They weren’t real y talking to each other. It was the same conversation they’d been having since the weddings started. They finished their cigarettes in silence.
“We should go back in there before Mary never forgives us,” Isabel a said.
“Fine,” Lauren said, and drank the rest of her mimosa in one gulp.
The food at the showers was always the same: ladylike salads, teeny sandwiches, cut-up fruit, white wine and mimosas, mini cakes for dessert.
Lauren piled an alarming amount of mini sandwiches on her plate. “I would kil you for a cheeseburger,” she whispered to Mary.
“I might just kil you for fun,” Mary said. “How could you leave me in there alone? I had to write down al the presents by myself. And they kept asking me if I was dating anyone. Then, one woman who was hard of hearing said, ‘What? Who are you dating?’ And I had to yel loudly across the room, ‘I’m not dating anyone!’ ”
“Shut up.”
“Swear to God, it happened.”
One of the bridge friends clinked her glass with a spoon until the room quieted down. “Welcome, everyone! I just wanted to say a few words about our lovely bride-to-be, Kristi!” Everyone in the room clapped.
“Why are they clapping for her?” Lauren asked. “She didn’t do anything.” Mary and Isabel a both shushed her and she just rol ed her eyes. The woman talked about Kristi and how she had watched her grow up. Lauren shoved a whole sandwich in her mouth and chewed while the bridge lady spoke. When Mary gave her a look, she swal owed and said, “What? I’m hungry.”
“Our theme for today is ‘My Favorite Things,’ ” the woman continued. “I hope that everyone is ready to explain the special meaning behind her gift for Kristi!” Then the woman started singing, “Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,” and she raised her arms for everyone to join. Al of the women in the room chimed in, “Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes!” They kept singing and started swaying back and forth. Abby was standing unfortunately close to the woman who’d started the singing, and the woman wrapped her arm around Abby’s shoulders, forced her to move in time with the music, and looked at her with an encouraging smile until Abby started to sing along with her. A few of the women were snapping their fingers. Lauren looked at Isabel a and Mary and said, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?”
They struggled through the lunch and chatted with al of the women. They cleaned up bal s of wrapping paper and stray ribbons, helped clear the plates and glasses, and then carried al of the presents to the car while Kristi thanked her guests. Abby told them that she had an appointment in the city that she had to get back for. “Go,” they al told her. They almost pushed her out the door. “Get out while you can.”
Mary arranged the presents in the back of the car. “It’s almost over, right?” she muttered to herself. “Please tel me this is almost over.”
Kristi asked them to help drive the presents back to her parents’ house, so that they could unload. Then she insisted that they al come inside so that she could show them pictures of what the centerpieces were going to look like. They sat on the couch and tried to admire the pictures. Lauren leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Isabel a was sure she was sleeping.
“So, we should probably try to get the next train,” Mary said, as though it had just occurred to her.
“You guys aren’t staying?” Kristi said. “I thought we could al have dinner and hang out.”
“Oh, I guess we didn’t realize that,” Mary said. “We were planning to get back to the city tonight.”
“It’s just that it’s my shower,” Kristi said. She sounded wounded, like she had just told them it was her last day on this earth and they were leaving anyway. Isabel a could see Lauren and Mary start to panic.
“I know you two have stuff to get back for, but I could stay,” Isabel a said. She hoped the other two appreciated her self-sacrifice. Mary perked up right away.
“We real y do wish that we could stay, but it just doesn’t seem like it wil work out,” Mary said. Isabel a wondered if she was the only person who could hear the joy in Mary’s voice.
“Could you stay over?” Kristi asked Isabel a. “I have a fitting tomorrow and you could come along.”
“Sure,” Isabel a said. “That would be fun.”
Kristi showed Isabel a a tape of the band they had chosen, and then they sorted through some of the shower presents, and discussed whether Kristi should have the band announce the wedding party or not. Final y, they got ready for bed in the room where Kristi had grown up. Isabel a lay in one of the twin beds and looked at a picture of Fred Savage that was stil taped to the bedside table.
“Iz, are you awake?”
“Uh-huh,” Isabel a said.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you think Lauren is acting weird to me?”
“Not real y. Weird how?”
“It just doesn’t seem like she’s happy for me,” Kristi said.
“She’s happy for you,” Isabel a answered.
“I don’t know. She seems a little distant. I guess maybe it’s just hard for her to understand.” Isabel a didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to be in this conversation.
“I mean, Abby’s not real y into the whole bridesmaid thing, but she has her reasons,” Kristi said. “But what I don’t get is why Lauren’s being a pain.”
“Lauren seems fine to me,” Isabel a said.
“It’s just, you know, sometimes I worry about her,” Kristi said.
“Why?”
“I just feel like she’s lonely, you know. Like she’s not meeting any guys and it seems like the way she’s going, she won’t.”
Isabel a was quiet for a few moments. She didn’t know how to answer.
“Wel , the thing is that you don’t meet someone until you do.” Isabel a started off talking slowly. “And the older we get, the harder it is. And maybe not al of us wil meet someone.”
“Wel , you can’t think like that,” Kristi said. “Look at you and Harrison. You found each other.”
“But who knows what wil happen? And what if it ends and I don’t meet anyone else? What if Lauren never meets anyone else? Is that the end of the world? People live, you know.”
In col ege, Kristi’s boyfriend cheated on her almost every week and Lauren was always the first one to comfort her. One time, she planned a bar crawl just to cheer Kristi up. Isabel a could stil remember the way they rode their bikes from bar to bar, with Lauren and Kristi leading the way, swerving and laughing. Isabel a was always jealous of Kristi and Lauren in col ege. They were so close that sometimes they seemed like one person instead of two.
“Wel , I’m just glad that you have someone,” Kristi said. “It makes me happy when my friends can final y understand how great it is to have someone, you know?”
“Yeah,” Isabel a said. “I do.”
When Kristi got married, she and her husband stood under a chuppah. “We’re not having a traditional Jewish wedding,” Kristi told them a mil ion times. “We’l have a priest do the ceremony. But I don’t want Todd to feel completely left out, so we’re having a rabbi up there too.”
The rabbi explained how the chuppah represented the new home the couple was starting. Then she had the family drape a cloth over their necks.
“With this cloth, we are creating a chuppah within a chuppah,” the rabbi said. “This is to symbolize that Kristi and Todd wil be bound to each other in a way that is special only to them.” Kristi and Todd stood with their shoulders touching, wrapped in the cloth. It reminded Isabel a of the way that Lauren and Kristi used to huddle together, whispering and laughing at jokes that only they understood. “A chuppah within a chuppah,” the rabbi said again. Lauren sighed and rol ed her eyes at Isabel a. Isabel a tried to smile, but for the first time that day she felt like crying. She watched Lauren fidget in her bridesmaid dress, and watched Kristi and Todd smiling together, their faces almost touching. “A chuppah within a chuppah,” she thought. Isabel a felt tears come to her eyes, but just as she was about to cry, Todd smashed the glass with his foot and everyone yel ed, “Mazel tov!”