Page 89 of Fathers of the Bride

“You marriedhim.”

“A very long time ago.”

“Thanks!” I said.

“I don’t think I can try on anything else today,” Kelly told Timpani.

“Perfectly understandable,” Timpani replied. “I’ll do some checking, we might have enough of these materials to run up another dress.”

“Really?” Kelly’s eyes opened wide.

“Money is no object,” Pudge said.

“You’re not paying for the dress,” I said.

“I could, Kelly, all you have to do is say the word.”

“No,” Miles and I said at once. Then he turned and glared at me.

Timpani said to Kelly, “I know what you’re looking for now. If I can’t get you the exact dress, I’ll get you something else you’ll like.”

“Thank you.”

“Let’s get you out of this.”

They went to the back of the room and Timpani pulled the drape across.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Miles whispered to me.

“I was only trying to help.”

“By taking charge, by trying to control everything and everyone?”

“Miles. I made a mistake.”

“You made a doozy,” Pudge said.

“Could you stay out of this,” I said. “It’s really not your business.”

“I think itismy business, you’ve gravely insulted my niece.”

“Oh, um, yeah,” said Martha, who’d been looking at her phone and sipping champagne. To Raj she said, “You’ve already got twenty thousand hits.”

“Oh, thank God,” Raj said. “I’d thought I’d lost my touch.”

I hated the idea that my daughter was now going viral. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to fix it.

“Could we step outside for a moment?” Miles asked.

Oh God. I felt like I’d just been called to the principal’s office. And really, it wasn’t my fault. Mixing up the Kaylas had been a very understandable mistake, that’s all. But the look on Miles’ face told me he wasn’t going to see it that way.

Standing there on the sidewalk in the harsh sunshine, I waited, not feeling a great deal of hope. Squinting at me, he said, “You can’t just pick a different maid of honor for Kelly.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t want to.”

“Yes, I wanted to. But Ididn’t. And, if I had I wouldn’t have picked the wrong Kayla.”

“I swear, she was the only Kayla on the list.”