Page 56 of The Reverse Cinderella
Piaget did the best she could to keep the dress perfectly clean. She had carefully tucked the attached tag inside with a bobby pin. Her hair was a mass of curls, left down to camouflage the bump the tag made. She knew the dress wasn’t up to the standards of the majority of women in attendance today but it was the best she had. She only hoped she could get through the night and return it next week.
She pushed her food gently around her plate and didn’t eat. She drank only water. Thankfully, she had loaded up on brunch before the wedding, so she wasn’t entirely starving.
Max leaned in and asked if she wasn’t hungry. She smiled and replied that she was fine, then took another sip of water. So far, the dress was okay. Piaget on the other hand, felt like a bundle of nerves. She wouldn’t be able to relax until she got the dress off and safely back in the garment bag.
At the reception she danced with Max. She felt good about turning down Earle. He tended to be sweaty and she really didn’t need a palm print on her waist. She turned down a bunch of others and simply enjoyed being with Max. It was a lovely wedding.
Max went to get them a couple of drinks. Correction, he went to get himself a drink and her another glass of water. He was being very attentive. Then again, he usually was. Piaget loved this about him. She was thinking about all of the other things she loved about Max while she sat at their table, waiting for his return when Piaget felt a sharp tug at the back of her dress and turned to see her mother. Judith grabbed Piaget’s hand and put the sale tag in her palm. “Your tag was sticking out.”
Her tag. The tag that had to be attached to return the dress. The dress that had put Piaget’s credit card over its limit, causing the company to call her this morning and suspend her credit card. Piaget gulped in some air but didn’t feel like she was getting any in. She felt like she was drowning. Piaget knew she shouldn’t have worn this dress but Tiffany’s snide remark about yesterday’s dress at breakfast had compelled her. Now what was she going to do? She couldn’t return the dress to get her credit back. Piaget could see black spots in front of her eyes. Quickly, she leaned down and ducked her head near to her knees, the dress being too constricting to let her put her head between them. She closed her eyes and prayed that she wasn’t going to faint.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Judith remarked snidely. “It was just a tag. Although if you were going to advertise how much you paid for a dress, you could have bought a pricier one.”
“No, mother, I couldn’t. I couldn’t afford this one,” Piaget said fighting hysteria. “I shouldn’t have worn it let alone even bought it.”
“Sit up. It’s embarrassing,” her mother hissed at her. “Of course, you could afford it. Why wouldn’t you be able to?”
“Gary died in debt. There is no money. Haven’t you figured that out by now?” Piaget blinked back tears of frustration.
“If that’s the case, I don’t see why you won’t take our offer of the condo,” Judith sat down and sipped from her champagne flute.
“Could you please get Max?” Piaget asked miserably. He was the only one who would understand right now. He was the only one she wanted right now. Piaget’s life was a mess and she had only made it worse. She just wanted the one person that she knew without a shadow of a doubt would put her first. Who would help her figure this out without putting her down. Who believed in her. Who loved her.
With a sigh Judith set down her fluted glass and got up to find Max. Thankful, Piaget closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing slow and not passing out. A few long minutes later, Max was crouched beside Piaget, one hand on her knee and the other on her shoulder. “Piaget? What’s wrong? How do I help?”
“Please get me out of here,” Piaget whispered.
Without further questioning, Max simply had her wrap an arm around his neck and picked her up. He took her through the patio, into the house then to the bedroom that they had shared. He sat her on the bed and knelt in front of her. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know why I came back,” Piaget sniffed. “They belittle me, they insult me, they don’t believe that I can accomplish anything with my life other than being someone’s plus one.”
“Your niece got married. You love your family. You made the effort.” Max gently opened her hand and looked at the tag. “What’s this?”
Piaget wiped away tears. “I overextended my credit to try to match their expectations. I’m overdrawn on my bank account. I only paid a partial on this month’s rent. I was stupid.”
“Four thousand, two hundred dollars,” Max gave a low whistle.
“I was planning on returning it after the weekend, but my mother ripped the tag off. She thought she was doing me a favor,” Piaget gave a bitter laugh. She looked at her manicured nails and wished she hadn’t gotten them done. “I’ve never had to budget before this year and I find that I’m not terribly good at it. I’ve been trying hard to economize. This was supposed to be one last party and then it was all over. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You’re going to wash your face, redo your makeup and then you and I are going to go back out there. We are going to ignore all of them. It’s a party and we can enjoy it together, the two of us.” He looked up at Piaget so sincerely, she didn’t have the heart to tell him that she didn’t want to. “Then on Monday, we will find a consignment shop and we will put up the dress, for a loss. I’ll put up two of my suits.”
“Max, you can’t do that,” Piaget protested.
“Pick the one you like the best and that’s the one I’ll save out of the three I have,” Max said reasonably. “We’ll get the money to make you more comfortable with your finances. It’s only a short-term solution. What you need is a roommate and I’m volunteering. I’ll sleep on the couch, pay half the rent, utilities, groceries. It should help ease some of the financial burden you’re under.”
“What about paying the hospital bills? Will you be able to afford helping me?” Piaget wiped another tear as it rolled down her cheek.
“It will just take longer to pay back. That’s okay. If we do this together, we’ll both slowly get it all sorted out,” Max rubbed her arms gently.
Piaget nodded. “Thank you.”
“Hey, I love you,” Max gave her a lopsided smile. “If you’d like, I’ll budget for both of us.”
“I’d rather you teach me,” Piaget smiled back, in spite of her misery. He really was an amazing man and she was lucky to have him.
“Okay, I can do that.”
Piaget took a deep breath. “I’m going to change into my less expensive dress so that I don’t have to worry about ruining this one with spilled wine or something.”
“Is that why you were having only water all night?” Max asked gently.
She nodded. “I know it’s wrong to return a dress you’ve worn but it was all that I could think of to do.”
Max leaned up and kissed her on the forehead. “Well, if you change, does that mean that you can have cake tonight?”
Piaget gave a watery smile. “Yes.”
“Well then, get changed. You and I want some of that cake. Plus, I know you don’t want to miss out on the wine. It’s the good stuff.”
She laughed then gave Max a kiss. It took moments to change, fix her makeup and take his arm so that they could return to the party and eat cake together.