Nervously, I stepped out, smoothing the dress down on my sides. I looked up at her. “What do you think?”
Her eyes were shining. “It’s perfect. Just perfect.”
“You think?”
“Come look at yourself in this mirror and you tell me, beotch.”
Giggling, I stepped up on the platform and stared at myself in the three-way mirror. This was it. This was the one.
chaptertwenty-six
That night I tried on my dress again and called Jeremiah. “I found my dress,” I told him. “I’m wearing it right now.”
“What’s it look like?”
“It’s a surprise. But I promise, it’s really pretty. Taylor and I found it at the fifth store we went to. It didn’t even cost that much.” I ran my hand along the silky fabric. “It fits me perfectly, so I won’t have to get alterations or anything.”
“So why do you sound so sad, then?”
I sat down on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. “I don’t know. Maybe ’cause my mom wasn’t there to help me pick it out.… I thought buying a wedding dress was supposed to be this special thing you do with your mom, and she wasn’t there. It was nice with Taylor, but I wish my mom had been there too.”
Jeremiah was quiet. Then he said, “Did you ask her to go with you?”
“No, not really. But she knew I wanted her there. I just hate that she’s not a part of this.” I’d left my bedroom door open, hoping my mom might walk by, might see me in the dress and stop. She hadn’t so far.
“She’ll come around.”
“I hope so. I don’t know if I can picture getting married without my mom there, you know?”
I heard Jere let out a little sigh. “Yeah, me either,” he said, and I knew he was thinking of Susannah.
The next morning, my mother and I were eating breakfast, my mother with her yogurt with muesli and me with my frozen waffles, when the doorbell rang.
My mother looked up from her newspaper. “Are you expecting someone?” she asked me.
I shook my head and got up to see who it was. I opened the front door, figuring it would be Taylor with more bridal magazines. Instead, it was Jeremiah. He had a bouquet of lilies, and he had on a nice shirt, white button-down with faint blue checks.
I clapped my hands over my mouth in delight. “What are you doing here?” I shrieked from behind my hands.
He hugged me to him. I could smell McDonald’s coffee on his breath. He must have woken up really early to get here. Jeremiah loved McDonald’s breakfasts but he couldnever wake up early enough to get one. He said, “Don’t get too excited. These aren’t for you. Is Laurel here?”
I felt swoony and dazed. “She’s eating breakfast,” I said. “Come on in.”
I opened the door for him, and he followed me inside to the kitchen. Brightly, I said, “Mom, look who’s here!”
My mother looked astonished, her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Jeremiah!”
Jeremiah walked over to her, flowers in hand. “I just had to come and greet my future mother-in-law properly,” he said, grinning his impish grin. He kissed her on the cheek and set the flowers by her bowl of yogurt.
I was watching closely. If anybody could charm my mother, it was Jeremiah. Already I could feel the tension in our house being lifted.
She smiled a smile that looked brittle, but it was a smile nonetheless. She stood up. “I’m glad you came,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to talk to the both of you.”
Jeremiah rubbed his hands together. “All righty. Let’s do this. Belly, get over here. Group hug first.”
My mother tried not to laugh as Jeremiah gave her a bear hug. He motioned for me to join in, and I came up behind my mother and hugged her around the waist. She couldn’t help it: a laugh escaped. “All right, all right. Let’s go into the living room. Jere, have you eaten?”
I answered for him. “Egg McMuffin, right, Jere?”
