Read Online All Dressed Up by Lilian Darcy - Free Book Online Page A

need the bag,” she said.
    “In this
closet, you’d be pushing it out of the way along the rail every
time you need an outfit. If it gets squished in a small closet it
can always get pressed, but if it gets moldy and stained, or if the
swansdown starts shredding off because you’re bumping it around
every day, that’s that. I have a daughter getting married in four
weeks so I know!” Angie knew a lot of new things now that she had a
daughter getting married.
    “Does Brooke
have her dress yet?”
    “She does –
she left it way late! – but she’s being weird about it.” They left
the bedroom and crossed to the spare-room. “I don’t know why,”
Angie confided. “I keep telling her it’s a beautiful gown.”
    “And she could
return it anyhow, right?”
    “Well, no,
because she got it on discount from that bridal store off of Exit
18 that’s just gone out of business. No, it’s fine. If she’s having
second thoughts, they should be about the groom!” She added after
an effortful pause, “No, I’m just kidding, I adore him, too. He’s
so good to her, you wouldn’t believe.”
    Lainie
secretly believed that Brooke could do better in some respects with
regards to the groom and that Angie must share the same opinion,
but she was pretty sure Angie would close right up and deny
everything if Lainie seriously invited her to criticize her future
son-in-law.
    It bugged her
that Angie would never confide that kind of thing, that she applied
spin even when Lainie was her best friend and one of her closest
relatives, too. His name was Scott, and he drove large vehicles for
the county engineer’s department. He had a husky, sexy voice and a
big strong body and thick hair, but those were about the best
things he had going for him, as far as Lainie had seen. Oh, and the
fact that he adored his fiancée and his future step-daughter and,
as Angie had said, treated them well. He was shy and silent and not
particularly bright.
    “So what’s it
like, Brooke’s dress?” she said instead. “I’d love to see it.”
    “Real simple.
Pure meringue white, strapless A-line satin with a semi-cathedral
train.”
    Lainie could
picture it. She’d looked through a couple of Emma’s bride
magazines, so she knew the style. Those dresses tended to be a lot
more modest in price than Emma’s had been. Brooke would have bought
the dress because she liked it and because it came within budget.
She was pretty down-to-earth and Lainie was very fond of her.
    “With an
accent of gold beading around the top of the bodice,” Angie
continued. “I love it. It’s a real elegant, glamorous gown. It’s
perfect for her.”
    Downstairs,
the coffee finished dripping through. Lainie left the dress laid
out on her bed, “until I’ve gotten the garment bag back from
Reverend Mac,” and she and Angie sat at the kitchen table where the
late sun came in. It struck the sides of their faces too harshly to
flatter women of their age.
    Angie was
still resolutely blonde. Each fresh cut and color required a
strategic consultation with her hairdresser, balancing age and skin
tone and latest wardrobe. She’d studied her body and what worked
for her since she was thirteen, in a way that Lainie never had. “I
have to make the most of what I’ve got,” Angie had said more than
once over the years.
    They talked
about real estate while they sipped their coffee, because selling
houses was what they both did.
    Angie had
followed Lainie into it, around fifteen years ago. She had said to
Lainie back then, “Oh, I’m not smart enough for something like
that. I envy you, I really do, because it has to be a great way to
make good money.” She’d sounded wistful, a little needy, clearly
trying not to. They’d both grown up poor. They’d both worked
incredibly hard for years at entry-level jobs that barely paid a
living wage.
    And so Lainie
had encouraged Angie, helped her study for her license, and Angie
had discovered, not to Lainie’s surprise, that