Annie inspected her image in her bedroom mirror. Her hair was gathered up in a French twist and secured with a black clip, exposing the back of her neck. The little dash of makeup she had on evened out her complexion and highlighted her blue eyes. And she wore her red dress, with a dark red shawl to cover her bare shoulders.
She had on a pair of black gauzy gloves, which she had been fortunate enough to find during one of her rare shopping trips with Second Sis. A pair of red shoes and a black leather handbag completed her outfit. Overall, she thought her appearance was good, well worth the hour she had spent assembling her outfit.
She went down to the living room to find Father, formally dressed in a suit, seated on one of the comfort chairs. Big Sis sat opposite, reading a magazine.
Father smiled. "You look lovely, Annie." He got up, walked over and gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead.
"Thanks, Father." Annie smiled.
"I wish I could go with you to your dinner," he added.
Annie glanced up in the direction of her parents' bedroom. "Mother's still getting ready?"
"Yes." Father nodded. "Probably going to take another half hour."
"I should get going then." Annie glanced at Big Sis.
"You'll be back early?" Father asked.
"Long before you return, Father."
"Ready to go?" Big Sis asked. At Annie's nod, she got up, replaced her magazine in the rack and led Annie out to the garage.
Once they were in Marie's compact, well on their way, Big Sis asked, "Where'd you get that dress?"
"I'm not sure... it was there when I came back from the hospital," Annie answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason," Big Sis said.
"Do you know where this dress came from?"
Big Sis looked briefly at her younger sibling. "No. That's why I asked."
"Second Sis also asked me the same question." Were her sisters hiding something about the dress? "Is there something I should know?"
"Hmmm?" Big Sis hummed, obviously pretending to have her concentration on the road. "Oh, 'Second Sis' is out with her friends now." A blatant change in the subject.
Feeling snubbed, Annie did not press for answers. The rest of the drive went on without either sister speaking. Eventually, they reached their destination, Jean Sheppard's Wine and Dine.
"I'll take a cab back," Annie said as she unbuckled her seat belt.
"Call if you need anything," Marie told her sister.
No comments:
Post a Comment