AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Iadoreher,” Jessi assures me. “What are you girls up to?”
“I’m trying to help Laura find a dress for this banquet…”
“Oh! Oh, oh, me, too!” Jessi squeals. “I’ve figured out shoes and jewels, but the dress? Pfft. Nothing here has come close. I’m thinking of trying J’a?—”
“J’adore?” Alice interrupts. Her eyes are huge. So are Jessi’s. I have a feeling I am in for the most stressful shopping day of my life. “Come with us! I mean… right?”
They both turn to me.
I was not prepared to hold up the charade today… but Jessi has Alice’s pouting downeasy, and I could never say no to Alice on her own. I nod meekly and they let out twin squeals before linking arms with me, one on either side.
The nice thing about this newfound friendship—besides that David is going tohateit, which I can admit does tickle me—is that they both cantalk. Jessi had seemed much more demure at dinner, but by the time we’re looking at gowns at J’adore, it’s like she and Alice have known each other for years.
They keep up a nice prattling pace, and while I’m not quite feeling like a third wheel, I do feel safe enough to take a back seat.
Jessi finds her dress within a few minutes, and even with my limited scope on fashion, I can recognize that it’s gorgeous on her. The dress is pretty and flattering and somehow sexy and conservative all at once.
“How do you do that?” I complain, gesturing to her.
Jessi cocks her head. “Do what?”
“Look… perfect? I guess? I don’t even know what I’m asking. Ignore me?—”
“Oh, hon.” Jessi gathers the gown in her hands and plops next to me on the bench outside the changing room. “I don’t look perfect. I look confident.”
“Is there a difference?” I mumble.
Jessi considers me for a moment. “You know who you remind me of?”
“You?” I venture a guess.
She smiles like I’ve told a great joke. “No,” she says, shaking her head. “David. Not who he is now, but who he was back when I first met him, before Benji was born. He was… opinionated and headstrong and talented.”
I blush immediately. “I’m not those things?—”
“You are,” Jessi interrupts. She places a hand on my knee. “I don’t know you that well, I know, but Lewis talks about you all the time. He used to even before we knew about the David of it all. I know you’re those things, and I know that David used to be, too. But he was also so shy! And so… not used to this world, even though it had always been his.”
I can’t imagine David like that. I tell her as much.
She nods. “He hid it, most of the time. Had to be cocky if he wasn’t yet confident. But underneath it all… I guess what I mean to say is that I see why he’s so enamored by you. Not just that you’re great, which you are, but I can see how similar you two are, at the core.”
She stands up and goes to the rack of dresses she had rolled to the changing room door. She selects one—a deep blue gown with flowing layers of fabric shooting down at the waist—and lifts it up for me to inspect. I stand up and touch the buttery soft material.
“Don’t worry about if other people think you belong somewhere,” she advises. “Whether that’s the courtroom or the ballroom or anywhere else. Just worry if youwantto be there, and everything else will fall into place.”
It’s a split-second decision, but I move quickly like I’m darting away from something, and wrap my arms around Jessi. She’s stiff for just a second as she tries to realize what I’m doing.
We hug briefly, but she’s smiling brightly when I pull away.
“I can see why Lewis loves you,” I tell her. “I think you’d make a pretty good sister-in-law, if you wanted the job.”
Her smile softens and glows. She’s still misty-eyed when Alice comes running in with a pair of shoes I could never afford, waving them at me.
When I finally manage to try on Jessi’s blue dress and Alice’s tall heels, I close my eyes when I turn to face the mirror.
Just think about what you want. Just worry about that, I tell myself.
I open my eyes.
