Mom winces. “Is it a little tight?” she asks the tailor. Then she turns to me. “Maybe you should size up.”
I glance down. It doesn’t feel tight. I check the mirror, but the fabric isn’t pulling or bunching anywhere.
“It’s not tight,” Katherine says. “It fits you just right.”
“It’s personal preference,” the tailor says. “But it’s cut on the bias, so it’s not meant to be loose. I’d say it fits perfectly.”
Mom raises her eyebrows but doesn’t say anything else. The excitement I felt when I first saw myself ebbs away. At least the tailor and Katherine like it, though I worry sometimes that my sister’s support is just her way of trying to protect me from the sharpest edge of Mom’s criticisms.
Katherine stands and we go back into the changing rooms together.
“You really do look beautiful,” she says as I go behind the curtain to change. “Just ignore Mom. You know what she’s like.”
“I know,” I say. “She wants me to be you. Sadly for both of us, I’ve never managed it.”
“I get her sniping too,” she says. “Just not as badly as you.”
“I guess,” I say, pulling the curtain open. “I just have to ignore it. It’s hard. She’s the voice in my head. God knows what she’s going to say about dinner at the bachelorette party.”
Katherine laughs. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about her, then. You know what she’s like when she’s got an audience. She has to put on the show of being the perfect family.”
“Right,” I say. “Except we all know we’re not.”
“You know what I always think?” Katherine asks. “Her parenting is a great manual of how not to bring up two daughters. When it’s our turn, we have to embrace our kids’ differences.”
“And let them grow and change,” I insist. “I’m not still the goofy kid I was at fifteen.”
“Right,” she says. “You have a great job. A great apartment. You’re an amazing friend and sister.”
Just not the perfect daughter.
“So have you met up with Hunter again since you went to his apartment?” she asks, a mischievous look on her face.
I shake my head. “Just been messaging.”
“He’s such a great guy, you know. He’s the best friend to Ed. He’s so loyal and supportive of this wedding and our relationship.”
“Does he need to be supportive of your relationship?” I ask. I think back to what Hunter said about Katherine not being perfect, and how he finds her irritating at times. I wonder how supportive he actually is. Sounds to me like Katherine isn’t his favorite person. Not that I’m going to say anything to her.
“It helps for your friends to be supportive, doesn’t it?” she asks.
“For girls. I don’t really understand how it works for guys.”
“I know Ed feels like Hunter’s been great—stepping in a few times when Ed’s been caught up with wedding stuff, that kind of thing.” Hunter strikes me as a guy who’s focused. When we met, he just ... wasn’t focused on the bachelor party. But he found the house, and he responds to my messages the first time I send them. If he’s been filling in for Ed, too, that must add some pressure. Maybe I’ve been a little hard on him. He’s been pretty cooperative since that day at his apartment. That was the last time I actually saw him. He was so ... kind to me. “He’s a good guy,” Katherine continues. “And ... very good looking, don’t you think?”
“If you like that kind of thing,” I reply.
“Do you?” Katherine asks.
For a second, I wonder if she’s asking because Hunter’s said something. But it seems out of character for him. Anyway, he hates me.
“He’s not my type,” I say.
Katherine scrunches up her nose. “Not at all? His body is ...” Her eyes light up.
“Katherine!” I admonish. “You’re getting married in a couple of months.”
“Married, not buried. Hunter’s a good-looking guy with a great body. I don’t know how he does it, because he’s a total workaholic.Maybe he’s lifting weights during meetings? Getting his steps in at a walking desk? Or maybe he doesn’t sleep.”
