The Perfect Dress

by Brown, Carolyn

  Mitzi pushed the material back and stood to her feet. “Okay, ladies, it’s quittin’ time. Let’s go see what these interior decorators have done.”

  Dixie and Tabby went ahead of them and stood on the bottom step of the staircase as they filed into the foyer. Mitzi almost didn’t even want to look out of fear that she wouldn’t like it, and it would break her heart to tell them to put it back the way it was. She inhaled deeply and kept her eyes on the floor until she could see the mannequin in her peripheral vision.

  “It’s beautiful,” Jody said.

  Mitzi could hardly believe the sight. If she’d hired a professional decorator, it couldn’t have looked a bit better. “It looks like it came right out of a bridal magazine,” she whispered.

  Tabby clapped her hands. Dixie pumped her arm. “Yes!”

  Graham poked his head in the door. “I got off a few minutes early with a used pickup from the lot. I understand there’s some moving to go on around here?”

  Tabby made a motion with her hand. “Daddy, look at what we just did. We rearranged the foyer and brought the bride down from the stairs.”

  “And we made the bouquet in her hands and the arrangement on the table,” Dixie said.

  “Very nice, girls.” Graham beamed with pride.

  Every time Mitzi had seen Graham lately, he’d been dressed in slacks, loafers, a white shirt, and a tie. She’d thought he’d been downright sexy then, but now he was even more so in denim shorts, a knit shirt, and sneakers.

  “You’re staring,” Jody whispered.

  “They did this all on their own,” Mitzi said. “And thank you for offering to help us out. Jody has a truck, too, and my dad and Granny are bringing theirs. With all that, it shouldn’t take long.”

  His eyes locked with hers and held for a moment before Dixie grabbed his hand. “Okay, Daddy, me and Tabby will ride with you. Mitzi, you can lead the way since we don’t know how to get to your place. Do we have boxes?”

  “I’ll stop by the grocery store and pick up whatever I can get,” Jody said. “Y’all must’ve been really organized when you moved.”

  “Oh, yeah, they were,” Graham chuckled. “We had lists and more lists.”

  Mitzi remembered then that their house was a mess. Jody’s things were still sitting in plastic bags in the living room. Dirty coffee cups filled the sink, and the laundry bin in her bathroom overflowed.

  Why are you worried? Her mother’s voice popped into her head. He’s not your boyfriend. He’s only a neighbor who’s offering to help you move.

  Jody elbowed her. “Say something. It’s getting awkward.”

  Mitzi took a step forward. “We’re glad for the help, and we might wish we’d made lists before we get done. We only decided to do this last night on the spur of the moment when we realized we need more space. We haven’t gotten a thing packed or done.”

  “I hear there’s some moving goin’ on around here,” Alice said as she pushed the front door open. “What a lovely little area.”

  “Thank you.” Dixie curtsied. “Tabby and I did it this afternoon.”

  “We had to get the bride off the staircase,” Tabby explained.

  “Thank you for offering to help,” Mitzi said.

  “I understand y’all’ve only been in the house a few months. Graham and the girls had been in their place since they were born. Makes a big difference. I brought Daddy’s old truck. Where do we start?” Alice asked.

  “Fantastic!” Paula said. “If we can get the big furniture out tonight, we can go finish up the small stuff in Mitzi’s van tomorrow. And I’ll add my thanks to Mitzi’s.”

  “Me, too,” Jody chimed in.

  “That’s what neighbors are for. Now if you ladies will lead the way, we’ll get this job done before dark.” Graham started for the door.

  “We’re all parked out back. The house is located just east of town.” Mitzi wished he’d at least have said friends instead of neighbors.

  “Out in the old Flynn place, right?” Alice asked.

  “That’s right,” Paula answered.

  “Then we’ll meet you out there. Opal Flynn was a good friend of my mama’s. We used to go out there on Sunday afternoons when Graham and I were kids.” Alice followed her brother and the girls out the front door.

  By the time Mitzi locked up behind them and reached her van, both Jody’s truck and Paula’s car were already gone. She was about to open the door when her father pulled in beside her and rolled down the window.

