“There aren’t many stores that carry formal wear,” she said. “If we can’t find something suitable in a clothing shop, we’ll try the Bridal Boutique.”
“I can’t wear a wedding dress to the country club,” Annie protested.
“They carry gowns for attendants. Maybe something will be suitable,” her mother said optimistically.
Annie followed in her mother’s wake, going from store to store and trying on everything from a matronly moss green jersey dress to a pink formal on sale because no high school girl had chosen it as her prom dress.
“You can see this is hopeless,” Annie finally said. “There’s nothing in this mall that will work.”
“We haven’t tried the bridal shop,” Mom reminded her.
At the entrance to the Bridal Boutique, a clerk met them and asked them to remove their shoes.
“We try to keep our carpet pristine so our brides can model their long trains in the three-way mirror out here,” she explained. “Many of them come with a group of friends or relatives.”
“We’re looking for a ball gown, not a wedding dress,” Mom said stepping out of her sandals.
“You may be in luck. A wedding was cancelled due to the groom’s deployment overseas in the military. Unfortunately, I’d already ordered the bridesmaids’ gowns, so they’re on sale. Let me show you.”
Annie tried on a lavender dress two sizes too large that made her skin look sallow and a yellow gown too frilly to consider.
“We have one more that might work for you,” the clerk said.
Twenty minutes later Annie walked out carrying a shimmering coppery-brown gown that fell to the floor in a graceful swirl. It was the most sophisticated dress she’d ever owned, but she worried because her mother wouldn’t let her see the price.
“Now for your hair,” Mom insisted.
They waited nearly thirty minutes at the walk-in salon, but Annie left with highlights in her new sleek head-hugging hairdo that perfectly picked up the glow in her gown.
“That was fun,” her mother said as they drove home.
Annie only hoped she had half as much fun wearing the gown as her mother had had buying it. She wasn’t optimistic.
Monday was the first day of what Annie was sure would be the longest ten days of her life. Even though she loved her new dress, she knew it wasn’t enough to make her fit in with the people at Nathan’s party. At least she could tell him she had a suitable dress so he wouldn’t bring up buying one for her again.
He was gone before she got there Monday morning. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
Mattie met her in the foyer wearing a navy dress with a big white collar, not her usual at-home outfit.
“We have so much to do,” she said, sounding uncommonly eager. “I have to pick out furnishings for my new house.”
“Have you settled on the design you want?” Annie asked.
“Nathan and I spent the weekend going over the possibilities. He favored one that reminded me of a dentist’s office, but we finally settled on a more traditional one with yellow siding and a steeply sloped roof. It’s small, only 900 square feet, but except for the bedroom and bathroom, it’s all open, one big room.”
“It sounds ideal,” Annie said. “What do you need to buy?”
“Not as much as you might think. There are lots of built-in storage units, even drawers to use as a dresser in the bedroom. But I need a comfy bed and a couch for the living area. And a recliner. I like to watch television and read in a recliner. And, of course, towels and sheets. I lost so much in the tornado.” A note of sadness came into her voice, but she quickly rallied her spirits.
“Do you want to look at furniture first?” Annie was glad to have a project for the day.
“Yes, but I’m driving George’s wife’s car. I don’t trust that little bug of yours.”
By noon the two of them had checked out every store in town that carried furniture, but Mattie only purchased one lamp.
“It’s not that I can’t make up my mind,” she explained. “I’m just having fun looking. Maybe tomorrow we can go to the mall where Nathan took my watch.”
“Sure, we can do that.”
“Now let’s go have lunch—my treat.”
Not surprisingly, Mattie drove them to the little teashop where they’d gone before. She seemed absolutely delighted to see her new friend Grace sitting behind a small counter where people paid for their meals and purchased tea, candy, and other small items.
“Look at you, Grace!” Mattie said. “Hard at work.”
“I love being here,” her new friend said, sliding off her stool to show them to a table made festive by a single red rose with a ribbon tied around the stem.
They both ordered an assortment of finger sandwiches and topped the meal off with fresh strawberry parfaits. Before they finished, people were lined up waiting for a table.
“Wasn’t that a lovely morning?” Mattie said as she drove home.
She took a nap while Annie peeled potatoes and other vegetables for a pot roast Mattie was going to make for dinner. When she woke up, she talked nonstop about her plans for her little prefab house.
Nathan didn’t come home before it was time for Annie to leave.
The week dragged by, and Annie only saw him in brief intervals, usually before work when he waved and was off. The weekend was even worse. Mattie came to church and made a point of telling her Nathan was out of town, but she didn’t seem to know why.
By the following Monday Annie was beginning to believe he’d forgotten about asking her to the country club party. She waited until the last possible moment to leave for her restaurant job, hoping he’d come home and tell her what time he was picking her up. He didn’t.
Marie lived up to her word and quit, leaving Annie with the job of teaching a shy young girl who couldn’t seem to remember which tables were hers. She left the dining area in tears when bob Hoekstra yelled at her in front of customers, and Annie had to wait on all the tables by herself.
