“Funny or not, I’m here.” Rita’s voice, gravelly from years of smoking, came through the machine on his desk.
“I’m busy. Make an appointment,” he said coldly.
“I’m coming in there whether you like it or not.”
Graham hadn’t seen her since the day she walked out on him. He’d talked to her, making arrangements that one time for the girls to see her, but had managed not to actually come face-to-face with her. And now he only had a matter of seconds to prepare himself.
“Hello, Graham,” she said as she waltzed into his office like she owned it. “So you’re finally sitting in the big office. This is where I imagined we’d be when I married you. I’d take over Vivien’s desk and you’d be right here, but your parents didn’t like me.”
“My parents were disappointed that I wasn’t going to college, and Vivien wasn’t ready to retire. What are you doing in Celeste?” he asked.
Rita’s makeup did what it could, but it didn’t cover all the crow’s-feet or wrinkles around her mouth. She still wore her trademark bright-red lipstick. And he wasn’t surprised to see that her skirt was way too short and tight for a woman her age. When she crossed her legs, he could see all the way to the crotch of her lace panties.
“My grandmother—do you remember her?” She pulled a silver cigarette container from her purse. “Mind if I smoke?”
“This is a smoke-free place, so you’ll have to wait. And yes, I remember your grandmother very well. She lived up around Whitewright and was in a nursing home, right?”
“She died. I stayed in Sherman last night and attended her funeral this morning—just a graveside. I thought about asking if the girls might want to go, but they wouldn’t remember her.” She dropped the cigarette case back into her purse. “You’re lookin’ good, Graham.”
“Thank you.” He’d thought about the moment that they’d see each other again at least a thousand times over the past years. Right after she left, the idea of ever seeing her again was both painful and brought on anger. Now the pain had subsided, but there was still more anger than he wanted to admit.
“That’s all you’ve got to say. Just thank you? You could tell me that I look good, too.”
“You look good, too, Rita,” he quipped.
“I go to the gym every day, and I’m determined not to ever dress like an old woman. I’m glad you noticed that I’m not giving in to age, but I didn’t come here to fight with you. I just thought I’d drop in and break the ice. That way when you and the girls come to the wedding, it won’t be awkward between us.” She uncrossed her legs and bent forward, giving him a good look at the edges of a black-lace bra and lots of cleavage.
“I’m not going to the wedding. I’ve reserved a room in a nearby hotel. I’ll drop them off and pick them up. And things will always be awkward between us, Rita. How could they not be? You left me with two little girls to raise by myself and didn’t even call them for years and years.”
She reached for the cigarettes again and giggled. “I smoke too much when I’m nervous. I was young and didn’t want to be tied down. I’ve grown up now and made a few changes in my life.”
“Why would you be nervous?” he asked.
“God, Graham . . .” she fumed.
“No, just plain old Graham Harrison. I might have Daddy’s office now, but I don’t claim being a god,” he said.
“You might as well be one the way you’re sittin’ there all pompous, looking down on me.” She got up and paced from one end of the room to the other. She looked a little taller than he remembered in those high-heeled shoes.
“That’s you and your guilt, not me,” he shot back.
“What do you want? For me to apologize, cry, and say that leaving was a big mistake?” Rita rounded the end of the desk and kicked off her shoes.
“No, I just want you to do what you’ve been doing. Choices have consequences, Rita. You chose to leave and not look back. Now you have to live with that decision. Like my grandpa used to say, ‘Sometimes it’s too late to do what you should’ve been doin’ all along.’ Anything else you want to talk about?” Graham asked.
“I hated being a wife and a mother, but most of all I hated being a daughter-in-law, but now we don’t have to worry about that, do we, darlin’?” Using her foot, she pushed his chair back enough so that she could hop up on the desk right in front of him. She leaned forward, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him.
He didn’t feel anything except the need to brush his teeth. It was like licking the bottom of an ashtray, and was that whiskey he tasted on her breath?