  “I’m ready to help. I stopped by the store and got us some boxes,” he said.

  Mitzi leaned her forearms on the open window. “The house is pretty crowded with Jody moving in with us.”

  “I figured it would be,” Harry said. “There’s a lot of room upstairs in this old place. Seems like a smart idea for y’all to live up there. Be right handy in the winter if it gets icy.”

  Mitzi hadn’t even thought of that, but it made good sense. Getting a baby out in bad weather would be asking for trouble. “Guess we’d better be going. The rest of the moving crew is probably already out there.”

  “Rest?” Harry raised a gray eyebrow.

  “Graham and his girls and his sister are all helping,” she answered.

  “Right neighborly of them. See you there.” The window started up as soon as she took a step back.

  Neighborly.

  There was that word again. Paula would say that it was an omen to help her realize exactly where she stood with Graham, but how could she control that crazy feeling in her heart every time he was around? So much for the rose quartz stone in Mitzi’s bra.

  She arrived at the house and held the door open for Graham as he and Alice carried Paula’s mattress outside. His arm brushed against Mitzi’s on the way through the door, and her pulse jacked up a few notches.

  Neighbor, my ass! she thought. I feel more than that, but I’ll just have to get over it.

  Harry and Fanny Lou arrived right behind her. Two hours later there wasn’t so much as a dust bunny left in the house. Mitzi had stayed behind to vacuum after everyone else had left. She finished the job and then sat down on the living room floor to catch her breath.

  It had been a total whirlwind of a weekend. Last Friday everything had been pretty normal; then Saturday, Jody’s world came crashing down around her; and now here it was Monday, and they’d moved to the shop. Mitzi had never been real good with change, and so much was happening so fast. In another three months, they’d have a baby in the shop, too.

  “God, grant me the serenity . . .” She couldn’t remember the rest of the prayer, so she stood up and said, “And all that other stuff.” She carried the vacuum out to the van and headed back into Celeste just as the sun sank over the far horizon and dusk settled on East Texas.

  “I can’t believe we got this done in one evening.” Jody was carrying in boxes from her truck when Mitzi arrived at the shop. “We’ve only got a couple more left, and we’ve decided to go to the café for some supper. We should treat all these good folks.”

  “You’re right,” Mitzi agreed. “If we’d only had one truck, we’d have been there past midnight tonight and we’d have to go back again tomorrow.”

  “I’m starving,” Tabby said as she and Dixie jogged from the back porch. “We’ll be glad to help unpack tomorrow. We’re real good at setting up a kitchen. Aunt Alice taught us how when we moved into our house. Coffee mugs above the pot. Glasses to the right of the sink.”

  “See y’all in the house. I’m not going to stand here and talk while I’m holding boxes,” Jody said.

  “I’ll open the door for you.” Dixie ran on ahead.

  “Thank you girls for offering, and yes, we’d love to have you help with unpacking.” Mitzi stacked one box on top of the other and headed toward the house.

  “I’ll go tell everyone that we’re done for today. Mr. Harry and Daddy are setting up the last of the beds right now. Why doesn’t Jody have one?” Tabby followed behind her with the vacuum in her hands
.

  “Because we haven’t bought one for her, but we will. Tonight will be the last time she has to sleep on the sofa,” Mitzi answered. “She only moved in with us over the weekend.”

  “We heard y’all talkin’ about it, but we weren’t eavesdropping, we promise. That man should be tortured.”

  “Oh, he will be,” Mitzi chuckled. “Fate will bite him right on the butt.”

  “I hope so. Jody is too sweet to be treated like trash.”

  Jody was on the phone when they put their load down in the kitchen. “I’m calling the café and telling them to get a table ready for nine.”

  “Great. I’m going to run up and see what they’ve got done.” Mitzi was halfway up the stairs when she met Graham coming down. Two big people passing in a narrow space left no room to do it without touching. She could almost count his thick eyelashes through the lenses of his glasses that had slid down slightly on his nose. His hand grazed her bare arm as he reached to push them up. Her shiver had nothing to do with the cool air flowing from the air conditioner vent right above her.

