Keeping Secrets in Seattle (10 page)

I feigned amazement and took a big gulp from my glass. Just as the silence between Alicia and me stretched toward becoming awkward, the bridesmaids came parading out of their dressing rooms wearing their red gowns. Rose wore a light sheath of a gown with a low back and plunging neckline; Kate’s was a floor-length taffeta number with bustles; Marissa was grinning in a dress that bore intricate beading on the front that rivaled her giant teeth in the sparkle department; Rose strutted like she were walking a runway in Milan; and Shawn’s skin positively glowed in her strapless wrap gown.

Alicia walked down the line of girls, surveying their presentation, while Juanita furiously took notes on her pad of paper. After examining each of the bridesmaids thoroughly, Juanita waved a hand and barked, “Be gone! All of you!”

The row of now-deflated women skulked back to the dressing rooms, and Alicia turned to me with an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I picked a color I thought would work for everyone.”

“I thought that they looked great.” I craned my neck to see the girls as they left the room, trying to see what flaws Alicia was referring to. A tiny seed of doubt sprouted in my mind as I saw Juanita’s and Alicia’s heads together, hissing back and forth about how the bridesmaids had all looked atrocious. Alicia’s face was pinched, and she was waving her arms wildly as they spoke, and I was dying to hear what they were saying.

She ignored me and focused on the seamstress, who was clicking her tongue at her notes. “What did you think, Juanita?”

“Jes, zee brunette needs to drop a few pounds, if it iz okay to zay zo.” Juanita spoke in an accent I couldn’t place. Certainly not Spanish, as her name would’ve suggested.

“Of course you can say so,” Alicia confirmed. “
I’ve
been telling her that for weeks.”

“And zee blonde should consider zeeing a dermatologist, if you azk me. Zee ozzer two would be fine, but zey look like absolute hell in zat color. You’ll want to ztick them in the back of the pictures and dim zee lights,” Juanita announced with a scowl.

I pretended to be completely captivated by the pattern etched on my glass, and my gut churned. If this was how Alicia treated her thin, perfect friends, then what was she going to say to me? Or behind my back when I’d left? Good grief, could the bridesmaids hear what they were saying? I looked longingly at the glass doors leading to the street and wished that the building would catch on fire so we would have to evacuate.

Alicia just rolled her eyes and flopped down on the couch next to me. “These girls think this is a joke. Good Lord, I caught Rose eating scrambled eggs the other day, and we’re not talking scrambled egg whites. We’re talking about the
whole
egg.”

I gulped. Alicia was a wedding Nazi. Dread set in as my turn in the hot seat approached. I listened to her rattle off the diet plan she’d set up for her bridesmaids shortly after asking them to be in the wedding and began to daydream about falling dreadfully ill on May fifteenth.

A few minutes later, the girls came shuffling back into the room wearing a new variety of dresses. I noticed that Kate was now holding her middle in as tightly as she could, causing her neck to vibrate, and Marissa’s giant white teeth were now hidden behind her trembling lips.

Alicia walked along the line of women, plucking at invisible lint and tugging on hemlines. “What do you think? We could take the skirt off this one and attach it to the top of this one? And is this a good length for everyone?”

Juanita began whipping her tape measure around violently. “Jes. I think we will want to hide the calvz on zis one. Zey look like jarz of mayonnaise.”

Alicia nodded in agreement.

I flinched and crossed my ankles underneath the couch.
Note to self: buy some Spanx before the wedding.

One by one, all of their faces dropped as their flaws were scrutinized, then catalogued on Juanita’s pad. They were each measured carefully, not one inch of their bodies left untouched by the yellow tape. Then they were ordered back to the dressing rooms to get
into their own clothes. Sure that I saw Shawn swipe at her eyes quickly as she left the mirrored room, I felt strangely sympathetic toward the bridesmaids as they all stumbled away, their egos officially knocked down a few pegs.

“I am going to find some ozzer samples,” Juanita said, shaking her head as she stomped out to the showroom. She stopped after a few feet and waved a hand at Alicia. “Come!”

Alicia jumped up and ran behind her like a faithful puppy.

“Holy shit…” I sighed under my breath before draining my glass. This was going to be painful. Right as I reached for a refill, a puffy-eyed Shawn emerged from the dressing rooms and grabbed the champagne bottle.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a hushed voice, emptying the champagne into her glass. “I need this. Badly.”

