Falling From Grace (44 page)

Graham eyed me suspiciously.
 
“You’re actually going to wear it, aren’t you?”

I nodded my head.
 
It was either that or attend the wedding in jeans and my Jack Skellington shirt.

“I think you’ll look beautiful,” was his reply.

Surprise covered my face as I looked at him.
 
“The last time you saw me in a dress was over ten years ago!
 
How would you know whether or not I’d look ‘beautiful’, as if that were even a possibility?”

“You forget that yesterday, you were wearing a skirt, and a skirt is, I think, half a dress; you looked beautiful in it, so I’m gonna bet that if you looked beautiful in half a dress, you’ll look twice as beautiful in a whole one,” Graham said emphatically, his head nodding with every other word.

My chest felt warm as several feelings all piled in together to fill up my heart.
 
They were all trying to get my attention, but the one I ignored was the melancholy that seemed ready to shout “Why now?”

I grabbed his hand and pulled him in for an awkward hug.
 
His tall, athletic frame against my thin, moderately short one, hampered by stiff, plastered limbs made for an odd pairing, but we managed to make the embrace work.
 
“Thank you, Graham.
 
You really are a good friend.”

“Of course I am.
 
I know my talents.”
 
He pulled back, forcing my release, and opened the front door for me.

“Dad, Janice
—
I’m home!” I shouted.
 
I stared at the little table that sat in the little hallway that was supposed to hold your keys, wallet
—
whatever it was one took when they had an active social life.
 
I had nothing to place there, and that fact suddenly caught me off guard.

“Graham, remind me the next time we’re near the mall that I need to get a purse,” I said to him as we walked into the living room.
 
Dad was sitting in his recliner, reading a very thick book
—
it had babies on the cover.
 
“What are you reading Dad?”

He looked up over the pages and smiled at me.
 
“Hey kiddo.”
 
He nodded to Graham.
 
“Hey Graham, there’re sandwiches in the kitchen.”
 
He waited until Graham had left us alone before he continued, “This is supposed to be the best baby book on the market, and since it’s been so long since you’ve been in diapers, I thought I’d bone up on what to do.
 
Did the weather hold up at the cemetery?”

I nodded.
 
“It was a nice day.
 
The ground was a little wet, but it always is this time of year.”
 
I sat down on the couch next to him, my face anxious for him to tell me how the appointment went.
 
“So, where’s Janice?
 
How’d the doctor’s visit go?”

He looked at me, puzzled.

I could have slapped myself.
 
He hadn’t told me about the doctor’s appointment.
 
Robert had, and not having much experience in the lying department left me at a loss for words to try and recover from the gaffe.

“Did Janice tell you about the appointment?
 
I thought she had wanted to keep it private, what with the worries she’s had and all.
 
Oh well,” he looked at the page he had been reading, committing it to memory, and then put it down to focus on our conversation.
 
“According to the obstetrician, the baby is doing very well.
 
Janice is a little over thirteen weeks pregnant, and if she can make it three more weeks, then she’ll be past the most dangerous point.
 
This book says that we can find out if it’s a boy or a girl by your birthday.
 
Wouldn’t that be a great present?”
 
He was beaming.

I couldn’t help but smile back.
 
“Not to mention cheap!”
 
The fact that my birthday fell on Christmas had always meant dual purpose presents, so the idea that he was referring to it specifically as my birthday felt good.

“So, tell me about your morning.
 
What did you do besides visit Mom’s grave?”

Did I have the courage to tell him?
 
He’d find out sooner or later…
 
“Well, Robert stopped by this morning
—
he brought over a flower for me to take to Mom’s grave
—
and he asked me to go with him to a wedding for a family friend
—
the flower was really beautiful.”

Dad’s face held absolutely still, his expression frozen on his face.
 
It was dismay.
 
I didn’t even know if he had taken a breath in the last few minutes, he seemed so distracted by what I had told him.
 
I was ready to shout out for Janice to call 911 when he sighed, his shoulders slumping, and started speaking again.

“I guess I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, the two of you dating I mean.”

I bit my lip, trying to figure out what exactly I could say to bring back the cheer he had had when reading about changing dirty diapers.
 
Mostly though, I was trying to figure out how it was that he knew something like this would happen when I didn’t.

“Is he going to pick you up, or are you going to be needing a ride to this wedding?”

My hands were gripping my knees very tightly, the plaster against plaster on my right side making it a bit easier to try and not focus on the next bit of information I had to share.
 
“Um, Dad
—
he’s coming to pick me up.
 
He kind of has to, since he’s bringing my dress.”

“He’s what?”
 
Dad’s eyes grew wide with shock.
 
“He’s bringing you a dress?”

I nodded, “He’s buying it, actually, since I don’t own anything even remotely dress-like.”

And then I saw it.
 
Saw something that I didn’t expect to see on his face.
 
He smiled.
 
The corners of his eyes crinkled up, and in that moment, he looked very young.
 
He was pleased, happy.

“He’s actually getting you to wear a dress.
 
Will wonders never cease.”

I wanted to say that it was only because Robert was an angel, and had supernatural sway when it came to my reservations but I knew that wasn’t true; and even if it were, Dad would have laughed at me, and agreed without knowing that I was being serious.

