True Places(56)

Iris felt around the top of her head and frowned.

“It’s just a game. It’ll make everyone happy.”

Iris picked up her jeans and started putting them on.

“Right. Pants,” Brynn said. “Good call.”

Brynn led Iris downstairs. Just outside the living room, she smoothed her hair and arranged her dress. She took Iris’s hand and strode into the middle of the room.

“Here we are—” Brynn struck a pose, hand on her hip, casting a sultry look over her shoulder. “Beauty and the Beast!”

For a couple of seconds, everyone was frozen, taking it in.

Too much? A warm flush crept up Brynn’s neck.

Grandpa Anson’s eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. He slapped his knee and let out a big, booming laugh. Brynn shot him a smile.

Grammy Tinsley joined in, laughing and covering her mouth with her hand to show she wasn’t laughing at anyone. “You look absolutely gorgeous, Brynn. And Iris, well, that look is just too funny for words.”

Brynn glanced at Iris and followed her gaze to Brynn’s mother. That saying, if looks could kill? Right there.

“Funny, Mother?” Suzanne spit out the words. She sprang up from her seat. “This is funny?”

Brynn’s dad was gauging responses, but Brynn could tell he thought it was a pretty good joke, too, especially after a few drinks. “Now, Suzanne, calm down. I don’t think Brynn meant anything by it.”

Brynn’s mom spun toward him. She seemed a little unsteady, drunk maybe. “She dresses Iris up like that and it’s okay with you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Reid said, “Actually, Dad, you pretty much did.”

“I don’t need you to weigh in, Reid.”

“Just keeping it real, Dad.” His voice was slick with scorn. He really was a dick.

Brynn stepped closer to her mother. “Don’t you like the dress?”

“I was focusing on Iris.”

“What else is new.”

Anson had recovered from his bout of laughter. “Well, I love it. You look stunning.”

“Thanks, Grandpa. It’s Valentino.”

“Valentino?” Brynn’s mother examined the dress, taking in the embroidery, the crystals, the detailing. The cords in her neck were sticking out and her eyes were hard, dark marbles. “For a high school prom? Mother, are you out of your mind?”

“It was what Brynn wanted. Her heart was set on it.”

“Her heart? Are you serious, Mother? What did that dress cost? A couple thousand?”

Brynn shot a look at Grammy, hoping she wouldn’t actually say and send Brynn’s mother off the deep end. Grammy, true to form, just raised an eyebrow that said Discussing price is crass.

“What is wrong with all of you?” her mother shouted, waving her arms like a crazy person. “What the hell is wrong? It’s like you’re all infected with the same disease!”

Her father stood, looking like he was going to grab hold of her mother, then thought better of it. “Suzanne, Brynn didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” He turned to Brynn. “Tell her.”

“It’s true, Mom. I told Iris it was a game.”

Grammy straightened the watch on her wrist. “And it’s just a dress.”

Her mother stared at Grammy as if she didn’t know her. She held her arms rigidly at her sides and tilted forward at the waist, like she was about to be shot out of a cannon. A cold feeling entered Brynn and she hugged herself.

Her mother lowered her voice, speaking from the soles of her feet. She nodded again and again. “Just a dress. Just a couple thousand dollars. Just a little game.” She sat heavily on the couch and clutched her head with both hands. “Just a dress. Just our whole damn life.”



Iris sat on the closed toilet lid upstairs in Suzanne’s mother’s bathroom, feeling a little sick. Brynn shook liquid from a small bottle onto a white circle of fuzzy cloth. She told Iris to close her eyes and cleaned off the black makeup.

When Brynn stopped wiping, Iris opened her eyes. “Suzanne was really upset.”

“Did you notice how everyone else thought it was funny?”

Iris nodded even though Reid hadn’t laughed either.

“My mother just gets upset about silly things. It was fun, right?” She picked up a brush. “You want me to do it?”

“Sure.” Iris didn’t know why she agreed. She liked doing things herself. But something about being with Brynn made it easy to go along, like walking downhill instead of climbing up. Brynn made you want to be with her even if you weren’t sure you liked where she was going.

Brynn came around to brush the back of Iris’s hair. She did it gently. “That’s why we’re not telling my mother about the photos. She doesn’t understand.”

“Why not?”

Brynn let out an enormous sigh. “Because she’s forgotten how to have fun, the kind of fun that young people have.” She paused with her hand on the back of Iris’s neck. It felt nice. “But just because she’s forgotten doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, right?”

“What sort of fun do you mean?”

Brynn peeked over Iris’s shoulder and looked at her reflection. “Well, on prom night, when my friends come to take photos? You can wear one of my dresses and we’ll do your makeup and hair.” She gathered Iris’s hair and twisted it into a bundle at the back of her head. “You could be really pretty, you know.”