She was exhausted and grateful when the last diners left a few minutes before closing, but not happy when the door opened again. Her boss would serve anyone who showed up before ten, which meant unpaid overtime.
“Annie, are you ready to leave?” Nathan stood near the door looking ready to take on Mr. Hoekstra if he tried to delay her.
“Yes, I’ll just get my purse.”
Her boss glared at her but didn’t protest. She would be so glad when she was working for herself—if it ever happened.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner,” Nathan said, walking beside her in the parking area with his hand on her shoulder. “I’m learning how hard it is to get a house built in two months, even a prefab. I’ve had to call in favors right and left. Just lining up a reliable plumber took half a day.”
“I can see where it would be complicated, but Mattie couldn’t be happier.” She was sorry when they got to her car and he took his hand off her shoulder.
“I can’t thank you enough for shopping with her.” He opened the door for her.
“It’s been fun. She’s so excited to have a place of her own again.”
“Sorry about the party,” he said in a solemn voice.
Annie tensed, expecting him to say he’d changed his mind.
“I should’ve given you the details before this. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“It’s okay.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“The dinner starts at seven, but we’ll need to be there by six to be sure everything is okay. I’m going to tee off with my foursome first thing in the morning so I’ll have time to check some things and get ready myself. Can you be ready around five forty-five?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Don’t worry about working Thursday. Mattie has been invited to a Fourth of July picnic at a church member’s house. I think she said her name was Grace.”
“That’s so nice for her.”
“About your dress—i
t completely slipped my mind.”
“I took care of it.”
“Great. I’ll see you Thursday if not before.”
He sounded relieved, not exactly what a girl wanted from her date. Annie quickly reminded herself she was only going because he needed a partner for the evening. She tried to think of it as a casual event, but her heart was betraying her.
Nathan’s eyes met hers for a moment, but she lowered her lashes, afraid he might read too much into her longing expression. However the party went, she didn’t want him to suspect how much it meant to her to spend an evening with him.
Chapter 19
Nathan struggled putting studs into the front of his heavily starched white dress shirt and was all thumbs trying to get his tie right. He had ten minutes to get to Annie’s house, and it was going to be close.
He combed his hair one more time, regretting he’d let the barber cut it so short. Dad called his usual shaggy style a mop-top, but tonight he had to represent his father and the firm. He usually felt suffocated when he wore formal wear, but this evening he had another concern: What would Annie think of him dressed up in a penguin suit?
Busy as he’d been doing the work of two attorneys and arranging for a prefab for his aunt, he’d thought about Annie constantly. Her reluctance to go this evening certainly hadn’t escaped his notice, but was it the party or him she wanted to avoid? Had he been too highhanded when he invited her? Had he waited too long before telling her what time he’d pick her up?
“Annie, I avoided you because I was afraid you’d back out,” he explained to his own mirror image.
Practicing his little speech did nothing to ease his mind. His stomach was doing flip-flops and his palms were damp, but his nervousness had nothing to do with cozying up to the firm’s clients. As far as he was concerned, they worked with too many tax dodgers and heirs squabbling over estates. Some day he was going to take the firm in a totally different direction, offering affordable help to those who needed it most.
Meanwhile, he was determined to enjoy the evening in Annie’s company.
Driving at an unusually sedate speed, he held an imaginary conversation with her.
“You look exceptionally lovely this evening, Annie.”
He shuddered at how ordinary and uninspired that sounded. Annie was always lovely in his eyes. His challenge was to convince her she meant far more to him than a companion to his aunt and a convenient date to the party.
When he got to her house, her grandfather answered his ring.
“Good evening, sir. Is Annie ready?”
“She is,” Reverend Williams said in a somber voice.
Did her family disapprove of their date? Before he could worry about it, Annie came into the room.
“Wow!”
None of the flowery speeches he’d rehearsed could do justice to the vision of loveliness before him. He was momentarily speechless.
“Hi,” Annie said. She invested the single word with hesitation and shyness.
Nathan spotted her mother behind her and took a deep breath to break the spell.
“Good evening, Mrs. Williams. Your daughter is beautiful this evening.”
As soon as the words were out, he wanted to kick himself. How corny was it to compliment Annie by talking to her mother? He’d had more social graces in middle school.
“I guess we’d better be going,” he said.
“Would you mind terribly if I snap a picture of the two of you?” her mom asked.
“Mother! This isn’t the senior prom!” Annie blushed, making her even lovelier in his eyes.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he said, stepping beside Annie and putting his hand on her waist.
She was so slender and petite he immediately felt protective. Could he insure she would enjoy the evening? Would she be uncomfortable with so many older—and face it, wealthy and successful—people?
“Have a nice time,” her mother and grandfather said almost simultaneously as they left. There was something sweet about her family seeing them off. He hadn’t had a date like this in ages.
