Page 11 of Break Out

“Your sister is trying on her dress. Come sit.” She waves us over to where the rest of Clara’s bridal party are already seated on a large couch, sipping from champagne flutes.

A few minutes later, my sister comes out of the fitting room wearing her dress, a white lace strapless mermaid style—I think that’s what I remember her calling it—dress. Our mother hurries to her feet, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. Whirling around, she snaps her fingers for the sales lady, who scurries over. I can’t hear the words that are exchanged, at least my mother has the decorum to keep her voice down, but there’s a lot of head shaking and pointing. From where I sit, the dress is pretty and seems to fit Clara well, but apparently my mother disagrees. Finally, my sister goes back into the fitting room to take it off. I guess that’s as much of it as we’re going to see.

“So, Aubrey,” My mother says, sitting down on the couch next to me. “I found you the perfect date for the wedding. He’s a neurosurgeon—“

“Mother,” I interrupt her, “I’m perfectly capable of finding my own date. Or, you know, going alone. Is that such a big deal?”

She looks me up and down. “Go alone?” Her voice pitches higher at the end. “Absolutely, positively not. I told you I’d find you a date, and I did. His name is James. Nice boy.”

“Mother.” I groan, trying not to roll my eyes. “I have a date.”

“Aubrey Elizabeth, if you’re lying to me,” she says, all but glaring at me.

I glance over at Bri, silently asking her to jump in and save me. Or at least back me up. But she only widens her eyes at me. Guess I’m on my own. Before I can answer, Clara steps out dressed in regular clothing, and the bridesmaids scurry to the fitting room.

“What are we discussing?” Clara asks, taking a seat on the couch.

“Your sister’s date to the wedding.”

“Oh lovely,” Clara says, leaning around Mother. “I think you’ll like James. He’s friends with Chet.”

Of course he is.

Chet, her perfect lawyer fiancé. Chet who plays golf at the country club every Saturday morning with his equally perfect friends. I take a deep breath, counting slowly back from ten in my head. “I’m sure he’s perfectly nice. But I have a date.”

“Oh don’t be silly, Aubs. When have you had time to find a date? We know all you do is work. Can’t be good for your social life.” Clara shakes her head.

Every day she’s a little bit more like our mother. I don’t know how Bri or I escaped that curse, but I thank my lucky stars I have at least one sister on my side.

“I’m in a relationship with someone actually,” I blurt out.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Why did I say that?

“Oh really?” Mother turns back to me.

“Yes,” I say, the lie tumbling out of my mouth. “We’ve been doing the long-distance thing because he lives here. We wanted to see how things went before we told anyone.”

Shit, what the hell am I saying?

Guess this is happening. There’s no going back now.

“Oh.” She tuts. “Who is he?” She shakes her head at me like I’m a child that she’s caught in a lie. “Aubrey Elizabeth, you’d better not be making this up.”

“It’s Brody, Mother. You remember Brody Thompson?” Bri bristles behind me and jabs me in the back with her finger, but I ignore it. I say a silent prayer that Brody doesn’t kill me.

“Brody, as in the kid who played hockey and never went to college? The sophomore you tutored your freshman year?“ I can hear the disgust dripping off her tongue. She’s got certain standards for her children’s partners. They must have college degrees and come from well-to-do families. Well, what she considers well-to-do.

“Yes,” I say, ignoring the barb. “He plays professional hockey for the Orlando Storm. You know, the National Hockey League team here in town.”

“How lovely.”

I sigh hearing the sarcasm in her voice. Clara has been silently staring at me, her eyes wide, mouth open. Before I can say anything else, the bridesmaids step out from the fitting room and Mother is on her feet to inspect them.

Clara leans over and whispers to me, “I know you’re lying about you and Brody being together, but I’ll keep my mouth shut. For now. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.” With that, she hops to her feet and goes over to her bridesmaids.

What have I gotten myself into?