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“Hey. Of course. You do enough for me. For all of us. And it’s a rare day when you actually need or want my help. I was happy to do it.”
A rare day when you actually need or want my help. I hadn’t realized that I’d been so resistant to help. Maybe I do need to get better about accepting support instead of always giving it.
Well, let’s not go that far.
But the dress is beautiful.
The doorbell rings, and Sophia goes to answer it.
She comes back with Mama.
The scent of Chanel N°5 hits me before she does. Then I’m wrapped in silk-covered arms, with air kisses on either side of my cheeks. “I had to see you.”
“It’s not prom.”
“It’s not every day one of your daughters goes on a date with a Hughes.”
Fake date, I hear in my head. It’s only a fake date. There’s no reason for me to feel so out of my depth with it. It is fake. It just has to look real. We’ll go to a real restaurant and eat real food. We might have a real kiss at the end of this night.
“Let me look at you,” she says, standing back. “Sophia dressed you? You have an eye, darling. She looks ravishing. I wouldn’t have picked it off a rack, but look at her. She’s stunning. He won’t know what to think.”
I’ve never heard so many kind words from my mother, one after the other. Oh, she loves her children in her own distracted way. But a loveless marriage and a grueling social status have always taken precedence in her life.
“Thanks, Mom.”
I feel almost embarrassed at how much I like myself in this dress.
“There’s one more thing,” Sophia says.
One more thing turns out to be a bloodred lipstick. She wipes off what I had before and replaces it with a bold, sensual color. It makes me look worldly and brave.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask, even though I can’t change it. I can’t even look away. That’s how impressive the woman standing in front of the mirror looks. It’s only a pretend situation, like the date itself, but in this moment it doesn’t matter.
When we come out of the bathroom, my mother claps. “Perfect. Now, Eva. You and I have never talked about this before, but if he asks to come for coffee after the date—”
“Mom.”
“Are you going to tell her about the birds and the bees?” Sophia asks, looking delighted.
“She has to know,” my mother says.
“I’m thirty-three years old.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” she says, her tone soothing. “You’ve never been interested in boys. In fact, your father wondered if perhaps you were interested in women.”
Pain forces my eyes closed. If only they knew that I lost my virginity when I was nineteen. I gave more than my innocence to that man. “I’ve had sex before.”
“Oh.” My mother blinks.
“Please don’t look so shocked.”
“This is fascinating,” Sophia says, eyes bright with humor.
“I don’t understand why you aren’t having this conversation with her,” I say, pointing at a sister who’s having way too much fun with this.
“Everyone knows Sophia’s had sex.” My mother.
“Does the scarlet letter on my clothes give it away?” Sophia asks.
