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“What happened?” he asked.
I swallowed and hesitated. On the one hand, I didn’t want to be the one to tell him. On the other, it would be best if he heard it from me.
“Mom may have ruined Maddy’s dress.”
“Continue—”
The incident replayed in my head as I decided what parts to share with Simon.
Shortly after eleven, Mom had found me playing ring toss with a couple of our guests. She’d said, “Sadie. I need you for a few minutes.” Her gaze had turned to the couple I was with. “Excuse us please, I have a small emergency. Sadie will be right back.”
She’d dragged me to another part of the garden and checked to ensure no one could hear us. She was grinning wildly before she spoke. “There was a terrible accident.”
When she put air quotes around the word accident, and I’d braced myself.
“What? What happened?”
“It wasn’t my fault. I was admiring the gardens when someone snuck up behind me. She said something and startled me. I spun around and the tumbler of red wine I was holding splashed all over her pretty dress. Over Maddy’s pretty dress.”
Goosebumps had risen on my arms. “Mom, you didn’t!” My emotions had roiled: happiness and anger in the same moment.
Mom was a scrapper. Maybe I should have predicted she’d try to avenge any insult against me. I sighed. As much as I wanted Maddy to be brought down a peg or two, I hadn’t wanted Mom to do it. Not here. Not at the first party Simon had ever hosted.
She had planned it. That was obvious because Mom didn’t drink much. I’d never seen her with a tumbler full of red wine. If she had one in her hand, she had plans for it and they didn’t involve drinking.
“I’m waiting,” Simon said, bringing me out of my reverie.
“Right,” I said. “I didn’t see it happen, and this is only my mother’s version of events. She said Maddy startled her, and she spilled her glass of red wine on Maddy’s dress.”
Simon chuckled. “I would love to have seen that. I guess that’s why we didn’t see the McDonalds leave.”
“And why they didn’t come to the brunch today.” I stifled a grin. “I hope that won’t cause trouble between you and Michael.”
“No worries on that score. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t enjoy that outcome as much as I do.”
Silence settled over us as he continued to brush my hair. After a while he asked, “What else worried you? Obviously, Maddy’s hijinks and your mom’s retaliation can’t be enough to make you throw away everything between us.”
I swallowed hard. “Did you notice the dress Opal Davenport was wearing?”
“Didn’t everyone?” The brush started at my right temple and swam all the way down to the end of my hair at my elbows.
I purred at the sensation. “I said I really liked the way the sequins on her bodice and hem glittered under the light.”
“Priceless!” Simon started to laugh. This time his reaction irritated me. I was in a crisis, and he was responding like I was doing standup. When he finally stopped laughing, he said, “My fault. I should have told you she was wearing a Hua Min original.”
“I don’t know what Hua Min means or implies.”
“Apologies.” He sounded contrite. “Sometimes I forget how little status symbols mean to you. Hua Min is a Singapore designer who caters exclusively to an extremely wealthy clientele. She has dressed everyone from royalty to pop stars, and she handpicks her clients. The thing is, she never uses fake stones. Opal’s dress is set with diamonds. Not zircons. Not rhinestones. Opal was probably hoping to introduce you to Hua Min herself.”
He thought for a minute. “Don’t worry, we won’t be rubbing shoulders with women with diamonds sewn into their clothing very often. Next time you’ll know better.”
Would I? Or would I always stumble through these social events, only opening my mouth to change feet? Even though Simon was trying to encourage me, despair settled around me in a cool cloud. I mean…diamonds sewn into a dress. How could I have known? Mom was right. I didn’t speak this language or know the prevailing customs. Even if he wasn’t embarrassed, I was. Not copping a spanking was fine, but how could I hold my head high with people after they’d witnessed my clumsy attempts at small talk.
I sighed. “But it wasn’t just those two things. It was like every time I spoke to someone, something stupid came out.”
I could have told him about another handful of gaffes—major embarrassing moments—but if he hadn’t heard and didn’t ask, I wasn’t going to offer any details. I’d forget about them and hope the stories wouldn’t reach him.
“Right,” Simon said and set the hairbrush down on the table beside him before he started massaging my scalp, thoroughly messing the hair he’d just brushed. I reached to straighten it, but he gently blocked my hand.
