a dress on the table. “And I’m Paula.” She smiled.

  “I’m Dixie. Pleased to meet y’all.” The girl’s eyes darted around the room, trying to take everything in.

  “That’s beautiful. What kind of skirt goes on it?” Tabby asked.

  “Mermaid,” Paula answered. “How’re you liking Celeste?”

  “We’ve only been here a week. I guess we’ll make friends when we start school.” Dixie pulled out a pair of three-inch spike heels in a size nine.

  “Or maybe we’ll get to know some of them when we go to church with Aunt Alice.” Tabby put on a pair of shoes identical to the ones that Dixie had and walked across the floor in them. “You can wear high heels if you want. But not me. I’m not wearing something that makes me feel like I’m walking on stilts all day.”

  Jody cocked her head to one side. “Must be a long wedding.”

  “Don’t know how long it is exactly, but Mother said we’ll be there from eight in the morning to midafternoon. The wedding is at ten. I don’t know why we can’t just show up at nine thirty.” Tabby opened a box and slipped her feet into a pair of shoes with kitten heels no more than an inch high. “I might be able to stand these. If not, I’ll embarrass everyone and kick them off. We can still do our toenails in a horrid color, Dixie.”

  “I vote we do every one of them in a different color,” Dixie laughed.

  “Yaaas,” Tabby said. “Bright neon colors with polka dots on them.”

  “Y’all sound like you’d make real good little hippies,” Jody said.

  “Yep, we would, only we ain’t little. We’d make real good big hippies,” Tabby agreed.

  “I could stay here all day and visit with you kids, but I need to get back to work.” Jody pulled a small drawer full of beads out from a container and carried it out of the room with her.

  Paula glanced down at the sketch Mitzi had drawn. “You’re going to love this design for your dresses. It’ll be so comfortable you’ll feel like you’re wearing a nightgown. And the color will be beautiful on you both with your skin.”

  “You really think so?” Dixie asked.

  “I never lie, especially not to kids. They can smell a lie a mile away,” Paula declared.

  “You’re a smart lady.” Tabby set the shoebox on the table. “I want this pair—in pink, not burgundy. That way if I want to take the bow off the back and wear the dress to church later, they’ll match.”

  “I’d say you’re pretty smart.” Paula pulled out a drawer and removed a zipper, measured it against the bodice, and then exchanged it for a longer one. “Maybe I’ll see you in church. I go to the same one your aunt Alice does. She’s a friend of mine.”

  “Then I’ll tell her I met you. Paula, right?”

  “That’s right. Paula Walker. See you Sunday, if not before.” Paula carried the top of the dress and the zipper out of the room.

  Dixie chose the same shoes in a size smaller. “And pink for me, too. I’ve got a floral pashmina scarf that would be pretty with this dress for church.”

  “Well, ladies, that just about does it,” Mitzi said. “We’ll let y’all think about this style overnight. I’ll figure up an invoice to give to your dad, and we’ll do measurements and make any adjustments tomorrow if that works for you.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Dixie said. “And you’ll have some flowers for us to work on, right?”

  “If it’s okay with your dad,” Mitzi reminded them.

  “He won’t care. He don’t get home until at least six, and you close at five. We can throw a roast in the slow cooker and be home in time to put supper on the table,” Dixie said. “This has been so much fun. I’m glad we get to come back tomorrow.”

  When they’d gone, Mitzi went back to the sewing room and slumped down in a chair. “Paula, can you put a spell on something so that I can have those girls? They’ve stolen my heart in only an hour.”

  “All kids steal your heart. You’ve always been drawn to them, from babies to teenagers,” Jody said. “If you’d been smart, you’d have three or four by now.”

  “I haven’t met the right guy,” Mitzi said.

  “Honey, you don’t have to be married to get babies. Do I need to tell you about the birds and bees?” Jody teased. “Me and Lyle’s been livin’ together for fourteen years, and we ain’t married.”

  “And you don’t have kids,” Paula said.

  “That’s by choice,” Jody declared. “Mine, lately, not his. He says that we’re getting to the age where we’d better be making a final decision on that. I told him we got five more years.”

  “How’d you come up with that number?” Paula asked.

  Jody pushed her chair back from the sewing machine and headed toward the kitchen. “I need something to drink. Y’all want a glass of tea?”

  Paula followed her. “Just water. You didn’t answer me.”

  “We’ll all be thirty-seven in five years. Now add in a year to get pregnant and deliver, and that’ll make us thirty-eight. That’s pretty close to forty, so we’d have to hustle to have a second one. Forty might be the new thirty, but after that age, having babies can get kind of tricky,” Jody said.

