“Oh, you better keep it on all night.” I toss my head, sothat the veil flutters. “I’m not taking mine off.”
He scowls. “Yours isn’t plastic.”
“Then you need to allocate more of your budget to James’s silly hats.”
“Are you kidding? This isn’t even the whole collection. He has a problem.”
“I think it’s delightful.”
“You haven’t had to live with him for twelve years.”
Twelve years. Was that when they immigrated? There are still so many things I don’t know about Sid. Even if our marriage is fake, I should know them. Not that I haven’t tried asking, but I could try harder. I run my free hand along his bicep and smile. “How did you meet everyone? Where did you guys come from?”
His eyes slide over my hand, then back to my face. The muscles in his arms are tense against my fingers, but he softens the longer I smile at him. This ridiculous veil is proof that I’m being nice to his friends, which makes it harder for him to brush me off. He can make fun of James all he wants, but his crew are family to him.
“Vancouver,” he says at last.
“Really? But that’s so far away!”
“I know. That’s where James came in. He was the only guy Silas and I knew who could sail a boat.”
“Aboat? How’d you get your hands on a boat?”
“Yeah, it’s a long story. And I want to tell you. You deserve to know, but… we’ve got other things we need to focus on.” He inclines his head down the gravel path.
That’s when I see her. April sits on the front steps, determinedly looking at no one, plastic flowers tucked into a braid that wraps around her head.
“Right.” I give Sid’s arm a parting squeeze and walk toward her, hoping the cloth headdress doesn’t make me look too ridiculous for a serious conversation.
“Hey, wanna talk?” I try to keep my expression light, not a small feat given the sharp pucker of her mouth.
“Oh,nowyou want to talk.” April rises, sticking her nose in the air as she heads into Silas’s apartment. At first, I think she’s trying to walk out on me, but she tosses a look over her shoulder. “Well, are you coming?”
“Fine.” I would rather talk to April without an audience, anyway. Once I’m inside, she locks the door. I take a deep breath. “First off, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything this morning. But I wanted—woah! What are you doing?”
April shoves a towel into my arms. “I’m taking you to the wash house. You need a bath. Then, we’re fixing your hair.”
“Excuse me?” I try to fight her, but she’s surprisingly forceful.
“And you’re wearing this.” She presses a flimsy dress covered in sunflowers into my arms.
“April, it’s too cold for this.” I only wear it at the height of summer. Half the time, I swim in it.
“I told James you would say that. But seeing as it’s the only dress you own, it’s what you’re wearing.” April pushes me down the hall towards the washhouse. “Don’t worry, they’re making Sid do this, too.”
“Fine,” I say. “But only because I’m so relieved you’re not pissed with me.”
“Pissed? Kayla, I couldmurderyou! How could you do something like this without telling me?”
“Then why are you playing along with this whole wedding thing?”
“Because James let me have some makeup an old girlfriend left behind. He said so long as I dolled you up tonight, I could keep it.” She pulls two tiny tins and some thin brushes out of her pocket. “This one’s made with charcoal. And I think this is beetroot?”
“Why are you so easy to buy off?”
She shuts the washhouse door. “Get in the tub. We can argue while I untangle your hair.”
I grunt and pull off my T-shirt. The tub has already been filled; James really did think of everything. It’s not warm, but I’ve rinsed off in colder streams. I sud up with a bar of lye soap, occasionally bracing my hands on either side of the tub as April mercilessly yanks a comb through my curls.
