They Ranked Their Daughters, So We Chose Each Other novel · Chapter 2 of 24
Chapter 2: The Connecting Door
The sisters compare actual invitations and discover both were manipulated; they claim connected rooms instead of a ranked suite. A welcome breakfast has only one guest-of-honor chair.
Audrey stopped outside the dressing room and let go of my hand.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what part?" I asked.
She looked down at the unfastened bow tie.
"I nearly blamed you," she admitted.
"I nearly apologized for not wearing a dress," I replied.
She opened the door with her elbow.
Inside waited two gowns on matching padded hangers.
One was pink and one was pale blue.
Both had little cards saying FOR THE WINNER.
Audrey looked from one card to the other.
"They've prepared for a tie," she said.
I sat on the stool beside the mirror.
There was mud on my hiking trousers too.
"Will they mind this?" I asked.
"On the stool?" Audrey said.
"Probably less than they'd mind you being comfortable."
She hung her jacket on a hook and opened her overnight bag.
An identical black bow tie lay in a clear pocket.
"Spare," she explained when she saw me looking.
"For emergency formality?" I asked.
"You'd be surprised how often it happens here."
She took out her phone and found the invitation.
Caroline had asked her to welcome me as the evening's host.
Black tie, an intimate gathering, no performances required.
I showed her my message about the garden.
She read it and sat on the edge of the empty dressing table.
"At least you dressed for your invitation," she told me.
I looked at the two waiting gowns.
"Who chose those?" I asked.
"Caroline," she answered.
"Who gets the other one?"
"Nobody, apparently," she said.
She turned both little winner cards face down.
A knock came before we could decide whether to laugh.
Caroline opened the door without waiting.
"We're arranging your rooms," she announced.
"May can have the blue suite."
Audrey looked toward her mother.
"That's my room," she said.
Caroline touched the sleeve of the blue gown.
"We want her to feel special."
"She's already got a room," I said.
Caroline smiled at me.
"We have plenty of others, darling."
"Then give me another," I replied.
Audrey looked at me with such surprise that I felt embarrassed for her.
She shouldn't have needed to be grateful for that.
Caroline drew back from the dresses.
"I was trying to make this easy."
"There are rooms opposite each other," Audrey said.
"The little guest rooms," Caroline answered.
"They connect," Audrey told me.
"We used to put cousins there."
"I like a connecting door," I said.
Caroline looked between us.
"You're sure?" she asked me.
"Yes," I answered.
She went to tell somebody without asking Audrey again.
Audrey picked her jacket up.
"You don't have to give things up for me," she said.
"I'm choosing a different room," I told her.
She nodded slowly.
Then she held one of the gowns in front of herself.
The skirt was wide enough to cover the stool and my boots.
"This one's got pockets," she said.
She put her hands into them and brought out two padded tissues.
"Decorative pockets," she corrected.
I laughed so hard I had to take my coat off.
We carried our bags to the small guest rooms ourselves.
The connecting door opened against a thick carpet and stopped.
Audrey pushed with her shoulder.
It moved a little, then rolled the carpet underneath itself.
"A room for people who already get along," she said.
I used the heel of my boot to flatten the carpet.
The door swung open.
Audrey put a folded towel beneath it to keep it there.
"Useful shoes," she told me.
"Very promising," I answered.
She smiled without trying to look polished.
Downstairs, a bell rang for tea again.
Neither of us moved.
Audrey sat on my bed while I unpacked a clean shirt.
"Breakfast is less formal," she assured me.
When we went downstairs later, the dining room was already laid.
One velvet chair stood at the head of the table.
A little card on its cushion said DAUGHTER OF HONOR.
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