Ten
Nancy stood in front of the mirror, dead-eyed, while Ari fussed around her like a woman possessed.
‘Turn.’
Nancy turned.
‘Hmm.’ Ari tapped a finger against her lips. ‘It’s good. But we can do better.’
Nancy resisted the urge to remind her that she had, at best, mild enthusiasm for this whole situation. Well, the money anyway. Instead, she yanked at the neck of the sequined dress she’d been stuffed into as if adjusting it might somehow make her feel less ridiculous. But it was no good. She looked like a mirror ball.
The shop was the kind of place Nancy would normally avoid on instinct. It was the sort of boutique where the staff looked at you like they could guess your salary within seconds. Ari, of course, fit right in.
‘This one is fine,’ Nancy said flatly.
‘Not if you hate it,’ Ari countered.
Nancy sighed and looked at herself again. It was fine. The cut was good, the fit was sharp. That was enough.
Ari, unfortunately, had other ideas. She gave Nancy a critical once-over, then flicked through the dresses on a nearby rail, the silk and chiffon whispering as they slid over each other.
Nancy closed her eyes briefly. She was tired. They still had a few more hours on the road before they reached the venue, and every minute wasted in this shop was another minute she wasn’t in the car, getting this whole thing over with.
‘We should go,’ she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘We still have to drive—’
‘We’re staying in Edinburgh tonight.’ Ari said it like it was already decided.
Nancy frowned. ‘No, we’re not.’
‘Yes, we are. The festivities don’t actually start until tomorrow, and the wedding is the day after. Today is just the big receiving. We don’t need to be received.’ Ari plucked another dress off the rail and shoved it at Nancy. ‘Try this. Then we’ll go have a nice dinner, and in the morning, you can drive us the rest of the way.’
Nancy stared at the dress, then at Ari, who looked pleased with herself.
She inhaled slowly. ‘I hate this.’
Ari shrugged and smiled. ‘I know.’
‘OK, that’s it.’
‘What’s it?’
‘I’m picking my own dress.’
Ari’s eyes flashed panic. ‘Oh, well…’
‘You said it won’t look good if I don’t like it, yes?’
‘Yes, but…’
‘Then you don’t get a say. Just let me choose.’
Ari moaned and rolled her eyes. ‘Tell you what. You’re going to need a few outfits. I’ll pick… I’ll help you pick what you want to wear to the wedding, and you can pick for the other days.’
‘No. As I told you, I’m not Chauffer Barbie. I will pick all my clothes, and you will pretend I look exactly like you want me to look.’
Ari turned over the offer. ‘You drive a hard bargain.’
‘I drive a Mercedes,’ Nancy shot back. ‘That’s exactly why I’m putting down some boundaries on this. We’re way out of the bounds of my job here.’
‘Are you ever really in them?’ Ari said playfully.
But Nancy was in no mood to play. ‘I have to have a line, Ari,’ she said curtly.
Ari’s eyes dropped. ‘I do know that,’ she said.
‘Then, please, for the sake of this working, respect the line. Go and sit in the car, and I’ll purchase outfits for both days and put them on your mother’s credit card. And when we are done, I’ll come here and return them. OK?’
‘Why would you return them?’ Ari asked, baffled.
‘Because I won’t need them after this. And I don’t like waste.’
Ari looked so thoroughly foxed at that comment that Nancy was sure she was going to argue. But then she shrugged. ‘Whatever you say,’ she said in a tone of obligingness that Nancy had never heard come out of her mouth before. ‘Don’t forget shoes,’ she said, and off she went.
With one last glance at the door Ari had disappeared through, Nancy strode toward the nearest rack, already calculating how to get through this with her dignity—and her sanity—intact.