“I’m sorry they made such a fuss,” she said as they walked to his car.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I never had hover parents, but sometimes I wished they’d pay more attention to what I was doing.” He hadn’t meant to begin the evening with this revelation, but something about Annie brought out his true feelings.
Annie clutched her great grandmother’s small beaded bag, and tried to feel positive about the evening. Her knuckles were white, and moisture was forming in the hollow above her upper lip, signs that she wasn’t calm in spite of her efforts. Her heart had skipped a beat when she saw Nathan in his tuxedo, and she still couldn’t believe she was sitting beside him on the way to a country club dance. Even though she’d lived in Westover her whole life, she’d never been inside the sprawl of tan bricks and sandstone, a clubhouse enlarged several times in the span of her lifetime.
“Sorry to drag you here so early,” Nathan said. “I have to check that everything is ready.”
“That’s okay.” It made her a little less nervous to be reminded this was a work date for him.
“You look….”
He didn’t finish his sentence as he pulled into a parking spot a row over from the entrance.
“I should drop you off,” he said belatedly. “I want to save the spots close up for elderly guests.”
“It’s hardly a hike in the woods.” She was rarely sarcastic, but then, she was never this ill at ease.
Instead of getting out of the car, Nathan turned toward her and smiled.
“You look spectacular. I’m glad your mother thought to take a picture.”
“She’s stuck in senior prom mode,” Annie said, practically squirming under his close scrutiny.
“No, she’s proud of her beautiful daughter. I’d think less of her if she wasn’t.”
Was Nathan just being nice? Annie was so nervous she had to clench her teeth to stop them from chattering.
“Let’s do this,” he said, quickly exiting the car and coming to her side to open the door.
Annie trailed after him while he inspected tables, talked to the chef and the manager, and generally made sure everything was exactly right. The dining room was large with a high ceiling and paneled wainscoting. Whoever had designed it must have had a thing for old English mansions, and she was tempted to giggle at the replicas of pikes, swords, and shields hung on the walls.
“May I have the first dance?” Nathan asked when he was satisfied with the arrangements.
“There’s no music,” she pointed out as he led her to a small open space at one end of the room.
“We’ll make our own.”
Annie couldn’t help smiling while he guided her around the slippery waxed floor, humming something she vaguely recognized as a waltz. When she picked up the rhythm of his lead, she felt like a princess at a wonderland ball.
Their magical moments ended abruptly when a middle-aged man in a tux interrupted them.
“May an old bachelor cut in on the lovely lady?” he asked.
“Certainly, sir,” Nathan said politely, stepping away. “Harold, this is Annie Williams.”
Annie shuffled twice around the floor before Harold released her. For one panicked moment she didn’t see Nathan, but he quickly returned to her side.
“You’ll probably get asked to dance a lot since you’ll be the most beautiful woman at the party,” he said in a dry voice. “Think of it as taking one for the team, but if you’re uncomfortable, just say you’re on the way to the ladies room.”
“I’m sure I won’t need to do that,” Annie said, a little flattered by Nathan’s expression. He didn’t seem to want her to dance with anyone but him.
When the guests started arriving, all her insecurities returned in full force. She stood beside Nathan near the entrance and was introduced to more people than she would ever remember. Before the room was full, her hand felt bruised from all the hearty hand
shakes and her lips were stiff from smiling.
Even more than the guests, Nathan made her feel small and socially out of it. He greeted every guest with small talk that made them smile or laugh. Not surprisingly, women twice his age lingered over his handshake and chatted until their husbands steered them to the tables.
Her feet hurt. She’d tested the golden heels her mother had loaned her. They’d been stored at the back of her closet for decades, a sentimental reminder of a special date with Annie’s father. Unfortunately walking around the house and standing still were totally different. One strap was cutting into her big toe, and the heels were higher than any she owned. She felt off balance and just plain out of place.
“What a lovely young lady,” one socialite said to Nathan with feigned sincerity. “Where did you find her?”
Annie managed to smile although she knew when she was being patronized.
“I got lucky,” he said, turning to the man beside her to ask about his champion show dogs.
“If you ever want a pup from one of my dachshunds, let me know. I occasionally get one I can’t show—ears wrong, little things that make them ineligible. But they’re still champion stock and great pets.” Obviously Nathan had touched on the man’s favorite subject.
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Nathan said.
After what seemed like ages, people filled the tables for the dinner service to begin. Annie was surprised to find herself alone with Nathan at a small side table.
“Don’t you have to eat with your guests?” she asked as he seated her.
“Dad makes it a point to have a separate table so it doesn’t look like he’s favoring certain clients. It works well for me. I want you all to myself.”
Annie didn’t know how to respond.
She was overwhelmed by the variety of gourmet dishes arriving at the table in a steady stream. The meal began with a shrimp cocktail and a small loaf of homemade bread brought to the table on a small wooden cutting board.
“Little chickens,” she said with delight when the main course was served.
“Capons with wild rice.” He said it in such a gentle way she didn’t feel corrected.
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