  Mitzi had been too busy to think about a final date for having children, but now she could almost hear the proverbial clock ticking in her ears. Sh
e loved Jody and had always supported her decision to live with Lyle without a marriage license, but that wasn’t the lifestyle Mitzi wanted. She wanted the whole thing—the romance, the engagement, the big wedding, and, most of all, a husband who’d love her just the way she was. She’d thought maybe the last relationship she’d had could develop into something lasting, but he had wanted to change her.

  “Think about it,” Paula said. “Even then, we’d be almost sixty by the time our child gets through college.”

  Mitzi opened the fridge and got out a root beer. “Don’t you know sixty is the new thirty? I’ll still be designing and making wedding dresses when I’m eighty.”

  “Me, too,” Paula said.

  “What’s that got to do with having babies?” Jody asked.

  “A lot,” Mitzi answered. “I plan on staying young until the day they lay me out in a coffin, so if I want to have babies after forty I’ll do it.”

  Paula shivered. “Don’t talk about funerals.”

  “We all got to die someday,” Mitzi said. “So my child loses me when she or he is only forty. I wasn’t even that old when I lost my mama. Or you, Paula, when your dad died.”

  “Or me, when my daddy left and my mama said it was because I was livin’ in sin with Lyle. Don’t know how that could be since he left her for a younger woman,” Jody said through clenched teeth. “But the precious golden child of the church, Miss Ellie Mae, is getting married in black, so maybe they’ll pray for her instead of me every Sunday.”

  Mitzi patted Jody on the shoulder. “I’ve told you for years, it’s their loss. Let’s call it a day and go home.”

  “I’d rather stay here,” Paula muttered.

  “What was that?” Jody asked.

  “She said she’d rather stay here,” Mitzi answered. “And I don’t blame her. The minute we get home, her mama calls.”

  “She has two daughters, but I’m the one she calls every day to do something. Last night it was to change a light bulb and water the plants. Then she pouts if I go home before eight and gets mad if I stay two minutes past eight.” Paula downed the last of her water and carried the glass to the sink.

  “I’m glad my dad has a life and that Granny is so independent,” Mitzi said.

  “Count your blessings. I think I’ll just run by Mama’s for thirty minutes and get it over with. I’ll see you at the house,” Paula said.

  “Tell her that we have plans and you have to get home. I’ll get everything here locked up and shut down for the night and be there by the time you make it home,” Mitzi yelled over her shoulder as she left the kitchen.

  Paula had moved in with Mitzi when they started the shop. They’d thought about living in the upstairs part of the shop but wanted to keep work and home separate. When Mitzi stepped out into the blistering hot heat, she wished all she had to do was walk up the stairs to get home—not drive a couple of miles out of town and mow the overgrown lawn that afternoon.

  Moving to Celeste last winter had seemed like the right thing to do. They’d really wanted and needed Jody to join them in the new business, and there was no way she’d move to another location. So Paula had given up her job as a librarian in Tulia. Mitzi gave notice at the exclusive bridal shop in Amarillo where she’d worked in the back room altering wedding dresses. And Jody quit her job as a waitress at the Celeste Café.

  Mitzi’s dad, Harry, had insisted on giving her the money that had been saved for her college education—that she’d only dipped into for one semester—to set up shop. At the time, Mitzi had thought it would be fun to have a roommate, but she hadn’t figured on Paula’s mother issue. Gladys Walker was only seventy years old, but with all her imagined problems, she acted more like ninety.

  The small two-bedroom house they had rented was a short drive, but it was long enough that the van had just cooled down when Mitzi pulled into the driveway. She hated to turn off the engine and step out into the heat again, so she just sat there a few minutes. The place fit them perfectly, with a great room serving as living room, dining room, and kitchen separating bedrooms on either end of the house.

  Mitzi would far rather be inside cooking than mowing the lawn, but she had no choice. It was her turn. Paula had taken care of it last week. She inhaled one last breath of cold air before she opened the car door and headed across the yard. Once inside, and before she could talk herself into putting it off for another day, she changed into shorts and a tank top. She’d just finished mowing the lawn when Paula drove her pickup truck into the driveway. She carried a milkshake in each hand and handed one off to Mitzi as she slumped down on the porch step.

  “What’s this plan you had for this evening?” Paula asked.

  “It was an excuse, but we could say we were planning to cook supper together.” Mitzi shrugged. “But I’m not hungry after drinking this.”

