He fought the very real urge to shuffle his feet. “Hi. I’m, ah, Clarence.” He gently shook her hand.
“Wolfe,” Dana said, helping him out. “Everyone calls him Wolfe because it’s his last name.”
“What a lovely last name.” Dana’s mom kept his hand. “You can call me Evie.” She leaned in to him, smelling like fresh roses. “I will preemptively apologize for subjecting you to our crazy family en masse like this.”
“I fit in with crazy, ma’am,” he admitted.
She chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it. I rented Dana a room over the main clubhouse for the night, so you can have that. Dana can bunk in with Katie, who didn’t bring a date and won’t tell me a thing about her love life.”
Wolfe kept perfectly still so as not to scare the nice lady. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
Evie patted his arm. “You’re a sweet one.” Her eyes widened. “And so strong.” She felt his bicep.
“Mom!” Dana protested.
Evie rolled her eyes. “He just has nice muscles, and your father could use some help setting up the chairs on the lawn overlooking the river. Wolfe, do you mind helping?”
“Not at all.” His collar felt too tight, even though he wasn’t wearing one. Escaping was a good idea. “I’ll, ah, check in with you later, Dana.” He whistled for Roscoe, who’d disappeared in the flowers. Then he turned and almost ran toward the area near the river.
“Oh, my. I think we’ve already scared him,” Evie worried in a whisper that followed him.
Dana’s responding laugh immediately lifted his spirits and calmed his nerves. He slowed and looked at the dog. “I may have miscalculated here.”
Roscoe snorted.
* * *
Dana looked at herself in the full-length mirror and then wished she hadn’t. The odd shade of purplish green washed out her skin, and so far, makeup wasn’t helping. The bodice was straight across, leading to puffed sleeves that made it look like she was wearing shoulder pads. The dress was tight across her stomach and then flared to end right below her knees. “Ug.”
“Mom?” Charlotte yelled from the other room.
“She went to make sure Dad was changing into his nicer clothes,” Dana yelled back. She studied her image, trying to find something positive about the dress, but nothing came to mind. When she moved, the shimmery material moved from an ugly green to an even uglier purple. “This sucks.”
“Shut up,” Lissa muttered, shuffling in from the bathroom. “At least you have several inches of height to lengthen the lines.”
Dana turned around, coughed, and then clapped her hand over her mouth. Her younger sister looked like a green grape. She tried to hold down the laugh as tears filled her eyes, but her body shook anyway.
“I hate you,” Lissa said, an unwilling smile tipping her lips. “Though you look like a bruised kiwi.”
Dana let the laugh loose and then regained her control, only to lose it again when Katie stomped into the room.
“What hell did we ever unleash on Sally to earn this as retribution?” Katie snarled, the green dress with its puffy sleeves somehow flattening her size Bs.
“Well, didn’t Charlotte steal her boyfriend in the sixth grade?” Lissa asked, trying unsuccessfully to pat down the sleeves.
“That was you,” her twin reminded her, coming in from the other room looking as bad as Lissa.
“Oh yeah,” Lissa said, giving up on the sleeves. “Charlotte? I can honestly say I’ve never seen you look so bad.”
Dana shook her head. Charlotte was a health nut and had an incredible body, and it had to have been a personal challenge for Sally to find a dress that was unflattering on her. But Sally had succeeded.
Lissa tossed a ringlet over her shoulder. “I say we stage a rebellion.”
It was surprising Lissa had waited this long to make the suggestion. “I think you’re mellowing in your old age,” Dana observed.
“Being twenty-eight does come with responsibility,” Lissa agreed. “Now. How about we cut off the puffs and shorten these skirts by about four inches to just above the knees?”
Dana glanced at Katie. “We shouldn’t.”
