Queen Of Babble: In The Big City

Chapter 20

“Where have you been?” Luke wants to know, when I finally stagger home later that evening, my arms loaded down with books.

“The library,” I say. “Sorry, did you call? You’re not allowed to have your ringer on there.”

Luke is laughing as he comes over to take the books from my arms.“Scottish Traditions,” he reads aloud from the covers. “Your Scottish Wedding. Tartans and Toasts. Lizzie, what’s going on? Are you planning a visit to the Emerald Isle soon?”

“That’s Ireland,” I say, unwinding my scarf. “I’m doing a Scottish bridal gown for a client. And you’re never going to believe who the client is.”

“You’re probably right,” he says. “Have you eaten? I’ve got some leftover turkey reheating in the oven—”

“I’m too excited to eat,” I say. “Come on. Guess. Guess who the client is.”

Luke shrugs. “I don’t know. Shari? She’s having some kind of lesbian wedding?”

I glare at him. “No. And I told you, don’t—”

“Label her, yes, yes, I know,” Luke says. “All right, I give up. Who’s your client?”

I flop down onto the couch—my sore throat really is bothering me a little. It feels great to sit down—and say triumphantly, “Jill Higgins.”

Luke has gone into the kitchen to pour some wine. “Am I supposed to know who that is?” he asks across the pass-through.

I can’t believe it. “Luke! Do you even read the paper? Or watch the news?”

But even as I ask it, I know the answer. The only paper he reads is the New York Times, and all he ever watches are documentaries.

Still, I try.

“You know,” I say as he comes forward with a glass of cabernet sauvignon in each hand. “That girl who works in the seal enclosure at the Central Park Zoo? And she threw her back out returning one of the seals to the enclosure? Because they jump out when the water level gets too high, you know, from excessive snow or rain.” I am able to add this last bit because Jill just told me about it, in the dressing room while I was taking her measurements, when I asked her to tell me how she and John met.

“And while she was in the emergency room she met John MacDowell—you know, of the Manhattan MacDowells? Well, they’re getting married at like the biggest wedding of the century practically, and Jill asked me to fix her wedding dress for her.” I am still so stoked, I’m bouncing up and down on the couch. “Me! Of all the people in New York! I’m doing Jill Higgins’s wedding gown!”

“Wow,” Luke says, smiling his beautiful, even-toothed smile. “That’s great, Lizzie!”

It’s clear he has no idea what I’m talking about. None.

“You don’t understand,” I say. “This is huge. See, the press has been savage to her, calling her ‘Blubber’ and stuff, just because she’s not some skinny model, and works with seals, and she cries in front of them sometimes, because they won’t stop hounding her, and her mother-in-law is making her sign this prenup and wear this hideous—you can’t even imagine how hideous—wedding gown, and I’m going to fix it, and everything will be perfect, and Monsieur Henri will finally start getting some business, and then he’ll be able to pay me, and then I can quit working for Chaz’s dad, and do what I love full-time! Isn’t that great ?”

Luke is still smiling—just not as much as before. “That is great,” he says. “But—”

“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy,” I interrupt, thinking I know what he’s about to say. “I mean, we only have a month—less than a month now—to get the dress done, and it’s going to take a lot of work. Especially if I’m going to do to it what I think I’m going to have to do to it, just so it will fit. So you’re probably not going to see very much of me for a while. Which is just as well, since you have finals anyway, right? I’m seriously going to have to work late if we’re going to pull this off. But if we do, Luke—just think! Maybe Monsieur Henri will let me run the shop! I mean, he’s been wanting to retire and move to France… this way he could do it and not have to sell the place at a loss. Then I can start saving my money, and maybe—please, God—get some small-business loans or something, and eventually be able to buy the business—building and all—from him someday—”

Luke is looking distinctly nonplussed by all this. I know it’s a lot of information all at once. But I can’t help thinking he could be a little more excited for me.

“I am ,” he insists when I mention this (a little churlishly, I admit, but hey, my throat hurts). “It’s just… I didn’t know you were serious about this bridal-gown thing.”

I blink at him. “Luke,” I say. “Were you not there this summer, when all those friends of your parents were coming up to me, telling me I should open my own bridal-gown design business?”

“Well, yes,” Luke says. “But I just thought—you know. That that would be something you’d do down the line. Maybe after getting a business degree.”

“A business degree?” I screech. “Go back to school? Are you kid ding me? I just graduated. Wait, I haven’teven graduated yet! Why would I want to go back ?”

“Lizzie, you need more to open your own business than just a talent for refurbishing vintage clothing,” Luke says a little dryly.

“I know that.” I shake my head. “But that’s what I’m doing at Monsieur Henri’s. Learning the ropes of running your own business. And, Luke, I really think I’m ready. To take it to the next level, I mean. Or I will be, depending on how this thing with Jill Higgins goes.”

Luke looks dubious. “I don’t see how one wedding dress can make such a huge difference.”

I gape at him. “Are you kidding me? Have you heard of David and Elizabeth Emanuel?”

“Uh.” Luke hesitates. “No?”

“They designed Princess Diana’s wedding gown,” I say, feeling a little sorry for him. I mean, really. He knows a lot about the principles of biology, which he’s studying this semester. But not so much about popular culture.

But that’s just as well, because really, which would you rather your doctor know about?

“And because of that one dress, they got super-famous,” I go on. “Now, I am in no way putting Jill Higgins in the same category of fame as Princess Diana. But, you know,locally she’s pretty well known. And when it gets out we’re doing her dress, well, it’s going to be very good for business. That’s all I’m saying. And since she’s getting married on New Year’s Eve, there’s a bit of a time crunch, so—”

“So you’re not going to be around much,” Luke says. “Don’t worry, I understand. And you’re right, what with my finals, you won’t be seeing much of me anyway. Not to mention the fact that I leave for France in just three weeks. For a couple of people who live together, we sure don’t seem to see each other much.”

“Except when we’re sleeping,” I agree. “But, you know. Then we’re unconscious.”

“Well,” Luke says. “I guess I’ll just have to be happy with what I can get. Although I was kind of hoping you could spare a little of your precious time to go tree-shopping with me.”

“Tree-shopping?” I stare at him for a few seconds before I realize what he’s talking about. “Oh, you mean you want to put up a Christmas tree?”

“Well, yeah,” Luke says. “Even though we won’t be able to spend the real holiday with each other, I was still hoping we could have our own private celebration before we both take off to be with our families. And to do that, we need a tree… especially since I got you a little something special, and I need a place to put it.”

My heart melts. “You got me a Christmas present? Ahhh, Luke! How sweet!”

“Well,” he says, looking pleased by my reaction, but a little embarrassed as well, for some reason. “It’s not really so much of a Christmas present, I realize now, as an investment in the future—”

Wait… did he just say what I think he did?

An investment in the future ?

“Come on,” Luke says, getting up abruptly, and going into the kitchen. “You’ve got to eat something. Your voice is sounding a little scratchy. We don’t want you coming down with something. You have a wedding dress to design!”