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Aggie pats Renata’s cheek. “She doesn’t understand. How could she? Just let her alone.”
I don’t know why she’s so annoyed. “I’ll borrow it. Thank you very much.” I think that’s the best compromise I can broker at this point.
“The salesgirl said you can’t sit down in it. You’ll bend the feathers if you do,” Renata yells as I go into the spare bedroom to strip down and carefully pull the magical dress down over my head. I would have loved for Teddy to have seen me in this, but when I walk into Always and Forever, I will be wearing my cool-girl cardigan. The one with foxes and mushrooms on it.
“I’ll zip you up,” Aggie says from the doorway.
“Are you unwell?”
“Just an acute lack of youth.” Even pulling the zip causes her to grunt. “There. You look how I feel on the inside.” A faint smile touches her mouth. “You know that you’ve done something extraordinary tonight, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Melanie did all the work.”
“You’ll be helping us set something right.” Aggie pulls my ponytail out from the neck of the dress with care. “Thank you for taking the dress. It means a lot to Ren that you did. We never had children. But you, dear Ruthie Maree, are the closest we ever got. You and Theodore. We’re going to leave the door unlocked tonight. In case he comes back.”
I exhale and nod. I pull my hair tie out and my hair tumbles around my shoulders. “Shall we go?”
“We’ll be along shortly. You go
ahead.”
It’s eerie, walking through Providence in my miraculous swan princess dress. The air buzzes with the sound of electric mobility scooters. Weaving side to side, the residents dodge the tortoises. I open the rec center doors, switch on the sparkling lights and mirror ball, and the walls fracture into every color, spinning around us. My phone has a text from Mel: Running a bit late, just hit play on the playlist. I do, and the first song is an old one. I hear voices whoop in excitement.
My residents stream in, dressed to the nines. Some have dates. Some have brought their families. I get to hug each one hello, but also goodbye. When they find out I’m leaving, they’ll say it’s a shame. Once they find out I’m running away to try to recapture the heart of the tattooed boy who cleaned the gutters shirtless for the Parlonis, they’ll give me full endorsement.
“I have never in my life seen anything so beautiful,” Mrs. Whittaker tells me in the doorway. I can’t tell if she means the glittering room, or my dress. “If only I had a date. I bet you can’t tell looking at me, but once upon a time, I had plenty of options.”
“Three boyfriends at the same time. Yes, you told me. And I’m in awe. I’m hopefully about to get just one boyfriend, but he’s a special one.” Electric, dazzling, beautiful Theodore Prescott. Please hold on for me. I’ll be there soon.
It’s only when the room is mostly crowded that I notice the Parlonis are nowhere to be seen. I’m just walking to the door when they step in, and they are hand in hand. Now that I am in love, I understand everything.
The Parlonis are not sisters.
How have I never noticed the way they look at each other? The hands folded together, the times I’ve walked in to find them leaning together on the couch? They walk in together, backs remarkably straight, heads held high.
Renata looks around at the room, eyes defiant. I know now what their old wound was: they couldn’t go to the prom with each other, and it’s been carried around on their relationship like a scar.
If they were expecting a scene, they don’t get it. If they were expecting judgment or disgust, there is none. The Parlonis are glanced at and then forgotten in favor of the refreshments. I walk over to them as they halt underneath the mirror ball that has somehow transformed the entire world tonight.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Renata used the word gullible earlier to describe me and I feel it now. “Didn’t you trust me?”
“She finally gets it.” Renata smiles, and in this light she looks about twenty years old. “My beloved wins yet another bet.” She lifts Aggie’s hand to her mouth and kisses it. “I owe you twenty dollars.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask again.
Renata replies. “Your father is a reverend. At first we didn’t say, because I didn’t want to find out that you’re a jerk. And it’s just easier. People have assumed we’re sisters our whole lives. But not anymore.” Renata looks around the room. “This feels like what I thought it would. Even if I’m old.”
I smooth down a feather on my dress. “But you know I’m not a jerk. I really did think you were sisters. Did Teddy know?”
Aggie says, “He knew the first day.” Both smile. “We weren’t trying to keep a secret deliberately. We’ve just lived this way for a long time. It hasn’t been . . .” She can’t think of the word. I think it hasn’t been easy.
Renata gives me a look. “It’s our business. But times have changed. And your prom was just in time.”
“You should get married.” I hope I haven’t overstepped as they carefully exchange looks. Then they smile.
“You’re starting to get it,” Renata tells me. There’s approval in her eyes. “You’re starting to realize that life is too short. You’ve got to find that person you love.”
“I think I lost him.”
