Page 38 of My Vampire Plus-One

That was the sum total of my wardrobe.

None of it was appropriate for this dinner at Aunt Sue’s. Mom had said it would be casual, but I had a very different definition ofcasualthan most of the women in our family over a certain age. I needed something elegant, but not too elegant. Casual, but not too casual.

After about an hour of rummaging around in my closet and dresser, I gave up. It was already after two. While I might have been able to go out and buy something if I left right that second, there was no guarantee I’d find something appropriate that fit and still make it back in time.

Asking Sophie to lend me something would be faster. I pulled out my phone and texted her.

AMELIA:Hey

AMELIA:You around?

SOPHIE:For the next few hours

SOPHIE:What’s up

AMELIA:The engagement dinner Aunt Sue’s hosting is tonight and I have nothing to wear

AMELIA:Do you have anything I can borrow?

I had about four inches and at least fifteen pounds on her, but Sophie had, over the past few years, changed clothes sizes multiple times on her way to having twins and then afterwards. Even before she’d had kids, she’d always had a more expansive wardrobe than mine, which had always leaned heavily towards functional and practical items. She’d been my go-to for last-minute wardrobe assistance ever since high school. Even though my complexion was several shades fairer than her deep olive skin tone, she almost always had something that looked great on me.

Hopefully she’d have something that would work.

SOPHIE:Of course

SOPHIE:What are you thinking

AMELIA:Something appropriate for family

AMELIA:Also, since I’m bringing Reggie along as a test run fake date, maybe something that also says

AMELIA:I don’t know

AMELIA:Maybe, hi, I am here with my new boyfriend that I am pretending to think is dreamy so that you will all finally back off

SOPHIE:Glorious. I have just the thing.

Two hours and several arguments with Sophie later, I found myself standing barefoot in her spare bedroom wearing a several inches too-short black cocktail dress that felt like it would rip all the way down the back if I so much as breathed wrong.

“Nothing about this saysfamily gathering,” I muttered.

“It’s perfect.”

“I look like I’m getting ready to go clubbing.”

Sophie raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Have you ever actuallygoneclubbing?”

“Yes,” I lied. I scowled at my reflection in the mirror, turning to the left and the right so that I could see how the dress looked from every angle. I all but poured out of it. “Don’t you have anything that’s a little more conservative?”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“Maybe. But Reggie’s gonna lose it when he sees you in this dress, and that’s all that matters.”

I stared at her, incredulous. “The point of all this is not for the complete stranger I am fake dating at a couple of strategically agreed-upon events tolose itat Gretchen’s engagement dinner.”

In the end I lost the battle. Sophie was all too eager to see me wearing a dress that she likely wouldn’t have occasion to wearagain until the kids were in school, and I was out of both time and options.