by Jenna Baker
*****
The dress shop was in Santa Monica, a pretty boutique that catered to Hollywood’s elite. I pulled into the parking lot and saw that my mother’s car was already there. I checked my watch and saw that I was fifteen minutes late.
I walked inside to see my sister standing on a platform wearing her wedding gown, looking angelic. The room had a few gowns hanging on racks and long mirrors everywhere. The platform my sister was perched on was surrounded by five full length mirrors and there was a seamstress down on her knees checking the length of the dress. I saw my mother sitting on a beautiful oversized chair in the corner. She was sipping tea and smiling at how gorgeous her daughter looked. I suddenly heard the ticking sound of my biological clock. I felt like I was in Taming of the Shrew, Ginny was the beautiful younger sister that everyone wanted to wed, and I was the older sister with attitude and parents who were willing to pawn her off on anyone who would take her. I gave Ginny a wave and flopped on the chair next to my mother.
“You’re late, Victoria,” Ginny said.
“Actually, I’m on time. I wanted to miss all of the oohing and aahing over your dress,” I said.
Ginny shot me a nasty look while my mother stepped in to smooth the waters. “That’s okay, Vicky, I did enough oohing and aahing for both of us.”
One of the saleswomen offered me a cappuccino. I figured a little more caffeine in my system couldn’t hurt, so I accepted the offering. My mother was spending a fortune on these dresses, and I figured I should milk them for all the freebies I could get.
A woman walked out from the back carrying a dress in a garment bag. She was older and presumably the owner of the shop. “Evelyn, look what I have here,” she cooed.
My mother stood and watched as the woman opened the bag and pulled the dress out. It was a long dress in a light green shade studded with Swarovski crystals and lace.
My mother gasped. “Oh, it’s just fabulous.”
“Giorgio personally made all the adjustments you requested. It’s stunning,” the woman said.
I glanced at my sister and saw her face turning red. I loved that she was jealous of my mom, a woman thirty years her senior. In truth, my mother’s dress was probably more expensive than Ginny’s – but she would never let her know that.
My mother and the woman slipped into a fitting room to try the dress on while the store’s assistant delivered my cappuccino. I took a sip and tried to relax, but there were a million things going through my mind, and this was the last place I wanted to be.
My mother stepped out into the room grandly. She looked like she could have been going to the Oscars in that gown, and everyone in the room stopped to admire her.
“Wow,” the seamstress at Ginny’s feet blurted out.
“You look wonderful,” the store owner said.
I knew this was going to turn ugly really fast and so in the spirit of self-preservation, I spoke up. “It’s a little sparkly, no?”
My mother and everyone else looked down at the dress.
“It looks okay on you, Mom, but it’s a little gaudy. I mean, you pull it off, but I think Ginny’s dress is more understated and elegant.”
Ginny tilted her head and scrunched her brow. “Yeah, Mom, that dress is very you, but wouldn’t work for me. I guess it’s meant for the over-sixty crowd.”
“Over fifty!” my mother lied.
Ginny went back to staring at herself in the mirror, but my mother looked visibly upset. When she finally looked my way, I gave her a wink that told her I didn’t mean anything I had just said. She seemed to understand and relaxed a bit.
Fifteen more minutes rolled by, and I was still waiting to try on my dress. Truth be told, I had tried the dress on numerous times, but my mother and Ginny wanted everything to be perfect. I texted Mac to find out his progress, and he texted back that he had secured the tracking device on Kitt’s car. Good old Mac. I texted Reid too, but he didn’t respond. I was itching to get back to the station and was trying to keep my composure, but I was getting a little irritated.
By twelve thirty I was ready to blow. My face was getting redder and redder, and I was biting the skin around my finger nails so hard it was drawing blood. “I have to go back to work, you know!” I finally blurted out. “I don’t have time to sip cappuccinos all day with you people!”
Ginny and my mother both turned and looked at me, shocked.
“You’re working today?” my mother asked.
“Yes, I’m working today. I’m investigating a murder, Mother. I work every day until we solve it.” I saw the store owner glance over at me when I mentioned the murder.
“You wore that to work?” my mother asked. “Victoria, honestly, I thought you just rolled out of bed.”
I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a navy blue polo shirt with sneakers. “I look fine!”
“All right, let’s just get her in her dress,” my mother said to the owner of the store. “Her body needs chiffon.”
The owner walked into the back and retrieved my dress. It was the same light green shade that my mother wore, and on my pale skin, it made me look sickly.
“I was planning to take you to the tanning salon after this, Vicky,” Ginny said to me. “You never told me you were working.”
“Well, I am.”
“Well, your body needs color.”
I slid the dress up and the store owner zipped up the back. She got about halfway up and stopped.
“Whoa. I think we have a little problem here,” she said, trying to pull the zipper up.
I could feel my face turning bright red. “I’m bloated, okay? I haven’t slept in days and I’ve been eating a bunch of junk food.”
“What? I thought you agreed to go on the body cleanse with me,” Ginny said.
“What body cleanse?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“I called you the other morning and we both agreed. We talked about it for like ten minutes.”
I realized this conversation probably happened while I was sleeping with the phone pressed to my ear. “Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot.”
“The wedding is in two days,” the store owner told me. “We’re going to have to let the dress out a bit to accommodate your new…girth. I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.”
My mother let out a breath and started rapidly fanning herself. “Oh no, I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t breathe.” The store assistant ran over to my mother and helped her into the oversized chair.
I’d had enough. I spun around to the owner and pointed my finger at her. “Listen, lady, my mother is paying you good money here. I don’t care if I’ve gone up one size or sixty – just fix it!”
The owner turned white and stepped away from me. “Yes, of course, officer. Don’t worry, we will fix this.” She grabbed some pins and got right to work re-fitting my dress. I liked that she thought I was a cop, and I wasn’t going to do a thing to make her think otherwise. I had started my week off terrified of a crazy detective and his captain, and now I was yelling at seamstresses and being called “officer.” It was an improvement for sure.
My cell phone buzzed, and I asked the assistant to retrieve it for me. It was a text from Mac saying that we were heading south at three o’clock. I looked at my watch to see that it was almost one. “You have thirty minutes,” I told the store’s owner.
“What could be so important?” Ginny asked me. Her seamstress had finally finished her dress fitting, and Ginny was lounging in a white sundress with her feet raised on an ottoman.
“I’m heading down to the border tonight for a bust, if you must know.”
“A bust? Are you joking? The rehearsal dinner is tomorrow!” my mother said. “Victoria, are you trying to give me heart attack?”
“Mother, please stop being so dramatic. I’ll be back in the morning. Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about my safety, not whether I’ll be here for the dinner?”
“You’re going to be in danger? Jesus!” my mother s
aid, fanning herself even more rapidly.
I rolled my eyes – this wasn’t going well at all. “Mom, you’re an excellent actress, we all know that, but you don’t have to put on a show right now.”
“Don’t speak to her like that!” Ginny blurted out. “Victoria, you are ruining everything!”
“All right, everyone calm down. Mom, you look great, Ginny, you look great, and I will pick up a pair of Spanx on the way home tomorrow. I am not going to be in danger and everything is rosy – okay?”
Suddenly I felt a sharp prick in my back. “Ow!” I jumped.
“Whoops, sorry,” the store owner whispered. I decided the pin prick was a warning and I kept my mouth shut for the remainder of the visit.
I was out the door five minutes after one, leaving me just enough time to indulge my sister in her wish to go to the tanning salon.
