“It’s nice to meet you,” Angel said. He had short, curly hair and light brown skin. He wore a plain black T-shirt and jeans. An unassuming soon-to-be celebrity with a thousand-watt smile.
“Uh.” Lily’s eyes widened as she fumbled for a response. She glanced at Violet, who gave her an encouraging nod before Eddy pulled her away toward the bar, leaving Lily abandoned. “Hi.”
“Violet said you’re a book editor. What kind of books do you work on?”
Lily blinked. Sweat gathered at her armpits. What kind of books did she edit? Her thoughts began to swarm. She was too nervous to think straight.
“Um, books about dictators.”
“Really?” Angel tilted his head to the side. “Like all of the dictators throughout history?”
She nodded, even though that wasn’t technically true. What should she say next? Should she ask about his music? Or would that be stupid because he probably always got questions about his music? Maybe she should ask something generic, like if he was based on the East or West Coast. Or would it be creepy to ask someone you barely knew where they lived? God, why was this so hard for her?
An awkward silence bloomed when Lily still hadn’t said anything. Her mouth was beginning to hurt from smiling. But then Angel started to tell her about the album he was working on. Something about infusing blues sounds and actual instruments, no highly produced beats.
Lily nodded like a bobblehead, trying to listen and not focus on how overwhelmed she felt, when behind Angel, she spotted Iris standing by one of the tables with her daughter, Calla, propped on her hip. She was in the middle of what was most likely a work call and Calla kept reaching for the phone.
“I’m so sorry,” Lily said, interrupting Angel. “But I have to help my sister. It was, um, nice to meet you.”
“Oh,” Angel said, surprised. “Yeah, nice to meet you too.”
Lily felt a little bad as she hurried away across the room. But, really, she was doing Angel a favor. It was unlikely that she was his type. Plus, chances were he secretly had a thing for Violet.
She approached Iris and smoothly gathered Calla into her arms. Iris mouthed, Thank you, before turning away and continuing her work call.
“You’re saving me from further adult interaction tonight,” Lily whispered to Calla as they sat down at an empty table. Calla perched in Lily’s lap and giggled, even though she probably had no idea what Lily was talking about.
“Your dress is yellow,” she said, touching Lily’s sleeve. “Pretty.”
“Thank you.” Lily beamed at her now-three-year-old niece who looked so much like her late brother-in-law, Terry, it hurt. “Your dress is pretty too.”
* * *
? ? ?
It was almost eleven p.m. when the party finally ended. Lily stood outside of the restaurant with her sisters and waved goodbye to their parents as they drove off, heading back to New Jersey.
“Don’t forget what we talked about, Lily!” their mom called.
Lily nodded and forced a smile, but inwardly grimaced. After suffering through another long discussion with her mom and aunts while they tried to convince her to apply for law school or medical school or any new avenue that might result in success and decent money, Lily had reluctantly agreed to attend another EmpoWOMENt networking seminar with her mother. Her family was baffled that now at twenty-six, Lily was still someone’s assistant with a meager salary, while Violet was an established celebrity stylist at only twenty-seven, and Iris was the head of partnerships at a beauty brand start-up at twenty-nine. Even her parents had opened their own plant and flower nursery in their late twenties after graduating from Brown. So what was wrong with Lily?
She personally had no idea, but she hated the narrative that in order to be a moderately successful Black person, she had to be exceptional. She didn’t know if she was capable of exceptional. She simply wanted to be. That was already hard enough.
“Can you believe I’m getting married?” Violet said, draping Eddy’s blazer over her shoulders. He’d gone to get his car, so the three sisters were alone, with Calla sleeping in Iris’s arms. “I’m going to be somebody’s whole-ass wife. I can’t wait.”
“Don’t you think you should wait a little longer?” Iris asked. “Getting married at the end of August is pretty soon.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Not this again.”
“What?” Iris switched Calla to her other hip. “You barely know him, Vi.”
Violet groaned, and Iris shrugged, straight-faced.
Iris was the smart sister. Growing up, she’d juggled Model UN, debate team and year-round sports while keeping a 4.0 GPA. She graduated at the top of her class in both undergrad and business school. She was beautiful too but didn’t bother with frills like Violet. Tonight, she wore a sleeveless black top and black jeans, and her curly hair was cropped close to her scalp. Even though she worked for a cosmetics company and often gave free products to Lily and Violet, she wore no makeup, just clear lip gloss. And she made only practical decisions, which was why she couldn’t understand Violet’s sudden choice to get married.
“I do know him. I love him,” Violet insisted. “Why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know if I believe that you’re happy.”
“I am!” Violet said. “Tell her, Lily.”
Lily, ever the peacemaker, glanced back and forth between her headstrong sisters. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of Violet’s engagement. It seemed that out of nowhere, she’d met Eddy and decided to get serious. But Lily had fallen for a stranger she’d met online, who hadn’t even turned out to be the stranger she thought he was. Her actions had been more illogical, so how could she judge anyone?
“I don’t know,” she finally said. “Eddy seems nice.”
“Thank you,” Violet said.
Iris simply shook her head and frowned. “Okay, but there’s still so much else to plan in a short time span. You need a wedding dress. We need bridesmaid dresses. Someone has to plan your bridal shower and bachelorette party. Do you and Eddy even have a venue? A caterer?”
“Yes, we have a venue, Iris,” Violet huffed. “Eddy pulled some strings at a place in New Jersey not too far from Mom and Dad. He’s taking care of the caterer too. We aren’t having a traditional wedding. There will be no bridesmaids or groomsmen. Just Eddy and me, professing our love to each other in front of our loved ones. And the wedding dress search is in progress. If I know how to do anything, it’s finding the right item of clothing.” She paused and then sidled closer to Iris, grinning. “And as far as the bridal shower and bachelorette party, you know how wild my schedule is. Let’s just do them the same weekend. And I was hoping my lovely, detail-oriented older sister would help me plan.”
“Of course you were.” Iris rolled her eyes but was unable to fight her smile. “Fine.”
“Thank you!” Violet gave Iris a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek and Iris laughed.
Lily let out a relieved sigh. She didn’t know if she had the energy to referee a sister argument tonight.
“Anyway, let’s focus on more important matters,” Violet said. “Like Lily’s wedding date.”