There was a little vintage shop near the grocery story and I hobbled in with Jeb's help. I saw a a dress on display and stopped.
"That's it," I nodded.
"Would you like to try this on?" the saleslady appeared.
I nodded and she helped me into a dressing room.
My body was not anything special. Normal height and normal weight and my boobs naturally a C-cup. I tanned easily and my hair was thick and wavy and different shades of brown. I barely had a waist but my shoulders were strong and freckled.
Visiting my Dad and being around stick-figure California chicks used to give me a complex with their "00" sizes. I was a solid 8 or even 6, especially if I worked at it. 10 for my Thanksgiving jeans. Since I'd turned 18, I hadn't varied much, no matter what I did.
I couldn't count how many times various step-relatives or half-relatives have tried to get me on a cleanse or recommended colonics. If I got one more Khloé Kardashian diet tip emailed to me, I was gonna start retaliating.
Ew.
Vintage styles gave me an hourglass shape. Sometimes I would find modern cuts that worked but it took hours in dressing rooms - time Jeb and I didn't have.
The woman helped me get the dress on and...yay! It was a brownish-cream with coral undertones. Made my skin look warm and it highlighted my shoulders and it gave the illusion of a waist. $250. A bargain for the price. I gave the woman my credit card, something I'd never given permission for Finn to use.
I limped out of the dressing room and Jeb handed me my crutches. "Where's the dress?"
"Bought it. She's getting it packed."
"That fast?"
The woman handed Jeb the dress, which was on a hangar and protected in plastic. I signed the receipt and he ran it out to the truck before we headed to the grocery store.
"What color are your suits?"
"Suit. Singular," Jeb answered. "Dark gray."
Figures. "Tell me you have a cream dress shirt?"
"Two white. One light gray."
Oh for the love of God. "Ties?"
"Uh...let me think. I have a silvery one, black one, red one..." he got us a cart and wheeled it into the store. "A sort of dark green one that's really old, a yellow one and a Santa one with a light-up nose...that's it, I think."
"Any designs on them? What kind of yellow? Mustard or Big Bird?"
"Plain ties. Construction sign yellow."
"OK. What did you want to do for dinner?"
"Spaghetti?"
"Easy. I like it. Do you buy the frozen meatballs to go in it?"
"No, that's a great idea. But...I think I should tell you that Maggie is a cook. A real one. She grows her own food and she has a really popular website that she started as a big health initiative. Architectural Magazine came out to interview Marco and ended up running a half-page inset about Maggie and her organic garden and her cooking right in the middle of the article that was supposed to be about him."
I dropped my chin. "Are you for real?"
"Yeah. Don't worry about it, though. At all. Queenie went through hell at first. True story - she set her patio furniture on fire during the rehearsal dinner. I thought she was going to go ahead and light up the rest of the house, she was so damn angry."
"Jeb...promise me when you really get married, you'll do better than an 'oh by the way'. If your sister is a paragon, then your future wife deserves a full-on intervention with a multimedia presentation before meeting her and a promise of a Mediterranean vacation for after."
He stared at me for a moment. Then he nodded. "For right now, though, I just wanted..."
"I get it," I grit my teeth. "You seem to know what you need for the spaghetti, so I'll just head over to the flower department. OK?"
Jeb turned and walked off.
I sighed and hopped the other way. The selection wasn't awesome but grocery stores usually have good roses so I went to the cooler. It took a moment to decide what colors would work with my dress and Jeb's tie selection. There was some serious coral rose inventory so that decided it for me. I grabbed every decent-looking one of those plus all the yellow, white and cream ones. The clerk, a teenaged boy who was obviously filling in, came over when I called for help. I piled him up and added a container of baby's breath and some greenery. It would have to do.
I got behind the desk with him and told him to turn on the glue gun. Then I showed him how to make simple 2-rose boutonnieres and corsages. Within 20 minutes, he was done and I had a bouquet pulled together.
Jeb returned with a full cart. "I got some baby stuff, too," he explained. "And beer."
"Awesome combination. What do you think?" I held up the bouquet.
"It's...pretty? They let you do that?"
I checked the prices on the laminated sheet and finished writing the tags. The boy packed everything in shopping bags. "I'm an art major who worked 3 years at a craft store, Jeb. I can make a silk flower bouquet in any color in under 10 minutes. And you should see what I can do with glitter."
"Maybe another time."
As we were driving back, Jeb's phone beeped. "Shit, they're in the house."
"YOUR house?"
"Yeah, the door code just alerted."
"Damn," I sighed.
"It will be fine," he took a deep breath as we pulled into his driveway. "Just be yourself."
"That's a weird thing to say to someone you've only known for 2 days."
"Yeah," he turned in his seat. "Look, Alice. I feel like I should give you another chance..."
"I'm good," I stopped him. My heart was thumping like an 80s song as I saw the lights glowing from inside his house. "I mean, I'm nervous. But not so much about meeting your family as to explaining why I'm marrying you tomorrow when I was gonna marry shower guy yesterday."
"That IS pretty flakey."
"I'm worried that it makes it sound like I'm on the run."
"Well, are you?"
"A little bit, yeah," I admitted.
"Uh, OK. I probably need to hear that before they do."
"Yeah... you're probably right. But it's weird and embarrassing."
"More embarrassing than you fondling my hair after being bit by a brown recluse while wearing a muddy wedding dress and a bright blue garter belt?"
"Uh..." I winced. "Can we forget that?"
"Nope. OK...just tell me what happened, then. I'm listening, Alice."
I took a long breath to steady my nerves. "It started when my mom married Garth..."