marry a stick figure.
“So, Alicia…” Marissa giggled. “When are you and Gabe going to start having babies?”
I tripped on the hem of my skirt and banged into the wall. The last thing I would be able to tolerate was overhearing a conversation on Gabe and Alicia’s procreation plans.
“Ugh,” Alicia said. “Never, if I have anything to say about it.”
I froze, one leg in my skirt, the other in midair. Alicia didn’t want kids? That was peculiar, because Gabe had always wanted a whole slew of offspring. He’d always said that he wanted enough kids to form either a baseball team or a family band. Now he was marrying someone who didn’t ever want kids?
“Why not?” Shawn asked.
“My modeling career is really starting to take off,” Alicia explained. “The last thing I need is to get stretch marks.”
The bridesmaids giggled, then Kate spoke up. “You could adopt a kid from another country. Foreign kids are all the rage, you know. Look at Angelina Jolie.”
I regained my balance and slid my skirt up around my waist. It would just figure if Gabe and Alicia adopted a gorgeous baby from some exotic country. As if they weren’t cute enough. Throw a beautiful baby into the mix, and…
“No way,” Alicia’s voice rang out. “Kids are messy, noisy, and demanding. I would rather die.”
“Fair enough,” Rose added haughtily. “Leave the child-bearing to people with hips like Violet’s.”
Swallowing back my tears, I pulled my clothes back on, hiked my purse over my shoulder, and emerged from the dressing room with my head held high. There was no way I was going to let those skinny cows get away with this kind of garbage. I wasn’t exactly one for keeping my mouth shut.
The entire group went silent as I stalked past them with the gown in hand. “Alicia,” I began, “I have to run, but thank you so much for inviting me. I’ll just go pay for the gown and be on my way.” When I noticed Rose staring at my chest again, I smiled down at her proudly. “This is how someone looks when they eat. If you all put a little bit of cheese on your eggs once in a while, you, too, can look this hot.”
She clenched her teeth. “No, thank you.”
I pointed at a nearby salesgirl. “What’s your name?”
“Mine? Um, Delia.” She pointed to her nametag awkwardly.
“Wrap this up, Delia; I’ll take it. The bride did a fine job picking out my dress. I’ll look fabulous.” My eyes fixed on Alicia’s.
Turning on my heel, I stalked to the front counter and slapped my credit card down with a snap.
Alicia was right on my heels. “Listen, Violet, can we talk?”
I didn’t look at her. If I looked at her, I was going to punch her. So I just pretended to search my purse for something instead. “Sure. What?”
She took a breath and glanced over her bony shoulder at the girls who were watching us with unabashed curiosity, then dropped her voice to a whisper. “Listen, about the dress. I, um, haven’t exactly told Gabriel all of the details.”
I glared at her. Why in the hell was she telling me this? “Isn’t the bridal gown supposed to be a surprise?”
“Well, yes,” she said quickly. “But, he doesn’t know that it’s being worked on in Europe, and…” She chewed on her lip.
“What?” I prompted.
“Gabriel doesn’t know that I’ve had three dresses combined into one.” She looked at me with wide eyes.
I saw a city bus lumber past the shop windows. Great. Now I would have to wait for the next one. “So?”
Alicia’s cheeks pinked beautifully, and she shifted between her feet. “So he doesn’t know that I bought three dresses. The cost is going to be a bit high, and I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with him yet.”
Oh, now I saw where this was going. Alicia needed me to keep my mouth shut so that she didn’t get in trouble for dropping enough money on a dress that a normal person would have used for a down payment on a condo. What a greedy little cow. Well…calf.
“You want me to keep our conversation to myself, right?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. Exactly.”
“You know, he’s working really hard to pay for all of this.” I watched as the clerk carefully wrapped my dress in tissue paper.
A muscle in Alicia’s jaw twitched. “I realize that.”
“And you don’t think Gabe needs to know this, since he’s the one who’ll have to come up with the