“Is she invited?”
“I haven't decided.”
I waved Patty over with a nod. My coffee cup was empty again. “I’m not sure how I bring it up. Let me think about it.”
“Anything else I can get you ladies this morning?” Patty asked.
“That's it. Thank you.” I plucked the check from her hand before she could put it on the table.
“I miss seeing you two for lunch,” Patty said.
Yeah. Me too.
“We'll get back to it soon. As soon as the wedding is over, probably. Between planning and work, I'm swamped,” Amy said. I hoped she was being sincere. Some semblance of our old normal would be a nice change.
Patty was hailed by a customer a few tables away and I mumbled goodbye.
“Let me think about Aunt Lucy. I'll come up with something. I'll get you that necklace.”
“Please don't make a big deal of this. I can ask Luke's mom if she has something old. Or I can buy something at a vintage shop.”
Amy was trying to keep the involvement from our side of the family at a minimum. I couldn't exactly stage a protest. If anyone understood why she felt that way, I did. “Please let me do this one thing. Okay?” Now I was determined, not only because Amy deserved this but because maybe this would be a chance to patch things up with my grandmother. It had been so many years. Maybe it would give me a new perspective on everything that had happened. That might help me tell Eamon. It might help me see myself in a new light. I wanted to be able to do that. I was tired walking around the world feeling like a semi-fulfilled adult. I wanted to be a fully actuated one, and that meant putting to rest at least some of what had happened in my childhood.
“Do you think I should invite them to the wedding?” Amy asked.
“I think it would be a nice gesture. They probably won't come. But at least you would've made the effort.”
Amy pressed her lips into a thin line and pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Adding their names to the guest list.”
Maybe this could be a good thing. “Now I know what to tell Aunt Lucy if she asks.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Right. Now let's get to the shoe shop. If I'm not on time to my fitting at Vera Wang, it'll be murder trying to get a new appointment.”
I slid out of the booth and followed Amy out of the diner. It was a chilly day today and threatening rain. “Cab it?”
“I say we walk. It's only about ten blocks.”
And so we did, although those ten blocks consisted of three avenues across before we turned and walked seven streets south. We didn't talk much and I didn't really know what to say. Amy was being so weird about the wedding. She was not being herself, but it wasn't like I had anything to compare her behavior to, so I just let it go.
The visit to the shoe shop was quick. They sold only bridal shoes, which could've meant a long visit since they seemed to have about one million choices, but Amy had already made her selection—super blingy and sky-high. I was, once again, about to call bullshit on her tirade about low-key and unassuming, but Amy had always loved cute shoes. Who was I to deny her? She paid and we hustled over to Vera Wang, making it in the knick of time.
I sat and waited as the shop woman got Amy set up with the proper underpinnings. I wasn't quite prepared for the moment when she came out of the dressing room though. I'd already told myself it was okay to cry. I was basically the stand-in for our mother at that point, and it not only made sense that I fall apart at some point during the day it would be expected of me. I just hadn't planned on sobbing.
“Good Lord, Kat. Get a grip.” Amy stood on the carpeted pedestal and admired herself as the folks from Vera Wang did their thing with Amy's hem.
“I can't help it.” As surreal as that night had been in front of the shop window, this felt even more like a dream, like it wasn't really happening. And yet, I knew it was. The feeling that our mom should be here right now was overwhelming. She should've been here to see her youngest daughter looking perfect in her wedding dress.
“Does that mean you like it?”
“It's even more perfect on you than it was in the window.”
Amy pulled up the skirt just enough to show off the shoes. “I think these work well.”
“Yep. Also perfect.” I nodded, slowly regaining my composure and grabbing a tissue from the generous box sitting on a side table.