I shook my head. “Agreed.”

Shawn threw her head back and drank most of the champagne in one gulp, then flopped down next to me.

“You all right?” I asked.

She stared down at the floor in a daze. “I’m about to spend about a thousand dollars on a dress I will never wear again.”

I nodded. “I think I’ll have to wear my dress to work a few times…maybe while I am cleaning my apartment, too. Hell, I might wear it every day for a year.”

She laughed quietly, then looked over her shoulder carefully. “I might try to resell mine.”

“Ooh, that’s a good idea.” I smiled at her. “My mother would kill me, though. She would say it’s tacky to resell it. She has a closet of dresses she’s only worn once.”

“Does she shop a lot or something?” Shawn took another sip of champagne, and hiccupped.

I almost pointed out that she might want to slow down, then remembered that she was a model. This and a cigarette would probably be her lunch. Instead, I just nodded enthusiastically.

“I’ll bet your dad didn’t appreciate that. My dad used to hate my stepmother’s shopping obsession,” she said.

“I didn’t have a dad growing up.” I folded my arms across my chest, the early morning wine making me more forthcoming than usual. Before too long I was going to share the story of how badly I wanted a kitten as a child. “Well, I had a few stepfathers, but never a
dad
, you know?”

Shawn nodded. “It was the opposite for me. Lots of stepmothers, but no real mom.”

I sighed happily. “Then you understand why I loved Gabe’s parents when I was a kid. I still do. They’re like my surrogate family.”

“It would have been nice to find a surrogate family when I was little,” she mused.

I looked down. “I don’t know why I told you all of that.”

“Because it’s ten
a.m.
, and you’ve already had a glass of champagne. And because you think you have to explain yourself to me.”

“So true. I don’t want all of you girls to think I am just hanging around trying to steal Gabe away from Alicia. I’m not. I’m just…part of the Parker family. I know that’s hard for her to understand.”

One of Shawn’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t be too sympathetic, Violet. Alicia’s not as fragile as she pretends to be.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She took another long drag. “I mean…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Alicia knows exactly where you stand with Gabriel’s family. She knows you’re a part of them, and she’s going to change things.”

Worry churned inside of me. “Why would she do that?”

“Because you take the focus off of her. Gabriel, Nora, Gabriel’s sisters, everyone. They’re drawn to you, and they’ve accepted you, and she is jealous.”

“Of
me
?” I didn’t get it. She had no reason to envy me. She had Gabe completely wrapped around her finger.

Shawn shrugged. “Because of how Gabe feels about you.”

“She’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s marrying into this incredible family, and she’s got
him
.” My voice broke at the end of my sentence.

Shawn looked at me closely. “Alicia Long doesn’t compete with anyone. Not other models. Not other hostesses at her job. Not other women, including relatives or best friends. She’s got her eye on the prize, and she’ll stop at nothing to get it.”

I furrowed my brow. “Why did you say her name that way?”

Shawn looked at her glass thoughtfully. “If you look far enough into Alicia’s past, you’ll figure it out.”

Good Lord, I was walking around in a living, breathing episode of
Dallas
.

“What’s the prize?” I squeaked.

She shivered and glanced at her watch. “The prize is Gabriel. And we’d better get this fitting wrapped up soon. I’ve got a bus to catch.”

I gaped at her. “What did you say?”

“I missed my bus coming here, so I had to catch a cab.” She patted her hair to make sure it was still in place. “I can’t afford another cab home.”

I gasped. “I thought you hated bus people.”

“Shhhhh.” Shawn looked around carefully. “My car broke down three months ago, and I haven’t had the money to fix it. I can’t afford to park it anywhere in this city, anyway.”

“You’re a closet bus rider?” I whispered.

Shawn nodded. “It makes sense here in the city.”

“I hate Gabe’s giant car,” I grumbled. “Talk about excess.”

“Well, he’s got to have a nice car to drive Alicia around, you know. She likes to travel in style.” Shawn winked at me.

“Well, if she’s so anti public transportation, why doesn’t her rich daddy buy her something to scoot around in? Does she love Gabe at all? Be honest.” My chest tightened.