  “I understand we’re all going to the café for supper?”

  He was close enough that his breath reached to that soft spot on her neck, creating even more moisture on her palms. She caught a reflection of herself in his glasses and bit back a gasp. She’d sweated off every drop of makeup. Stray red hair had escaped her ponytail. Good Lord! Had her deodorant failed her, too?

  She forced a smile. “My treat for all the help.”

  “You might regret that. We’re not a bit bashful when it comes to food.” He grinned.

  “Neither are any of us. We’ll just hope that the café doesn’t run out,” she teased.

  He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you again for taking my girls under your wing. I’ve never seen them this happy.”

  “Thank you for letting them take me under their wing,” she said. “They’re proving to be great help, but I wish you’d let me pay them.”

  “Let’s keep it simple. You teach them to sew, and they can do whatever you need done to help out around here.” He moved his hand and headed on down the stairs.

  She didn’t touch the warm spot on her shoulder, but she sure wanted to. She took the rest of the stairs two at a time and peeked into each room. Dressers and chests of drawers were in place, and beds were put together and ready for making up. Even the spare mattress was on the sofa in the living room.

  Paula came into the room behind her and said, “Never would have guessed that only yesterday we got this idea. Wish that wedding dresses went together so fast. And”—she wiped a tear away—“I’m getting excited about the baby now. This was the right decision. I can’t wait for us to start decorating the nursery.”

  “Me, either, but I’ve got a confession—I’m jealous,” Mitzi said.

  “Well, I got to admit that your dad would be a helluva lot better with you being a single mother than my mama is going to be. I might be shunned like Jody has been all these years,” Paula said.

  “It’s really not so bad when you consider the alternative of having to put up with her.” Jody joined them. “The café will have our table ready when we get there.”

  Mitzi draped an arm around Paula’s shoulders. “Jody is right. Just think of all the extra little things like changing light bulbs and watering plants that you’ve been doing for Gladys. She’s going to miss that, but it’ll give you more time and less stress.”

  Jody nodded and headed back down the stairs. “Amen to all that, but I call first dibs on getting to rock the baby to sleep. Have you thought of names?”

  “No, but we can do that later.” Paula lowered her voice. “Has the rose quartz worked any magic for you, Mitzi?”

  “No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Mitzi laid a hand on her chest.

  “Don’t give up. Sometimes it takes a while,” Paula said. “Right now, we need to pay our helpers by buying them supper.” Paula turned around and started down the stairs with Mitzi right behind her. “I go for another ultrasound on Thursday. If the baby is cooperative, we could have a gender-reveal party on Friday night. And I know what you’re thinkin’ without even looking at you. I’ll tell my mother right after my visit for the ultrasound, when I know whether the baby is a girl or boy. I’ve put it off long enough.”

  “Want me to go with you when you do?” Mitzi felt both sorry and happy for Paula: sorry that she had an unsupportive mother and happy that she was going to bring a baby into their family circle. The three of them had been friends for so long they were family whether DNA agreed with them or not.

  Paula turned at the bottom of the staircase. “Yes, and Jody, too. I’ll need all the help I can get.”

  The table was ready when they arrived at the café. When everyone sat down, Mitzi found herself between Graham and Alice. Jody, right across from her, raised an eyebrow. Mitzi didn’t need a book to know what was on her mind.

  The waitress hurried right over to them with her pad in hand. “What can I get y’all to drink? I hate to tell you, but we only do the grill after eight.”

  “That’s fine,” Harry said. “We’ve kind of got our hearts set on your bacon cheeseburger baskets, or at least I have. And a cup of coffee.”

  “Yes,” the rest of the group chimed in.

  “Only sweet tea for me,” Paula said.

  The others raised their hands to indicate the same.

  “Daddy, when did you start drinking coffee this late?” Mitzi asked.

  “When I figured out that it doesn’t keep me awake like your mama thought it did,” he answered. “How about you, Graham? You a late-night coffee drinker?”

