The Perfect Dress

by Brown, Carolyn

  “Size and money ain’t got nothing to do with it. You had a glow, a happiness and contentment, when you were spending time with him. The past two weeks you’ve been unhappy, even with this job that used to be your dream come true,” Fanny Lou said. “I want you to be happy like you used to be.”

  “And Jody? She needs to be happy, too, right?” Paula asked.

  “Absolutely,” Fanny Lou agreed and turned to focus on Jody. “Quincy is a good, decent man. I know it hasn’t been long since Lyle left you, but this might be the way for you to get all that shit finalized. Step outside your comfort zone and peel off that brand Lyle put on your heart all those years ago. There’s good guys out there and Quincy is one of them. I’m not telling either of you to jump into what you call a relationship these days, but I am telling you to get things settled. I don’t like the way you’re acting.”

  “You’re right, Granny.”

  “Do what you want with your lives,” Fanny Lou said. “But please give us back our Mitzi and sassy Jody.”

  “We would pay good money or doughnuts or even chocolate ice cream if y’all would be happy again,” Paula added. “If the girls hadn’t spent so much time upstairs these past two weeks with their flowers, they would’ve noticed the difference, too.”

  “Whoa, wait a minute,” Mitzi said. “Is this one of those interventions?”

  “Hell, no,” Fanny Lou said. “This is doughnuts and milk and friends havin’ a conversation. Now I’ve got to go, but I’ll be here to ride down to the fireworks show with y’all this evening. I hear Harry is making ice cream for afterwards, but he might want it to be a surprise so don’t say anything. That sound good?” She grabbed another doughnut and waved as she left.

  “We’ll be waiting for you,” Paula said. “I don’t know what to do to get y’all out of the same emotional ditch, but if you’ll tell me what will help, I’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen.”

  “I feel like I owe y’all an apology,” Mitzi said. “But I don’t know what to say I’m sorry about.”

  “Me, too,” Jody said.

  “Mitzi, you’re not happy. Go down there. Take him to bed. Or never call him or see him again. We don’t care. What we want is our happy friend, the one who’s the glue that holds all of us together, to be herself again,” Paula said. “God, I would have gone crazy if I hadn’t had y’all for support all these years. You know what kind of home life I had. Y’all were my escape and my hold on reality. And Jody, like Granny said, we miss your sass.”

  “Okay, then let’s go upstairs, and have a Friends marathon today. Just mindless funny stuff to take my mind off everything. We’ll turn off all our phones and ignore the business one if it rings. Think we could do that?” Mitzi asked.

  “I’ll get the chips and dip and a six-pack of root beer,” Jody said.

  “I’ll bring up a package of pecan sandies and that bag of candy bars that I hid in the bottom cabinet drawer,” Paula said.

  “I’ll have the first season started when you get there,” Mitzi said.

  The big orange sun had turned the mesquite trees in the distance into silhouettes that evening when they reached the football field. By the time they’d started up into the already crowded bleachers, the pre-event had started. Someone down at the goal line picked up a microphone, asked everyone to stand for the flag salute, and to remain standing for the national anthem.

  Everyone stood. Men placed their hats and caps over their hearts. Mitzi put her hand over hers and recited the salute, just like she’d done at every football game she’d attended at Celeste High School. After that, the high school band provided the music while some young guy with a singing voice as smooth as honey sang the anthem. As soon as it was over, the first burst of fireworks lit up the sky.

  She was looking up as she sat back down, so she didn’t notice the twins or Graham settling in behind her, but the prickle on the back of her neck clued her in. Then Dixie and Tabby each laid a hand on her shoulders.

  “Did you save us these seats?” Dixie asked.

  “Sure did.” She turned around and caught Graham’s eye. “What’d y’all do all day?” she asked them, but her gaze stayed on Graham’s face.

  “We cut out and sewed up these shirts for tonight,” Tabby said proudly.

