Mitzi bit back a giggle. “Have you told your sister your colors?”
“Nope, but red is her favorite color. But at least talk her into leaving off long sleeves and a collar if you can. She’s conservative,” Ellie Mae laughed.
“So we’ll slit up the sides to her hip, then?” Mitzi teased.
“I’d love that, but she’d just faint dead away if we even mentioned it. Now let’s go get me measured.” Ellie Mae headed toward the fitting room.
Mitzi wrote down all her measurements in a notebook as she worked. “So is eleven thirty good for you each Friday? We can stay late if you need to come after work instead, and I’ll need Darcy to come in the first of the week to get things going for her.”
“No, this time is great. I’ll tell Darcy to call you and set up an appointment for Monday morning. I wish you did flowers. I want a special kind of bouquet,” Ellie Mae said.
“Bring me a picture, and we’ll see what we can come up with,” Mitzi said.
“I don’t know that I can find a picture, but I can kind of describe it. I want one of those draping bouquets like was popular twenty years ago. In my opinion big girls shouldn’t carry a little tiny nosegay that gets lost in the pictures. No, ma’am. We need something bold that says, ‘Look at me,’ and it should be red roses.”
“I’ve got a couple of girls who are going to play around with making a bouquet for the mannequin. If you like what you see next week, we’ll see what they can do for you.” Mitzi hoped that she wasn’t putting the cart before the horse. Maybe Graham wouldn’t want the girls to spend time at the shop, or maybe their work would look like crap.
Ellie Mae touched the sketch with more reverence than she probably did her Bible. “This is going to be the wedding of the year here in Celeste. Thank you so much. And tell those girls to do up one in red roses with some of the black lace from my dress for accents. See you next Friday.” She hurried out the door.
Mitzi went by the kitchen and picked up three bottles of cold water. She carried them into the sewing room, setting one at each of the stations. “So did Jody tell you about Lyle?”
Paula opened her bottle and took a long drink. “Yes, she did. It’s too early for him to be having a midlife crisis, so I figure he’s just tired or else maybe he’s got a big surprise up his sleeve for her.”
“And he’s been working overtime, too.” Mitzi nodded. “It’s close to noon. Let’s make a sandwich.”
“Not for me,” Jody said. “I’ll just cut up some of those cucumbers and onions that Fanny Lou brought us into a salad. I had green beans and new potatoes in the fridge at home, but I forgot them.”
“No wonder you’re as skinny as a rail,” Paula said.
“I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool vegan. I’m just a vegetarian. That’s not so bad,” Jody said. “There’s all kinds of fake meat at the market.”
“It would be horrible for me. I love steak, fried eggs, and oh, my gosh, fried catfish.” Mitzi led the way to the kitchen.
“Haven’t had any of that in more than a decade,” Jody reminded them.
“Miss it?” Paula asked.
“Sometimes, but Lyle and I agreed to live like this, so . . .” She shrugged.
The rest of the day went by like a snail headed for his own funeral. Jody was still in a snit because of Lyle. Paula worked on finding existing patterns that could be adapted to sew what Ellie Mae and the twins wanted. Mitzi watched the clock and could have shouted when the girls arrived fifteen minutes early.
“Hey, we’re here!” Tabby called out.
“In the sewing room,” Jody yelled.
In seconds they were at the door, each of them holding up a tote bag. “Did you get flowers? Where can we work? We brought our scissors and tape and all that stuff we had for class so you don’t have to buy any of that.” Tabby bubbled with excitement.
“The flowers are still in the van because it was raining this morning, but I didn’t realize you needed more than that, so I’m glad you brought supplies.” She wasn’t about to admit that she was so rattled after she talked to Graham that she’d filled up the cart and barely had room to fit them into the back of her van