“Your old daddy looked at me like I was trash, but honey, we can start all over now and be a family. The girls are at an age when they need a mother,” she whispered seductively.
He pushed the chair back and stood up. “The girls have always needed a mother.”
“Then let’s put the past behind us and concentrate on the future. After the girls come with me to the wedding, I’ll file for divorce,” she said.
“Whoa!” He held up both palms. “There is no future for us, Rita. I don’t make the same mistakes twice. And I won’t ever hear you put down my folks again. They were there when you weren’t.”
She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder, slipped her small feet back into her shoes, and picked up her purse. Instantly the cigarette case was back in her hands. “I’ve always gotten what I want. You know that, Graham.” Her mouth turned up in a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I want a baby. I’m not too old to have one.” She fumbled with the cigarette case, turning it over and over in her hands, as if it were her security blanket. “I even planned on giving up smoking for a baby, but when we went to a fertility clinic, we found out that my husband, Derrick, is sterile.”
Karma is a bitch on steroids, Graham thought.
“Aren’t you going to say it serves me right?” Rita asked.
“No, I’m truly sorry. Have you thought of adoption?”
“I don’t want to adopt. I want the pregnancy, the birthing, and the whole nine yards again.” She nodded. “How are the girls going to feel about having a brother or sister that they only get to see once a year?”
He thought of how excited they were the previous night about Paula’s new baby. “You’ll have to ask them about that, not me. I can’t imagine why you’re even telling me this. It’s none of my business.”
“I would like to . . . hell, Graham, you never make anything easy. I want to build a relationship with them and with you, and like I said, I’m not giving up. We can rekindle what we had,” Rita said.
“It’s a little late to build something now. Besides, they think you’re ashamed of them, Rita. They told me that the way you looked at them made them feel like they were fat and ugly. Their words, not mine.”
She jumped up so fast that she dropped the cigarette case on the floor. “It was just a surprise, that’s all. With your size, I wasn’t expecting them to be able to wear my jeans, but God almighty, Graham, they’re huge.”
“Not huge.” Graham glared at her. “They’re big, but they’re not fat, and they’re beautiful. Why would you even want to be around them when you feel like that?”
“They should know their siblings even if I have to adopt, don’t you think?” She bent to pick up the case and shoved it in her purse.
“Like I said before, that’s up to them, but in my opinion, building even a friendship with them will take a long time, and a baby won’t be the glue that binds them to you as a family.” He crossed the floor and opened the door. “Don’t pop by my office again. What we had died years ago.”
She looked up into his eyes as she passed by. “I guess you wouldn’t be willing to donate a little sperm so my child would be their full brother or sister? We can go to a clinic or we can do it the old-fashioned way.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Graham gasped. “Are you crazy? Does Derrick know you asked such an insane thing? And think about it, the next child would most likely be a larger pe
rson, too.”
“If you don’t want to help me, I’ve got a short list of guys who’ve been flirting with me for a year or more. If you are willing, like I said, it can be through the clinic or through the bedroom. We were pretty good in that area until I got pregnant.”
Graham was speechless.
Rita went on. “Derrick and I’ve been . . . well, let’s just say that I’ve fallen out of love with him. Or maybe I never did love him. Maybe he was just an escape from bawling babies and a husband who didn’t make enough money to get me what I wanted.” Her tone was as flat as if she’d just said that it was raining outside.
Graham shook his head emphatically. “You didn’t like bawling babies and not having money when we first met. What’s changed?”
“I’ve changed a lot, Graham. Now I want to be married for the right reasons. I’ll make someone a good wife, and I’ll be a good mother this time,” she answered. “Give that some thought when you get into a cold bed alone tonight.”
He motioned toward the door. “Goodbye, Rita.”
“Never hurts to ask and test the waters, does it?” She tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. “My biological clock is ticking. Bye, Graham.”