  It was a simple pattern with an elasticized neck, raglan sleeves, and a cute little ruffle around the bottom, with white stars on a dark-blue background. The body of the shirt was red-and-white vertical stripes. Mitzi couldn’t have been prouder of them if they’d made those shirts at the shop.

  “They’re beautiful,” she said.

  “Want to know what I did?” Graham asked.

  “Surely you didn’t baste or sew anything,” Mitzi answered.

  “No, I dried their tears when they kept breaking the gathering thread for those ruffles.”

  Harry sat down beside Fanny Lou and turned around to say, “Welcome to my world when it comes to girls and sewing. I’ve got a gallon of homemade ice cream aging up real good in the truck. I’m plannin’ on takin’ it to Mitzi’s after this is over. Y’all should come join us.”

  “Yes!” Dixie did one of her fist pumps in the air.

  “Mitzi?” Graham asked.

  “No way we’ll eat a whole gallon all by ourselves, so please say you’ll come help us out,” she answered.

  “Then we’ll surely take you up on the offer, Harry. I love your ice cream.” Graham’s knee brushed against Mitzi’s back.

  Short little bursts of electricity shot through her body at his touch. Two weeks away from him hadn’t gotten him out of her mind any more than fourteen years of not seeing him had.

  Graham couldn’t take his eyes off Mitzi that evening. All he could really see was her red hair and the way her neck curved to her shoulders, but even that much made him want to lean down and at least whisper a thank-you for inviting them for ice cream. He kept his distance because he was afraid if he got that close, he’d kiss that soft spot right under her ear.

  Every day for the past two weeks, he’d picked up the phone to call her but never could make himself go through with it. And when Rita came by, supposedly to talk about the wedding and the time she’d spend with the girls, all he did was compare her to Mitzi. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who came out first or who he wished would never come back into his life again. He’d been careful both times to step out of his office into the main lobby of the business to talk to her—and made sure that Vivien was right there at her desk. Rita had ruined his life once. She was devious and manipulative enough to do it again if he wasn’t careful.

  He watched the fireworks light up the sky and wondered what it would be like to live with Mitzi. Would they have fireworks of their own every night when they shut the bedroom door?

  The show lasted the better part of an hour, and then the grand finale went up in a glittering American flag and it was over. Folks began to gather up their folding seats, blankets, and soft-drink cans and leave, but Graham sat still until Mitzi rose to her feet.

  “Are you sure about this?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  “Then we’ll see you at the shop in a few minutes.” What he wanted to say was that he’d missed her, but he held his tongue.

  The girls were whispering in the back seat of the truck when he crawled in and fastened his seat belt. They stopped when he started the engine. He tapped the steering wheel while he waited for a chance to back out of the parking space.

  “The ice cream is going to melt,” Dixie moaned.

  “I thought Celeste was a little bitty town. Where’d all these cars and trucks come from?” Tabby asked.

  “Everyone for miles around comes to see the fireworks.” He looked up into the rearview mirror.

  “We don’t care if the whole state of Texas came to Celeste tonight, though it kind of looks like that,” Tabby said. “What we want to talk about is Mitzi and when you’re really going to ask her out. You’ve been an old bear since that da
y we went to the lake. And she’s not been herself, either.”

  “I had a lot of summer work at the dealership,” he said.

  “That’s your excuse. I imagine hers is that we’ve been real busy at the shop,” Dixie said. “Y’all like each other. We figure the problem is me and Tabby. After that last woman who was mean to us, you don’t want to take a chance on another one. And she don’t want to make it like all weird between us and her if y’all had a lousy date.”

  “We ain’t kids no more, Dad,” Tabby said.

  “Evidently not.” Graham wondered how they’d grown up so fast over the course of a month. “So since you’ve figured out so much, what’s your advice on the matter?”

  “Ask her out to dinner and a movie, or a play in Dallas, or something fun for just the two of you,” Tabby said.

  “And if she says no?” Graham was finally able to get out of the parking lot and take his place behind a long line of vehicles going the same way.

