A Life Beyond Us novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Green Dress

Maura's POV

"Arms up," Bridget said.

I put my arms up, and she dropped the dress over my head.

It was dark green, and I had bought it three years ago for the second wedding and never worn it.

Bridget zipped it with a nurse's quick pull and stepped back.

"Oh," she said. "Oh, you're going to ruin that room."

"It's too tight in the hips."

"It's exactly tight enough in the hips."

She turned me to the mirror on the closet door.

My hair was pinned up, and she'd done something with my eyes that made them look larger and less tired.

I looked like a woman who knew what she was about to do.

"The lady from the lodge says yes?" I asked.

"She says she hasn't been to a party since 1994 and she wants a corsage."

"Did you get her one?"

"It's in the car. It's orange. She was very specific." Bridget picked a thread off my shoulder. "She's riding with me. I'm picking her up at seven."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Mau. Thank me when Darcy goes down."

Downstairs, a truck door slammed.

Tom came in through the kitchen and stopped in the hall when he saw me.

He stood there with his keys in his hand.

"Don't," I said, "you'll make me cry and Bridget will murder you."

"I won't say anything."

"You're saying it with your face."

"It's all I've got." He swallowed. "I got her on the tape."

"Tell me in the car."

He held up the phone, and I saw the little red mark where the memo had stopped.

Hugh came down the stairs behind him in a charcoal suit that had to be at least five years old.

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