said. She laughed a little bit.
“I think I’ll put him in my closet anyway,” Martha said. “It can’t hurt, right?”
“Look at it this way,” Claire said. “At least she thinks you’re worth sending it to. She probably thinks I’m past the point of a lost cause.”
Martha took the statue upstairs and wrapped it in an old shirt that she never wore anymore, then stuffed the bundle in the back of her closet. It seemed a little sacrilegious, and she knew this wasn’t how things were supposed to work, but why not? She was surprised that Bets thought such a thing was possible. How did such a religious woman end up thinking that her beliefs basically boiled down to voodoo?
MARTHA DRAGGED CLAIRE TO J.CREW to get fitted for the bridesmaid dress. “I know what my size is,” she kept saying, but Martha insisted.
“It’s better to get measured. I’ve seen it happen a million times that girls think they know their size and then the dress doesn’t fit them properly. Plus, I want your opinion on what style we should get. We can all do the same or do it a little different. Cathy said it was up to me.”
“Okay, fine. Whatever.”
It was strange to walk back into J.Crew. It felt sort of like going back to visit your grade school after you’d been gone for a couple of years. Things looked the same, but also Martha was overwhelmed with the brightness of everything, the sheer amount of stuff that was in the store. She felt dizzy at first.
“Did things move around?” she asked Wally.
“Nope. Same as it’s always been, Squirrel.”
Wally took Claire back to put her in some of the dresses and to measure her. The two of them were fast friends, which irritated Martha just a little bit. She could hear them giggling behind the curtain.
“Everything okay in there?” she called. It was not only a waste of time, but also pretty unprofessional of Wally to be giggling away instead of helping customers.
“We’re fine,” Claire said. She came out in a strapless light gray dress.
“Oh, I love it,” Martha said. “That’s the one I was thinking. Driftwood, right?”
“Yep,” Wally said. “She looks amazing in it.”
Again, Martha felt just a little irritated because first of all, he didn’t say that Martha would also look amazing in it, and that was just rude. He should know that if you were dealing with bridesmaids, you shouldn’t single one of them out. That was Retail 101. And granted, she wasn’t a regular customer, but still …
“Do you like it?” she asked Claire.
“Yeah, it’s cute actually. It’s fine.” She shrugged as if she couldn’t care less.
“Just fine? Do you want to look at some of the others?”
“No, this one’s good.”
“Claire, a little help here would be nice. A little more enthusiasm and effort, please.”
“It’s fine. I’m going to wear this dress once, to a wedding at a yoga retreat that’s probably going to be filled with lesbians, so it’s fine.”
Martha was horrified and turned to Wally to apologize, but he was laughing. “Probably not going to meet a man at this wedding, are you?” he asked, and the two of them laughed and laughed.
On the way home, Martha told Claire, “You know, maybe you’re having trouble with this wedding because of your situation, but I don’t think it’s fair to not put any effort forth as a bridesmaid for Cathy.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m just saying, this is Cathy’s day. We need to be there for her, no matter what our feelings are.”
“Are you serious right now?” Claire asked.
Martha hated that people (especially Claire) always asked her that. Did it seem like she was joking? “Yes, I’m serious.”
“Martha, didn’t I just go with you to pick out the bridesmaid dresses? And that wasn’t even something that Cathy wanted—that was something that you wanted. Plus, the only reason I’m a bridesmaid is because you are and Cathy was just being polite.”
“That’s not true,” Martha said. “Don’t think that.”
“Um, I don’t care, so you don’t have to use your voice like you feel bad for me, but of course that’s true. And it’s fine. Cathy and I have never been close. She used to basically torture me when I was little, remember?”
“She had a lot of issues,” Martha said.
“Yes, she did.”
“I’m just saying, maybe you should be a little more enthusiastic about the wedding.”
“And I’m just saying, if you don’t shut up now, I’m going to jump out of the car.”
By that time they were just about home anyway, and