My mouth dropped open involuntarily as the realization that I was going to be backed into a corner hit me full force. “Well, fuck.”
““Exactly. So, what are your favorite colors? And are you Tigrinya or Tigre?” Jada pulled out her phone like she was gonna take notes.
“I’m Tigrinya but how did—”
Vanya stood up on her toes since she was several inches shorter than I was. She still spoke loudly so everyone heard what she said.
“She has already started looking into this I can guarantee you.”
“I’ll give you my number—”
“Already have it. I was just waiting for Pippi’s day to be done before I pestered you. Now, you’re on the clock. Now if y’all will excuse me, I have to show Smoke that lil cubby I was talking about earlier.” Jada’s brows bounced playfully and Smoke wore a big grin on his face.
My brain was spinning, and everyone seemed to wait for me to say something. “Time for your Smoke break?”
Jada’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands tickled at Vanya making a joke about them. “See, Pippi! You’re learning. I’m not so bad. Tell your friend.” Smoke wrapped his arm around her either oblivious or used to her chaos. Since I wasn’t I was still stunned as the two of them walked away.
Vanya gave my shoulder a squeeze trying to restore normalcy as chaos exited to find a place to fuck. “You’ll get used to her, I promise.”
“No, I don’t think I ever will.”
“I’m sorry there’s no way in the world I’m going to half-ass anything and put my name on it.”
Because of course having a quickie with her man, that had probably not been quick at all judging by the way her updo was fully demolished, hadn’t stopped her from thinking about her next wedding despite the current one being in full swing. I’d been trying to convince her that she didn’t need to put too much effort into my wedding with Ori but I’d clearly said the wrong thing.
“Why do you care so much?”
“Because this has my name on it. You’re a doctor so you wouldn’t allow some bullshit publication to use your name and likeness and pretend to be happy with the contents of the work if it wasn’t up to your standards, right?” She waited with the patience of a person who knew they were already right.
She had me there and I couldn’t deny it.
“That makes sense.”
“I said it so of course it does.”
Her head tilted to the side once again and I wanted to laugh but I was sure that it wouldn’t be appreciated. I understood how she felt because it was easy to slip in and out of madness. There was no doubt that Jada was clinically insane but the same could be said about me. She was the type of woman who didn’t play about her respect so watching her hold it together had to be how people felt observing me.
“Touché.”
“Glad we can agree,Posh. Now, I’ve already had the designer of yourHabesha kemisselected and I ensured it came from the best Tigrinya designer there was.”
I had no clue how she’d only been gone for an hour but had someone in mind that she was going to use to make my dress. And she’d had sex with her man in that time so maybe they were right and she truly had started to plan this while she was wrapping up details of Vanya’s wedding. This place had been done beautifully so I could tell she really did care about combining the cultures that would be represented. “It didn’t have to be—”
She wagged her finger her face tilted like a petulant child about to pout. “I don’t half-step, I thought we made that clear? I have your measurements—”
“Where did you get my measurements from?”
“They were in your file.” She spoke so bluntly about this file that I was questioning myself on whether I’d known about this file and simply forgotten it.
“My file? What file?”
“The one that they have on you. That they have on all of us. That’s how this works. How do you think the dress you’re wearing right now fits so well? Now, as I was saying, whatcolor do you want the embroidery to be on your gown for the traditional gown? I know that you’re still doing a regular western ceremony.”
I was speechless my eyes looking down at the dress that did in fact fit like a glove and then back up to her. “And how do you know that?”
Jada rolled her eyes not enjoying me giving her a taste of her own medicine. “Because everything about you is a blend of traditional culture and modern-day style. Your clothes are traditional but they are also bold. You focus more on well-tailored pieces and combine them with how you feel. So are we going with blue or—”
“Red. Like flames.”
