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Mara held up a deep green dress that pinched in around the waist and flowed to the ground. “What do you think about this one? It would look beautiful on all your body types.”
Birdie laughed. “I love it. It might actually make me look like I have a waist.”
I laughed with her. Even though we’d all been friends for two and a half years now, I was still getting used to the way she and Mara so easily accepted themselves. I hoped I’d get there someday.
While Birdie was what my gran would call “apple shaped,” I was built like a brick shit house. (That’s what my grandpa used to call it, before he passed a few years back.) Square and strong enough to throw down on the football field with my brothers and bigger than half the guys I came into contact with.
This dress would make me look pretty, but I wished it had straps to hold up the girls. “Do you think we can get straps added?” I asked.
Mara nodded. “I bet Jonas’s tailor could sew some on. She does incredible work.” She winked.
I laughed. That boy did fill out a suit better than most. “Then let’s get it,” I said. It wouldn’t really matter which one we got, at the end of the day. I would feel uncomfortable in my body whether I was wearing sweatpants, business casual, or a beautiful dress worth hundreds of dollars.
Mara left, taking the dress to the saleswoman, probably to order enough for all of us bridesmaids. Birdie, her future sister-in-law, Tess, and I would be standing beside her on her big day, just a few months away.
Tess’s wedding, just shy of a year ago at Emerson Trails, had been so beautiful that Jonas and Mara had taken the first opening when she wasn’t writing for TV in Atlanta. Bonus that it was during Birdie’s summer break from school, and I had enough PTO saved up to take a good week off for the event.
My phone rang, and I pulled it from my purse seeing my boss’s name on the phone. “Hey Janessa,” I said. “How are you doing?”
“Great! I just wanted to let you know that the head contractor’s plane just landed and he’ll be at the building in an hour to get his keys.”
Shit.
“I’ll be there,” I promised. Even though it was a Saturday. Even though I was supposed to be dress shopping. Even though I’d been looking forward to a late afternoon dinner at Waldo’s Diner with my friends.
I put my phone in my purse, and Birdie touched my arm, her wide blue eyes on me. “You have to go to work?”
I pouted. “Yeah, I have to get this contractor some keys. I’m not sure how long it’ll take. I might have to miss dinner.”
She shook her head, her blond curls bouncing. “We’ll wait for you.”
“You sure?” I asked, looking to Mara who was busy chatting with the dress salesperson. Of the three of us, she was easily the most extroverted. “I feel guilty, like I’m already failing my bridesmaid’s duties.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’ll understand. And you call us when you get done, okay?”
“You’ll fill her in?” I asked.
Birdie smiled. “Of course.”
I left Vestido and went to my car in the parking lot. It was cheap but it ran like a gem and my dad had taught me enough about cars that I didn’t often have to spend money on a mechanic, which helped me tuck away that much more money for dream house. With my new promotion, I was less than a year away from being able to put an offer in on a house of my dreams with a twenty percent down payment.
I reminded myself exactly that as I drove away from the store, as I drove toward work on a Saturday afternoon. I loved managing an apartment building and giving tenants good care and a safe place to live. There were so many shady rental companies out there, and luckily, I didn’t work for one of them.
They’d hired me as a moveout cleaner back when I was in community college, getting a business degree, and then when a manager spot opened, they promoted me. Now that the company was building a completely new apartment building, they’d put me in charge of the build.
It was exciting.
Even if it was a little inconvenient.
But this would be my first time managing a construction company, my first time having a hand in something from the ground up. I couldn’t wait to see how it came to be. (And the pay wasn’t bad either.)
I reached Blue Bird Apartments and unlocked the main office. The building was fairly old, but I’d spiced the office with its whitewashed wood paneled walls up with lots of plants and some artwork from my mother’s studio.
My favorite piece she’d created for me was a colorful chicken in my namesake. Henrietta. It was kind of an inside joke at this point, and my family’s entire home was decorated in chicken décor, from our kitschy salt and pepper shakers to the metal napkin holder shaped like a rooster.
At least we’d been able to talk dad out of putting a weather vane on top of our suburban home.
Since I was there, I worked on copying off some new unit applications since we had a few coming available soon.