‘Whatever. It was a stupid idea.’
He took pity on me. ‘Look, maybe there’s something in your mother’s wardrobe that you could borrow?’
‘You’re joking, right?’
‘Have you ever heard me joke?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you smile.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Mom and I don’t share the same taste in clothes.’
‘Obviously. Your mother always makes an effort to look nice, whereas you…’
‘I’d think carefully before finishing that sentence, if you want me to make your dinner before I go out.’
‘I’m starting to think frozen TV dinners would be a better option anyway.’
‘You’re so ungrateful.’
‘And you’re so predictable. One little obstacle or problem, and you take the easy way out.’
‘No, I don’t.’
He stared straight at me. ‘Oh really? Isn’t that why you married that Hamilton boy?’
I felt like he’d slapped me, my lungs sucking in air sharply. The old man was more astute than I gave him credit for. ‘Get out,’ I snapped.
‘Gladly,’ he retorted, lifting his walker and turning it. ‘There’s just no helping some people.’
‘I never asked for your help,’ I yelled after him.
I waited until he was gone, poking my head around the doorframe to make sure, then quietly went into my mother’s room, sliding open her floor-to-ceiling wardrobe doors. The racks were crammed tight, and first impressions weren’t good and confirmed my earlier suspicions. There was a lot of color, and a lot of patterns. Spots, stripes, florals, geometric shapes that made my eyes hurt. I flicked through the coat hangers, discounting them all.
‘Nope, nope, nope,hell no,not a chance, disgusting, nope.’
I was just about to give up when I saw something wedged between two floral dresses. It wasn’t black, but then nothing in my mother’s wardrobe was. It was close though, a kind of dark navy, and shiny. Intrigued, I pulled it out and laid it down on the bed to examine it.
It wasn’t something I’d normally ever wear, but maybe that was the point. Ray’s earlier words were stuck in my head like an annoying little ear worm.
‘Where on earth would she have worn this?’ I muttered to myself, lifting it up again and holding it up against me so I could see how it looked in the full-length mirror.
It was a beautiful shade of dark navy blue, and shiny, like satin, but made from polyester. It had a strapless sweetheart neckline, with boning for support, and an asymmetrical hem, shorter at the front and longer at the back, with a split up one thigh. The hem was ruffled for romantic effect. It was a gorgeous dress, there was no denying that, but was I brave enough to wear it? It was completely over the top for The Cozy Catch restaurant in little old Pine Harbor, but I was still stewing over Ray’s comments. I’d give him ‘make no effort’ and ‘off to a casual funeral’.
When I opened the door to Jack almost bang on eight o’clock though, I realized I’d made a horrible mistake.
‘Holy crap,’ he said as he looked me up and down.
‘That’s exactly the reaction a woman wants when she opens the door.’
‘It was a good “holy crap”,’ he reassured me, his eyes wide and appreciative. ‘Areallygood “holy crap”.’
The dress was snug and revealing, but in the sanctuary of my own bedroom and with a wine under my belt, I’d felt brave enough to pull it off. In front of Jack, reality came crashing back in, and I felt ridiculous, as though I may as well have been naked.
‘That’s it, I’m changing,’ I said.
He dragged his eyes up my revealed thigh, over my bodice and up to my eyes, blinking. ‘What? Why?’
