“We offer time slots by appointment only.”
“Oh. Um. When’s your next available appointment?”
“We just had a cancellation for tomorrow. Otherwise the next available is a week from Thursday.” I snagged the eleven o’clock appointment for the next day, only then realizing that if the dress wasn’t good on her, my secret machinations would probably hurt more than they would help. But, I rationalized, if the dress was good, I had just freed up the next two weekends and made dress shopping less complicated.
At 10:40 the following morning, I marched into Caryn’s office and told her we were going to lunch. She looked up at me, then glanced down at her diamond-encrusted watch, an engagement gift from her fiancé’s parents. “It’s too early for lunch.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t eat anyway. What do you care?” I came behind her desk and opened her drawer, then pulled out her purse. “Just come on. I have a surprise for you.”
She looked at me warily, but stood and took her purse. “What’s actually going on?”
“You’ll see when we get there.” I pushed her shoulders toward the door. “Come on. I have an Uber coming in three minutes.”
Caryn peppered me with questions as we made our way to the Uber, but I didn’t tell her what we were doing until we arrived at the salon. “I have an appointment here next weekend,” she said, confused.
“Let’s just try something.”
“Lily, I don’t want to try on more dresses today.”
“Just one. For me?”
She looked upset and I wondered again if I had made a mistake doing this, but she stepped out of the car anyway. I checked us in at the front desk and a mousy-looking woman named Rita came forward and greeted Caryn. “I have your dress waiting for you,” she said. “But I’m happy to pull more as well.”
Caryn turned to me. “What dress? What’s going on?”
“I looked at your Pinterest,” I said. “You pinned the same one three times. They have it here. Let’s just try that one. If it’s no good, we’ll go back to the office and we can do the rest of the appointments. But this one is with just me, and I’ll be honest if it’s not the right dress. Okay?”
She looked doubtful. “I don’t even know which dress you mean.”
“It’s right in here,” Rita said, gesturing toward a fitting room. “Can I get either of you some champagne?”
We both refused, and I sat down on the sofa outside the dressing room to wait for Caryn. She sighed, but handed me her purse and complied. Rita went in with her. That didn’t seem like an enjoyable part of the experience from the previous weekend, but I had never been a big fan of stripping in front of strangers, despite my behavior at Megan’s engagement party.
I scrolled through my social media feed while I waited and a text message from Megan came in. WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!
WOOHOO! I replied. CONGRATULATIONS! She had texted me a Redfin listing a few days earlier, and I scrolled up in the conversation to see the pictures again. The house was small, but cute. The wallpaper in the dining room was a disaster, and the people who were selling it had atrocious taste—based on the sheer volume of commemorative plates, it was possible they were old enough to have died in there, necessitating the sale. But with some paint and new furniture, it had potential.
When do you move in?
We close in three weeks and will move after that!
I replied with celebratory emojis, then went back to the listing to look at the price. Whoa. I can barely afford my rent.
“Lily.” I looked up to see Caryn mounting the block in front of the three mirrors, the dress’s train in her right hand and butterfly clips holding it shut at the back.
I studied her reflection as she turned to examine the dress. “Wow,” I said quietly.
“You think?”
I nodded, my eyes actually welling up. “It’s perfect.” It wasn’t what I would have chosen for myself, but Caryn looked better than the models in the Pinterest pictures had.
She turned sideways. “It doesn’t make my butt look big?”
I shook my head. “Caryn, this was made for you.”
She smiled slowly. “I think—I think this is it.” She turned to Rita. “Is it available in ivory?”
I looked up sharply. “What’s wrong with white?” If she had heard Caroline’s comment, or if Caroline had said it to her face after I left, future sister-in-law or not, I was going to murder her.