Shawn nodded. “Yeah, I think she does. But…and if you tell anybody I told you this, I’ll deny it…I think when she saw Gabe, she saw an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yeah. Think about it. Hot, young ad exec. One sister is an architect. The other sister and her husband own a successful CPA firm. Dad is a college professor. Mom is a lawyer.” She watched as the wheels in my mind started to turn. “Look at the house they live in. Look at Gabriel’s car and his apartment. She saw an opportunity, and she took it.”

“That little gold digger—”

Shawn sighed sadly. “I used to love my friend. Really, I did. But…over the past few months, I’ve seen her in a different light.”

Anger bubbled in my gut like a cauldron. “Why are you still in the wedding?”

She chuckled bitterly. “Because I’ve already forked out three hundred dollars for her bachelorette party and another seventy-five for her bridal suite. I’m going to get through this wedding, and then I will stay as far away from her as possible.”

I opened my mouth to release an arsenal of swear words to describe my feelings on Alicia but heard the shuffle of Juanita and the lovely bride-to-be returning.

Juanita looked at me over the top of her half-glasses. “Iz zis the one who iz ztanding wiz ze men?”

Alicia glanced her shoulder at me. “Yes. Violet is the one we need fitted for the black dress I picked out.”

“What kind of woman standz on ze manz zide?” Juanita spat.

Alicia’s white cheeks pinked prettily. “She’s my fiancé’s oldest friend. It’s a little…unorthodox. But we’ll make it work.”

I stood and turned so that Juanita could measure my arm span. I wanted to Chuck Norris roundhouse kick Alicia in the face but couldn’t make a scene. Shawn had planted a pumpkin-sized seed of doubt in my mind, and it was growing at a rapid rate. Alicia didn’t deserve Gabe. She didn’t deserve any of the Parkers.

Juanita barked at me from below my armpit, where she was measuring my bustline. “What size are you?”

“A…size eight.” Irritated, I glanced down at her and nodded briskly.

She glanced at Alicia over the lenses of her half-glasses and they exchanged a ‘
yeah, right
,’ look.

Juanita grunted. “Iz not your size.”

Alicia touched my arm and batted her eyes at me sweetly. “Listen, Violet, it’s important to tell the truth. We don’t want to have to take it out later on. It’s an awful hassle to add fabric.”

I hated her. I wanted to hurtle myself over Juanita’s head, land on Alicia’s skeletal frame, and scratch her eyes out all over the white carpet.

“I said what size are you?” Juanita’s voice echoed, and Shawn looked down at her glass.

Flabbergasted, I hissed down at her. “Twelve, all right?”

I noticed that Alicia’s expression took on a wicked quality as the other girls began emerging from the dressing rooms. Rose looked like she was planning to escape into the plush bathrooms in a few minutes to purge, Kate looked just plain pissed off as she furiously punched buttons on her phone, and Marissa glowered at Juanita as if she were wielding a knife instead of a tape measure.

“Okay, you go to ze drezzing room, and try on ze dress Alizia picked out for you,” Juanita ordered. “Go. Move your big behind.”

I scooted off toward the changing rooms, every set of eyes in the room wearing holes in the back of my head. I wouldn’t be able to hide what I looked like in this dress behind a birdcage hairpiece or hot-pink fingerless gloves in this get up. Nope. It would be me, the dress, and the eyes of five hundred guests scrutinizing the way I looked.

Groaning, I unbuttoned my blouse and peeled my skirt off while the conversation tensely picked back up in the mirrored room. I heard Marissa’s commanding voice first. “Well, when I get married, I’m going to let each girl pick her own dress. We’ll just have them all made in my signature color.”

“Which is?” Rose asked.

Alicia giggled. “Purple.”

All the girls gasped like this was a cardinal sin.

“Shut up, you guys,” Marissa said. “It’s been my signature color since I was thirteen.”

Shawn piped in. “When Ivan and I get married—”

“How long have you two been together now?” Kate sounded bored.

Shawn sighed contentedly. “Four and a half years. We’re waiting until he gets his doctorate to get married.”

“Isn’t he, like, thirty now? For heaven’s sake, get out and make some money,” Alicia chimed in.

“Well, he really loves anthropology.” Shawn’s voice was metered. “And money isn’t a big deal to Ivan. We just want to travel, and—”