Instead, I simply shrugged my shoulders and threw his words back at him, “It was going to happen sooner or later.”

Graham came out of the kitchen then, his hand wrapped around a massive submarine sandwich, his mouth full of food.
 
And still, he managed to spout out a question.

“Did she tell you about the dress?”

I threw my hands up.
 
“Really, is this as momentous an occasion as you two are making it out to be?”

The looks on their faces echoed the answer that my conscience had started screaming before the question had even left my lips.
 
Yes, this was a momentous occasion.
 
I was going on my first date, and I was doing it in a dress of all things.
 
There wasn’t anything more momentous that that.
 
Not in the life of your average teenager.
 
Unless, of course, you weren’t average, and that first date happened to be with an angel…who could fly…and read minds.

Graham had insisted on waiting for Robert to arrive.
 
Dad seemed to think this was a great idea, and the two of them had no problem sitting on the sofa and watching one guy related movie after another for the next few hours while I tried to figure out what exactly I had to do to get ready.

I took a long shower, scrubbing my skin until it glowed red from all the friction.
 
I shaved my left leg and my armpits, and even borrowed a pair of tweezers from Janice to trim the stray strands of hair that floated above my eyes.
 
My eyebrows, thank goodness, were the only things on my face that I believe are perfect.
 
No need for zealous plucking or shaping.
 
They had just the right arch, thickness, and length, and I cannot believe I just said that.

In my boxers and tank top, I sat on my bed, waiting.
 
I smelled like a fruit salad, having allowed Janice to drench me in some of her pastel body lotions and sprays.
 
She even gave me a tube of lip gloss that, she said, “would look good with anything because it’s sheer.”
 
I’d take her word for it because that was as far ahead as I’d allow her to get.

I knew I’d have to wear a little bit of makeup, but I just wasn’t sure to what degree.
 
That dress was becoming more and more of an irritant to me and it was mainly because I wouldn’t know what it would look like until it was here.
 
What color would it be?
 
What length?
 
I certainly hoped it wasn’t short.
 
I didn’t want my casts to be the focus of conversation, and unfortunately, as useless as they were, I simply couldn’t remove them either.
 
Only two weeks had gone by since the accident and by all accounts, I shouldn’t even be out of bed, much less walking around without crutches.

Robert’s healing ability had saved my life, but it had also made me one big fraud as well, and that was weighing on my conscience.

I looked at the clock on my dresser and scowled.
 
It felt like the clock was teasing me; I had no doubt that if it could, the numbers would scroll backwards, drawing out the tension for as long as possible in the hopes that I’d explode from being wound too tight.
 
My fingers began a tapping rhythm against my leg, my impatience rapping out a beat that grew faster as each minute ticked by.

I had my window open, willing the sound of a motorcycle, car, bus
—
anything to announce Robert’s arrival.
 
I was beginning to feel the twinges of doubt that he’d even show up when I heard the doorbell ring.
 
I rushed to the window to see if there was another vehicle outside, but I saw nothing.

“Stupid solicitors,” I mumbled.
 
I stared at my fingernails, deciding whether or not it would be acceptable to start chewing on them when I heard Dad call my name.
 
I looked at the clock on my dresser.
 
Five o’clock, on the nose.
 
Of course he’d arrive exactly on time, just as he’d said.

Trying to look as uninterested and as calm as possible, I descended down the stairs and walked into the living room.
 
Three male figures were standing there forming a triangle of male aggression.
 
Graham had his arms folded against his chest, while Dad had one hand braced across his abdomen and the other was rubbing his chin, as though he were contemplating something of dire importance.

The apex of this unusual triad was a beautiful creature dressed all in black, his face serene, as though the tension that seemed to choke even me had no effect on him.
 
He was holding up a garment bag in one hand, a large, separate store bag in the other.
 
He knew I was coming down before I had even taken a single step out of my bedroom door, knew that I had been excited, knew that I was trying to keep all of my emotions reigned in.
 
And he liked it.

“Hello, Grace.”

My cheeks hurt, I was smiling so widely.
 
“You’re on time.”

“I told you I’d be here at five.
 
I hope you didn’t doubt me,” he said, smiling back.

Dad’s cough and Graham’s grunt reminded me that they were still in the room.
 
“Is that the dress?”

He handed me the two bags, and nodded, “Your dress, a pair of matching sandals, and some extras to pick and choose at your discretion.”

I eyed them warily.
 
“Will I know how to put them all on?”

A voice from behind me answered, “I’ll help you.”
 
Janice grabbed the bags out of my hands and nudged me towards the stairs, pulling me when my feet refused to budge.
 
“Come on, let’s get you dressed.”

When I climbed up the first two steps, I turned to look behind me.
 
The triad were now all looking in my direction, watching me leave an awkward caterpillar.
 
Would I return as a beautiful butterfly?
 
Or would I return as the caterpillar version of James Gumb?

I swallowed my fear and apprehension and continued up the stairs.
 
Janice was already in my room, the garment bag hanging up in the closet, the other bag’s contents dumped out on my bed.
 
I closed the door behind me, needing the few moments that doing so required to commit to what I was about to do.

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to Janice.
 
Her face was lit with excitement.
 
I could see that she was looking forward to this about as much as Dad wasn’t.
 
“Are you ready to see it?” she asked me.