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“No!” The voice inside was female, and I knew instantly it must belong to Holly. “He’ll think I can’t do anything!”
“Maybe we can go somewhere else,” Toby suggested.
“Like where? This is the only place with the right kind of clothes!”
There was a muffled sob, some cursing, then the curtain slid open and Holly emerged. The dressing room looked as if a tornado had hit it, with clothes piled every which way.
Holly’s face was tense, her eyes red and puffy. Toby wrapped his arms around himself, looking small and worried.
“I’ll just have to keep looking.” Holly squared her shoulders, but her voice quivered with uncertainty. “I have to look nice. It’s a wedding.”
“Maybe you could just not go,” Toby said tentatively.
“But I have to go,” she said, her tone sharp. “I was invited by your grandma and her friends. What will people think if I can’t even manage to buy a dress and go to a wedding? I-I-I…”
Maisie and I had both frozen, paralyzed by the scene unfolding before us. But Holly seemed ready to completely melt down, and that was enough to get me moving.
“Hey, Toby!” I said brightly, as if nothing were wrong. “Holly. How are you two doing?”
Toby turned to me, eyes beseeching. “Clark! Could you call my dad? I think my mom needs him.”
“No, I’m fine!” Holly cut in. “I don’t need any help. I can handle shopping for a dress by myself.” She laughed nervously. “Toby just gets impatient with me, that’s all. Kids, right?”
Toby frowned, but he didn’t argue. From what I’d seen, she wasn’t fine. She sounded embarrassed though, so I didn’t want to call her bluff.
“I wouldn’t know,” I said lightly. “I hate shopping. I brought my friend along for support.” I waved toward Maisie, who’d hung back a few steps. “She’s better at this sort of thing. Hey, Mais, weren’t you thinking of getting a dress today too?”
I sent her a look I hoped conveyed that I needed her to play along. She came over and smiled. “Yeah, I sure am. Maybe we could help each other out? I need a woman’s opinion, you know? Clark will just tell me anything looks good.” She winked.
Holly exhaled shakily, glancing between us as if she knew we were up to something, but she obviously needed the lifeline too much to protest. “That would be great, actually.”
Maisie looked past her toward the dressing room. “Oh, this one is really nice,” she said, pointing to a dress hanging on the door.
“You think so?” Holly sounded uncertain.
“I said it looked nice, Mom,” Toby said.
“You said that about everything,” she said. “I just…I want to fit in, but I don’t really know the styles around here.”
Maisie took the dress and handed it to Holly. “You try this on.” She looked into the dressing room and selected a second one. “This is gorgeous too, but I’m stealing it for me. Luckily, we’re about the same size.”
Holly gave a watery laugh. “Yeah? Okay.”
“I’ll try it on next door, then we can model for each other. These boys can go pick out some wedding gifts since they’re useless with clothes.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “Right, Toby?”
“Yeah,” Toby said, still sounding subdued.
Once the women closed themselves into the dressing rooms, I turned to him. “Are you okay? I could still call your dad if you want.”
“No, don’t. Mom would only get mad.”
“You’re sure?”
Toby looked at his feet, rather than me. “Yeah, she’s okay now. It just happens sometimes. I forgot how it could be.”
I tentatively put a hand on his shoulder, but he stepped away. “I should pick out this gift so she doesn’t worry about that too.”
