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“I...what?”

“I’ve hired someone to come over to style me,” I explain. “She can do you, too. Do you have a dress?”

“I think so.”

“Toni,” I say. My voice suddenly becomes firm. “Do you have a dress?”

“No,” she whispers.

“It’s now Wednesday. We have two days to find you something. What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”

“I work until five, maybe six.”

“I know a place,” I tell her. I pull out my phone and text her an address. “Be here at seven. We’ll get you a damn dress.”

8

Toni

“She said what?” Jordan and Clara are sitting on my couch staring at me. I nod. All I can do is nod. Clara and I have known each other for years. She was with me throughout the entire breakup and in the aftermath. Her partner, Jordan, is lovely. The two of them make a great pair, and I’m so happy they’ve found love. I’m not at all jealous. Nope. Not me.

Well, maybe a little.

“She said she wants to help me find a dress,” I admit.

“You’ll look great in a dress,” Clara says kindly.

“You don’t have to wear a dress,” Jordan tells me firmly. “If you’re more comfortable in a suit, get a suit. That’s allowed.”

Jordan, a lumberjack, is all about destroying gender roles. The problem is that I don’t really mind this gender role. I don’t mind wearing a dress and I really do want to see Jessica in one, too. Most of the time, she dresses like the badass businesswoman she is. When we were together, she always wore dresses. After the breakup, suits became her armor. The fact that she’s setting that armor aside for me this weekend feels important. Besides, most of the time, I try to wear things I think she would like. And when I’m not at work, I’m in jeans or pajama pants because I don’t go out much anymore. I kind of just hang out and read.

“I appreciate that,” I tell Jordan. “Truly, I do.”

“I think Toni wants to wear a dress,” Clara smiles. “Let me guess: something else is bothering you.”

“Yeah,” I sigh.

“What is it?”

“It’s just that this is a big deal,” I tell them both. “Jess and I...we haven’t spoken in two years, much less hung out together.”

“And how did today go?” Jordan asks.

“It was...better than expected.”