He shut the door behind her and slumped down into the nearest chair. She’d been there less than fifteen minutes but it had seemed like hours. He knuckled his eyes to ease the pain in his head, but it didn’t work. Maybe it was the smoke on her breath when she kissed him that caused his headache. He went to the cabinet, took out some air freshener, and gave the room a thorough spraying.
Had she changed? Could they be a family at this point? Should he give her one more chance? Questions floated through his mind, but there didn’t seem to be any answers. Pulling out a drawer, he took out a bottle of Advil and checked the date. They’d expired two years ago, but he swallowed two with a sip of cold coffee anyway.
“No!” he said. “Never.”
“Never say never,” he thought he heard Vivien’s voice say in his head.
“This time I can say it because I’d rather be dead than go back to Rita,” he swore out loud.
“Good for you. I’m leaving now. You’re on your own for the rest of the day,” Vivien said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I’d left the line open. Did you hear that whole thing?”
“I did, and Rita doesn’t seem to have changed a bit. She’s always been a bulldog when she wants something, so be careful, and if there’s anything I can do, let me know,” Vivien said.
“Just keep her out of my office,” Graham told her.
“With extreme prejudice,” Vivien laughed.
“If necessary,” Graham chuckled.
Mitzi glanced at herself in the foyer mirror as she passed by on Saturday morning—red hair wild enough to scare little children, no makeup, and eyes swollen with sleep.
“Is it too early for a shot of bourbon?” she muttered as she headed across the kitchen floor.
“Yes, it is, and you look like the last rose of summer a hound dog hiked his leg on,” Jody said.
“I feel like she looks,” Paula said. “If we weren’t pressed for time, I’d suggest we all go back to bed and forget that we need to go Greenville today to get everything we’ll need for the bridal fair next Saturday. We have to get napkins imprinted with our logo, a couple of cases of champagne, and those little plastic flutes. If we’re not too late to get it done, let’s get the flutes stamped with the logo, too.”
“And maybe we should buy one of those tall banners that you pull up from the bottom and hook at the top. We could put pictures of several of the dresses we’ve designed on it, and set it up at the end of our table,” Jody said.
“All good ideas. Give me an hour to wake up and throw on some clothes.” Mitzi slumped down in a chair at the table. “What are y’all’s plans for tomorrow afternoon?”
“Well, I’m going to church in the morning with y’all,” Jody said. “I thought about what you said about showing my mama and everyone in Celeste that I’m a strong woman. Besides, we both need to be there to support Paula, since it’s all over town by now that she’s pregnant. But after we get some lunch, I don’t have any plans. What’d you have in mind?”
Paula brought the leftover cake and a stack of paper plates to the table. “I’ll have to set an example for the twins later, but today I want cake for breakfast. After church, I’m going to measure the nursery and probably spend a million hours on Pinterest.”
“Graham and I are going to build the arch for the bridal fair. He offered to buy the materials for it, and I started to protest, but then he said to let him do it as a thank-you for what we’ve done for his girls.” Mitzi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cut herself a big chunk of blue cake. “I couldn’t say no.”
“Then it’s not a date?” Jody squealed.
Mitzi groaned. “I don’t think so. Do y’all remember Rita?”
“Skinny, short, and blonde hair.” Jody nodded.
“A gold digger,” Paula answered.
“Exactly.” Mitzi picked up a fork and started on her breakfast cake.
“So?” Jody asked.
“Short and small is what he’s attracted to, and he probably has trust issues, so it can’t be a date,” Mitzi answered.
“If he kisses you before you leave, it’s a date,” Paula said.
“I agree.” Jody headed to the refrigerator and removed a takeout box. “Y’all can have dessert for breakfast. I’m heating up a bowlful of leftover spaghetti and meatballs.”
Mitzi polished off the last of her cake and carried the plate to the trash can. “I’m going upstairs to make myself decent. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother. God knows I won’t be able to shrink myself down to a size six by any means. I’ll be down in half an hour.”
“The girls will probably show up in a few minutes,” Jody reminded her.