  “No, sir,” Graham said. “Anything after five keeps me up all night. Crazy thing is that sweet tea doesn’t and it’s got caffeine, too, so go figure.”

  Mitzi filed that bit of information away in her head. Someday she might need to remember that he liked sweet tea but didn’t drink coffee after five.

  Chapter Eight

  We could sure use that bridal fair to come through,” Mitzi said as she worked on Ellie Mae’s dress. “I bet we’d be the only plus-sized display there. Word-of-mouth advertising is great, but this would really give us a boost.”

  “We might have to burn a little midnight oil or hire an extra person if we get much more work,” Jody said.

  “Wouldn’t that be amazing?” Paula said.

  Dixie poked her head in and asked, “Where do y’all want us to take the flowers now that the kitchen is going to be used for real?”

  “There’s a couple of empty rooms upstairs. We’ve got plans for the larger of the two, but you girls can move the flower business into the smaller one. I’ll get bins this weekend so you can keep them sorted by color. Daddy said he’d bring the sewing machines and a folding table on Friday. That way you’ll have a place to work with whatever project you’ve got going,” Mitzi answered.

  Dixie’s hand went to her cheek. “We get our own room in your house! That’s like totally awesome.”

  Tabby crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Mitzi’s neck. “Thank you. Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome.” Mitzi hugged her back. “For now you can just sort the flowers in the empty boxes from unpacking.”

  Jody chuckled when they’d left. “They’re worth their weight in gold. All of us should’ve gotten pregnant in high school so we’d have kids about that age.”

  “And mothers in the insane asylum,” Paula laughed.

  “Not a bad idea some days.” Jody laughed with her, but her expression changed when her phone rang. “Speak of the devil.” She put it on speaker and kept sewing beads on a veil. “Hello, Mama.”

  “I heard that you and Paula moved into the upstairs of that house y’all bought for a shop, and that Mitzi is living with Graham Harrison. I’m glad her mama has done passed and don’t know that her daughter ain’t no better than mine,” Wanda said.

  “You are on speakerphone,” Jody said.

  “Good. I ain’t sayin’ nothing
I wouldn’t say in church. It’s a cryin’ shame the way young people today just live together without a marriage license. Society might accept such things, but I don’t.” Wanda’s voice got higher with each word.

  “I assure you, ma’am, I’m not living with Graham,” Mitzi said in a tight voice. “Paula and I talked about moving in here when we bought the place, but we wanted to keep work and our private lives separate.”

  “What changed your mind? Graham Harrison living just down the road?” Wanda asked.

  “Space changed our minds,” Jody said. “And finances. We don’t have to pay rent here, and besides, after the way you’ve treated me, I don’t owe you an explanation.”

  “I treated you?” Wanda screamed. “You disgraced me by living with Lyle. Now look where that got you. I called to invite you to supper Friday night, but after that comment I’m not going to. Goodbye!”

  Jody tapped the phone screen and left it lying on the table. “Well, ain’t that nice.”

  Paula frowned.

  Mitzi reminded her that was the punch line from an old joke where a country girl told her rich city cousin that her husband had sent her to finishing school to say “Ain’t that nice” rather than “Screw you!”

  Paula remembered the joke and giggled. It soon turned into laughter and a guffaw that had her snorting. Then Mitzi and Jody joined in, and the twins came in from the kitchen.

  “What’s so funny?” Dixie asked.

  “Mothers,” Paula said.

  Tabby raised a hand. “Testify, ladies.”

  That set everyone off on another bout of laughter. When Paula snorted again, Dixie got tickled, and soon all five of them were wiping tears.

  “Our mother ain’t funny,” Dixie finally said.

  “No, she’s downright crazy.” Tabby nodded.

  “Join the crowd.” Jody took another tissue from the box and then tossed the whole box toward Tabby.

  “Oh, yeah,” Paula said.

  “What about you, Mitzi?”

  “Her mama was a saint,” Paula said. “She loved Mitzi just the way she is, took up for her when anyone said a word about her size, and told her every day that she was beautiful. Me and Jody weren’t so lucky.”