to sit on the bench by the dressing room door. “Digame.”
“It’s nothing. I just... I didn’t want all this fuss.”
“Then why are you doing it? Go to the UPS store then.”
Sadie leaned forward, propping her elbows on her thighs, chin in hands and shook her head. “Because Jules wants to be a flower girl.”
“Wait. You are having this lavish wedding just so Jules can throw some flower petals around?”
“It’s not lavish. It’s very small. And simple.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“There’s just so much stuff to do. I don’t like to do stuff.”
“See. That’s where you made your fatal error. You let my mom help you because you were lazy. Next thing you know you’re in a Scarlett O’Hara dress. You better pick out something today before she makes up her mind for you. Just sit here. I’ll pick out some choices.”
She returned to the rack. Part of her was a bit annoyed. She hadn’t expected Sadie to turn into a Bridezilla by any means, but this pouting was unexpected. Taking a deep breath, she began to pull dresses. Three. That was Sadie’s problem. Anything new was overwhelming. A store full of dresses was too much.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s try these on.”
It gave her a small amount of pleasure that it was the first one. She’d known it was the one. Sadie came out of the dressing room looking stunned. The creamy ivory looked good against her fair skin and the cascade of black curls down her back was the only veil she’d need.
“It’s perfect,” Sadie whispered.
“Of course it is. I have excellent taste.”
“Great! You can pick out your own maid of honor dress then.”
“I was going to do that anyway.”
That got a laugh out of Sadie and seemed to relax her. Lena put her hands on Sadie’s shoulders. “You deserve this.”
“I know. I want to marry Wyatt and maybe start a family. I just don’t want to have to do all the wedding stuff. It seems like showing off.”
Sadie turned to look in the mirror. “This is a beautiful dress though.”
Lena grabbed Sadie’s hand as she reached for the price tag. “Don’t look. Just don’t. I’ll take care of it and you can reimburse me after the wedding.”
A look of horror crossed Sadie’s features. “Why? How much? Please don’t pay more for a dress than I’d pay for a car.”
“It’s not that bad. Go change.”
While Sadie was changing, Lena paid for the dress so she couldn’t change her mind. Sadie needed this. She deserved this. After everything she’d been through in her life, Sadie needed to have something normal. And nothing was as normal as a nice fancy wedding.
“All done,” she said as Sadie returned from the dressing room. “It’s yours. We’ll arrange for a fitting closer to the wedding date.”
“How much was it?”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s your wedding day, Sadie. You don’t have to go full formal, princess fairy-tale wedding, but you deserve the day to be special. Be the center of attention for once. Let the people who love you celebrate your happiness with you.”
Sadie rolled her eyes. “Fine. We’ll do it all. Flower toss, garter toss. Everything. Except cake smashing in the face. I despise that.”
“Agreed. It’s a perversion of the original intent.”
“Fine then.”
Lena laughed at Sadie’s bulldog expression. “I’m going to make you love every minute of the wedding if it kills me.”
“I’ll enjoy the wedding. I refuse to enjoy the planning.”
“Deal. But remember, if you leave it to my mother, it’s going to be quinceñera and Catholic wedding meets Designing Women. You need to set limits with her. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
As they walked to Lena’s car, Sadie hooked her arm in Lena’s. “Thank you for the dress. But I can’t be mean to your mom. She’s so sweet.”
Lena made a rude noise. “That’s just a disguise to lure you into her plans.”
The BMW beeped as Lena hit the unlock button and they climbed in. Sadie leaned back and closed her eyes. “It’s just so exhausting. Having to make so many choices constantly.”
“I know. It’ll get better.”
“How? The dress is the only thing we’ve done!”
“And the wedding is in two months? Sadie! Have you picked a place? A cake? Invites? Save the dates? Anything?”
“No.”
Lena let loose a stream of Spanish.
“Hey!” Sadie said. “I understand some of that.”
Lena cranked the engine. “I’m going to send you a list. I want you to do two things on the list every week.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
As she pulled out into traffic, Lena glanced over at Sadie. She was pretending to be grumpy but they’d been friends long enough that she knew it was better to give Sadie a single task to do rather than a giant mountain of them.
“Want to come for lunch on Sunday?” Sadie asked. “Jules wants to learn more Spanish.”
“I wish I could. But I promised I’d go to mass and have lunch with the family.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I think they’re up to something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good.”
THE PLAYROOM AT the Children’s Hospital was a bright, open room with a wall of windows and several skylights. Matt made his way to the art corner, high-fiving a couple of frequent fliers.
“What are we painting today, Mr. Matt?” a little girl called out from the book nook.
“Scary stuff for Halloween,” he answered. As if these kids would be scared of Halloween fakery when they were battling real monsters like cancer and sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. But that was why he did this. Art allowed kids to express themselves in a way that didn’t involve words. They might not be able to verbalize their fear but they could draw a picture of it.