“I’ll hurry, then.” Mitzi zipped into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and returned to find another message, this time from Dixie, saying that her dad would meet them at the party store with a truck to help carry heavy stuff.
“Well, that changes whether or not to use a curling iron on my hair,” Mitzi said as she rushed through applying makeup, threw outfits on her bed as she discarded one after another, and finally changed twice—all in half an hour.
Chapter Fourteen
Paula stood back a few feet and looked at the four plus-size mannequins lined up before them. Did she really look like the size-eighteen one when she was naked? She avoided mirrors when she wasn’t dressed, so maybe she did. She cocked her head to one side and decided that her breasts were smaller than the mannequin’s and her butt a good deal bigger.
Mitzi put in her two cents. “I vote that we get a bald one so we can change her hair color with wigs. The one with the preformed hair looks a little weird.”
Paula stepped back and studied them. “I like the idea of changing out her hair color, too.”
“Agreed. That way it looks more real,” Jody added. “What do you think, girls?”
“Why do you need a second one?” Dixie asked. “The one at the shop is fine.”
“We’ll use that one for the wedding dress until a few minutes before you model it. We’ll use the new one to display a bridesmaid dress. Paula still has the one that she wore to her sister’s wedding,” Mitzi explained. “We might be the only exclusively plus-sized custom wedding-dress shop there, and we really want to show off what we can do.”
“Like if the bride is skinny but her bridesmaids are all big girls?” Tabby asked.
“That’s right,” Paula said.
“So it’s decided on that one?” Jody pointed to the mannequin in the middle of the lineup.
All the others nodded.
“Now we need to give her some hair.” Paula led the group to the back of the store, where the wigs were on display.
“I think she needs to have red hair like Mitzi’s.” Tabby walked down the length of the shelf lined with all shades of auburn hair. “
Like this one.”
Dixie cocked her head to one side. “That one has too much red.”
“Third one from the end,” Graham said.
At the sound of his voice, they all whipped around.
“Daddy! Where’d you come from?” Dixie asked.
“You snuck up on us.” Tabby grinned.
“Y’all were pretty intent on wigs. What are they for?” Graham asked, his eyes never leaving Mitzi.
“Our new mannequin,” Tabby answered. “And it’s going to wear the bridesmaid dress that Paula wore in her sister’s wedding. The dress is emerald green, so we thought it should have red hair.” She finally stopped for a breath. “Oh, my gosh, you’re right. This one is perfect.”
“We have both blonde and brunette wigs, so it makes sense to buy an auburn one,” Jody said.
“Sure does,” Paula agreed and then whispered to Mitzi, “Better get one last long look at him before we go to the next store. After he loads our mannequin, he might go on home and you won’t see him again today.”
Mitzi ignored her. “Thank you so much for helping us today, Graham. We’d have had trouble getting our new mannequin in the van with all the seats up. I believe we’ve gotten everything we need in this store.” She picked up the Styrofoam head with the wig pinned to it and started for the front of the store.
“Okay, then lead the way to whatever I need to help get in the truck. I’ll get it loaded and meet y’all at the next one. Just tell me where it is.” Graham fell in right beside her. “Want me to carry that?”
“Thanks, but I’ve got it,” she said.
“This bridal fair is a really big thing for you, isn’t it? The girls are more excited over this than Christmas, but why are y’all working so hard at it?” Graham asked.
“We might be the only place in Texas that deals in custom-made plus-sized wedding dresses. This fair is a really huge deal. Folks come to it from all over the United States. Getting to go will increase our visibility even more than full-page ads in a bridal magazine,” she explained.
“Well, then, what can I do to make it the biggest and best display in the whole shindig?” Graham asked. “You want to borrow the ’59 Caddy that’s on display at the dealership? You could put a bride and groom in the back seat, but you’ll have to have a male mannequin and a tux. Why don’t you start carrying a line of rental tuxes for the guys, too?”
The Perfect Dress Page 15