  “Then send her flowers tomorrow, and ask again. If at first you don’t succeed . . .” Dixie said. “I can’t remember the rest of it.”

  “Try, try again,” Tabby finished the old adage for her.

  “How many times do I try, try again?” He turned onto Main Street and found himself right behind Mitzi’s van.

  “The preacher at church last Sunday said something about seven times seventy. I wasn’t listenin’ good enough to know what that worked on, but it’s a good start,” Dixie said. “We’re goin’ to try not to fuss at you about this anymore. But we would like to see you happy again.”

  “That’s my sister’s decision. I’m going to nag you all I want,” Tabby said.

  Who would have ever thought that Tabby, the quiet twin, would have been the one to take a stand, and that Dixie, the mouthy one, would concede to let him make his own decisions? It was a complete role reversal, and it surprised him.

  He parked behind the van and beside Harry’s truck. The girls were out of the back seat and jogging toward the house before he even got his door open. The last one inside, Graham could see Tabby taking bowls down from the cabinet and Mitzi over at the table putting out strawberries and chocolate syrup. Harry came from the sewing room with a few folding chairs tucked under his arm. It was the perfect picture of a family all working together, and he loved it.

  Everyone circled around the table. Mitzi scooped out bowls full for each one, and the room was filled with laughter and conversation about the fireworks show. Graham hung back until everyone else was served and then took a few steps forward.

  “I guess what’s left can be divided among the two of us,” he said. “Unless you want to put it all in one big bowl and we’ll share. Fewer dirty dishes that way.”

  “We need to talk,” she said softly.

  “About ice cream?” he asked.

  “Something a little more serious. But not here.” She scooped out a big portion for him and then pointed to the strawberries and chocolate. “Topping?”

  “I like my ice cream plain.” A chill ran down his back that was colder than the ice cream in the bowl. “When do we need to have this talk?”

  “Soon, but in private. I’ll text you,” she whispered.

  “I’ll be waiting.” Her hand brushed his when she handed off the bowl. He wasn’t surprised at the electricity that passed between them—not one bit.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Dark clouds shifted back and forth over a skinny crescent moon doing its best to throw a little light into Mitzi’s room that evening. A soft breeze brushed the limbs of the old pecan tree against the window. Like everything else, both of those made her think of the situation she had with Graham and the problems her friends were facing.

  Jody had been like a dark sky with no visible moon until Quincy came into her life. Now there was a ray of light, however slim, in her eyes. For that, Mitzi would always appreciate Quincy. Paula, with her pregnancy by a total jerk, had lived with no light for months until she unburdened herself of the secret. After she’d confronted Clinton, it seemed like she was happier.

  Mitzi couldn’t sleep, so she sat up in bed and stared at that sliver of a moon hanging right outside her window. She fell back on her pillow, turned her back to the window, and shut her eyes tightly, trying to will herself to sleep, but it didn’t work. Her mind wouldn’t stop spinning in circles. Getting this thing settled once and for all with Graham had to be done, and soon.

  She padded barefoot down to the kitchen, heated up a cup of milk, and added chocolate syrup to it. That usually worked wonders when it came to making her drowsy, but after half an hour, she was still wide awake. The clock on the microwave said it was twelve thirty—too late to text Graham.

  Finishing off the last sip of milk as she carried the mug to the sink, she made a decision. It might be rash and quite possibly wouldn’t produce a thing, but she had to try, or else she’d toss and turn all night. She couldn’t just go marching down to his house and ring the doorbell at that time of night, she told herself. But if she didn’t she wasn’t going to sleep a wink. She made a deal with herself that if the house was totally dark, she’d come back home, but if there was a light on anywhere in the house, she’d ring the doorbell.

  Before she lost her nerve, she took a deep breath and headed for the front door. She froze when it squeaked as she opened it. For a few seconds she couldn’t move. The cool air from the house rushed out past her, while the hot night air almost seemed to push her back into the house. She started to close the door but couldn’t make herself do it.

