shoes.” She grinned. “They’ve given me a nickname. Racy Lacey. I think it’s cute!”
“You would,” Bea said, giving me an arch look. “It’s not a compliment. It means they think you’re unsavory.”
“Nah, it’s just their way of saying I’m fun,” Lacey said. “I like it.”
“It’s not a compliment,” Bea squeaked, almost losing her composure in what would have been a historic first.
Bea had arranged for a private fitting area, a beautiful sanctuary of a room where racks of pre-pulled gowns waited for us, along with petit fours, chilled glasses, and an ice bucket holding an open bottle of white wine. There was a bell to ring if we needed any assistance, but otherwise, we had complete and utter solitude.
“Discretion,” said Bea, “is nine-tenths of success.” She glared at Lacey again for good measure.
“I may never be able to shop another way ever again.” Lacey sighed, ignoring Bea in favor of sampling the sweets.
The three of us spent the next hour zipping and unzipping some of the most perfect dresses I’d ever touched, and I relaxed and let out the breath that I’d gotten accustomed to holding every time I felt a stranger staring at the side of my head. Lacey and Bea put aside their squabble and seemed to have fun—or as close as Bea ever got—bandying about opinions on what I should choose. In the end, Lacey knew best; her first pick for me was a magnificent forest green strapless gown with gossamer gold thread woven into the bodice, then shooting through the skirt like a sunburst, and it won easily.
“It’s even a British designer. They’ll love that,” she said, as she fastened the hook-and-eye closure at the back.
“Quite. You may not be totally useless,” Bea said to Lacey, which for her was rapturous praise. The dress cost three times my rent, but if Lady Bollocks approved, there could be no other choice. Sabotage was not Bea’s game: I might be a foolish American, but as long as I was with Nick, I was her foolish American.
“Right, now that I’ve done my patriotic duty, I’ve some choice words for Giles in the saddlery and he’s not going to like them,” Bea said. She eyed Lacey sipping her drink. “Do try not to pocket the Waterford.”
I almost wanted Bea to stay, so that I could delay this inevitable Freddie conversation a bit longer, but when the door clicked shut behind her I knew there could be no more stalling. Lacey and I were heading into uncharted twin territory: I’d always been content to take a backseat when she needed to shine, and she’d never had to step back and return the favor. But Nick had begged Freddie to tone it down and it hadn’t made a difference, so Lacey would have to step up.
I weighed carefully what to say. Maybe I could just be casual. Maybe she’d bring Freddie up organically, apologetically, and I wouldn’t have to put my foot down at all.
“So Lace,” I said, deliberately taking a long time to zip my boots over my jeans. “How was New York? I didn’t know you were back.”
“I like giving you and Nick space when I can,” she said. “Freddie had a room at The Dorch that he wasn’t using.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I slept alone, Bex.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s got you in such a mood?” she asked, sitting down on a tufted ottoman.
“This paparazzi stuff is really bumming me out,” I said.
“Well, it shouldn’t,” Lacey said, draining her glass. “You’re world news, after all. And speaking of news, I have some that ought to cheer you up. I’m staying.”
I blinked. “You’re what?”
“Isn’t it awesome?” she asked. “I just started thinking about it, really seriously, and I realized that I’m not enjoying med school. The thought of going back and spending the next however many years locked in a lab…” She shuddered.
“But you’ve been talking about med school since we were fifteen,” I said incredulously. “It was awesome of you to put it on hold to help me, but it seems crazy to give up completely.”
It was, in fact, totally unlike my sister to do that. Lacey simply never quit something before she mastered it.
“It’s not giving up. It just didn’t feel right anymore,” she insisted. “Look, if you must know, my grades haven’t been so great. It’s hard to concentrate because I miss you so much, and I’m not happy there the way I am over here. So I told NYU that I’m done.”