  “Me, either,” Paula said. “Why in the hell didn’t we put our shop in Tulia or even up in Greenville instead of Celeste? Then Mama would be hollerin’ at my sister, Selena, instead of me, but since she lives twenty miles away and is married—” Paula stopped. “End of rant, because we’re here and we can’t undo what’s done.”

  “Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. We should get your mother involved in something,” Mitzi said.

  Paula finished off her milkshake with a slurp. “You mean other than sit in her recliner, watch television, and think up things for me to do? And don’t even start in on letting her come to the shop. She’ll drive us all crazy. I’m going to drive down to Selena’s place to talk to her about helping out more.” Paula looked downright glum, making Mitzi wonder if maybe she was going to talk to her sister about more than just helping out with Gladys.

  “Threaten to move Gladys in with her,” Mitzi suggested.

  “I want her to help, not give her a heart attack. Don’t wait up for me. I’ll probably be late.” Paula set her empty cup on the porch and stood up. “See you in the morning, if not before.”

  Mitzi picked up both cups and carried them inside. Her thoughts went back to Dixie and Tabby and how excited they’d been about the whole business of creating bouquets for the mannequin. Maybe if they were really good at floral arrangements, she could turn one of the upstairs rooms into a little flower shop. They could earn a little money making up the corsages and boutonnieres for weddings.

  She groaned when it finally dawned on her that she’d promised the girls that she’d have flowers there the very next day. That meant taking a shower and going to Greenville to buy them that night. While she was letting the cool water wash away all the sweat, she made a mental list of all the places that would be open after five.

  After she’d finally cooled down, she stepped out of the shower. Pulling her wet hair up into a ponytail, she decided against makeup and dressed for comfort. Starting on one end of Greenville and hitting every store that might have silk flowers, she bought more than she needed in each place. By the time she reached the Walmart, the back of her van was already loaded. She grabbed a cart and headed straight for the artificial-flower aisle. Rounding the end of an aisle, she crashed into another cart.

  “I’m so sorry,” she muttered.

  “No problem. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I think they’d call it a no-fault accident.”

  She looked up and into Graham Harrison’s eyes. There she was in a faded T-shirt, jeans that had seen better days, hair all messy, and no makeup. There was no place to hide, and it would’ve been rude to ignore him.

  “Well, hello, again. I don’t think we’ve done too much damage to the carts,” she said, hoping he’d think her red cheeks were the result of sunburn.

  “They still roll and hold a lot of merchandise. Actually, it’s the store’s fault. They should install traffic lights.” His eyes bored into hers. “I understand you and my girls have designed the perfect dress for the wedding. I’m almost afraid to go home after what they told me they might do.”

  “It’s really a sweet little dress that they can wear to church af
terwards, so don’t worry. I loved working with them. They’re amazing girls. I may have a little business proposition for them, but maybe they should talk to you about it before I say anything.”

  “They’ve already called me twice.” He grinned. “But wait until you get to know them better before you think they’re too wonderful, especially Tabby. She’s the mouthy, ornery one. Dixie has a quieter, gentler nature. But they’re both good kids.”

  “How are you settling in?” Mitzi asked.

  “We’re almost unpacked. Moving from a small house to a big one isn’t as difficult as if it’d been the other way around,” he answered. “And the change will be good for the girls. They had a rough year.”

  “Oh?” She feigned ignorance and glanced at his cart. Hair products, Stetson aftershave, a package of three red oven mitts, and three rib-eye steaks.

  “Bullying problems over their size. My sister, Alice, talked me into bringing them to Celeste. She says the school here has a motto about bully reporting called ‘Stand Tall. Tell All.’ I hope she’s right.”

  “Must be something they decided to do after we were in school,” Mitzi said.

  “Did you have problems?” Graham asked.

  Immediately, Mitzi wished she hadn’t said that out loud. Now he’d look at her as a fat girl for sure. “Sometimes.” She blushed again.

  “I’m sorry. Guys get bullied when they’re undersized, but girls are right the opposite. None of it makes a bit of sense to me.” His phone pinged, and he fished it out of the pocket of his dress slacks. He read the text, typed in a return note, and then pushed his cart around hers. “Supper is going to be cold if I don’t hurry. Thanks again for everything. And hold those wings and halos in reserve until you get to know the girls better.”

  Oh, I would love to get to know them better, and you, too, Graham, she thought as she watched him disappear around the corner. They are a mirror of myself at that age.

  Chapter Three

  Mitzi noticed Paula’s note on the table as she passed by it that morning. She flipped on the light and read that Paula would be a few minutes late to work. “Probably Gladys again,” she muttered as she headed to the refrigerator.