  “Now or never,” she whispered as she stepped out onto the porch. She didn’t have keys, so she eased the door shut and didn’t lock it. She’d be less than a block away, and most likely she’d be back in five minutes. The grass was cool and slightly wet on her bare feet as she crossed a couple of lawns on her way to Graham’s house. Thank goodness no dogs set up a howl or folks appeared on their porches with loaded shotguns. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it?

  When she reached her destination, she found no lights pouring out from the downstairs windows. Looking up at the second floor, nothing shone there, either. But from the tour of the house the girls had given her, she remembered that his bedroom looked out over the back of the place. An unlocked gate would be her sign to continue this crazy venture. She pushed and it swung wide open, without even the tiniest squeak.

  She was looking up at the dark windows when Graham’s deep voice startled her. She jerked around to see where it came from, stepped in a gopher hole, and had to grab the porch post to keep from falling.

  “I haven’t been drinkin’,” she said and wished she could grab the words and cram them back into her mouth. “That sounded kind of crazy, didn’t it?”

  “Not so much,” Graham said. “I’m having a beer. Want one?”

  “Yes,” she answered, but she was glued to the post. She hadn’t thought ahead to plan what she would say, and now no words were coming from her brain to her mouth.

  “Guess you couldn’t sleep, either,” he said. “Come on up here and sit with me on the swing. You been thinking about this talk we’re supposed to have, too?”

  “Yes, I have, and here we are.” Mitzi took a step toward his voice. The wood on the porch scraped her feet after the cool grass, but it was level and didn’t have gopher holes. With a pounding heart she took a few more steps and then heard him pull the tab on a can of beer. Another step to the door leading into the screened porch, and a little flame from a match lit up the darkness. The glow of a jar candle flickered on the table in front of the swing where he sat. She stepped around a bistro set and almost turned around and ran back home when she realized that her hair was a mess, she didn’t have a drop of makeup on—and she was wearing baggy pajama bottoms and no bra under her oversize T-shirt.

  Graham handed the beer to her and patted the other end of the swing. She took it from him, sat down, and then noticed that the candle and a long lighter were sitting on the top of one of those tiny dorm-size refrigerators
. “Like you said, here we are. According to the girls, I’ve been hard to live with since you turned me down for a date.”

  Mitzi took a long drink from the can and turned to face Graham. “I get the same thing from my family. But that’s the problem, isn’t it?”

  “I like you, Mitzi, and I think you like me, too.”

  “You’re right, I like you, Graham.” There. She’d said it, and it felt good to get that much out. “Do I hear a but in your voice?”

  “But you’ve probably been thinking the same thing. Do we feel this way as a by-product of the love we both have for Dixie and Tabby, or is it something real between us?” He sipped his beer and gazed out at the dark clouds covering the moon for so long that Mitzi figured he was about to say that, yes, he liked her but only as a friend. “I’ve given our relationship a lot of thought these past two weeks. Yes, you are good with the girls, but what I feel for you has nothing to do with my kids. There’s chemistry between us that can’t be denied.”

  Relationship.

  He’d said that and not friendship. It’s what she wanted, but doubts and fears clouded her still.

  “But if we ignore it, it might die.” She wiped the sweat from the can.

  “Do you want it to go away?” He set his beer down on the floor and scooted over next to her. The touch of his shoulder to hers raised the temperature several degrees.

  She shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t. I’ve tried to analyze the way I feel when I’m around you, and you’re right. I love Dixie and Tabby, but what we have is something that I can’t put into words.”

  He stood up and pulled her close to his body in a tight hug. “I want us to be more than friends. I want to spend more time with you.” He tipped up her chin. “Would you go out with me Saturday? A real date. A day just for us. That’s the day the girls have to be in the wedding. I’ve reserved a hotel room so I’d have a place to stay while I wait for them. We could have the whole day to ourselves to do whatever we want.”

  “Yes,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.