Free Ghouls Night Out by Terri Garey Page B

right.”
    “If you’d put the Twinkies down once in a while shewouldn’t have had to keep letting it out,” Diane snipped, turning her sister around in order to oblige.
    “At least I ain’t a bean pole,” Donna snipped back. “Men like a woman with a little meat on their bones.”
    “Would you two just stop it?” The bride’s nerves were obviously frayed, and her sisters’ squabbling wasn’t helping. “You’re ruining my big moment!”
    “Huh,” Diane muttered. “Only thing big around here is Donna’s butt.”
    “I heard that,” Donna shrilled. “Mama, did you hear what she said to me?”
    “Now girls,” Aunt Nadine began, but I tuned them out, resigned to my fate. With a sigh, I grabbed the hanger that held my dress and went down the hall to the ladies’ room to get dressed.
    Forget the bride. Right now I was the one who needed a moment.
    The wedding went off without a hitch, if you ignored little Brittany bursting into tears halfway down the aisle and throwing her basket of flower petals on the carpet. Darlene took it in stride, catching her daughter by the hand and dragging her along to one of the front pews to be snagged by an elderly woman who shushed her with hugs and kisses. By the time I started down the aisle, bringing up the rear behind my three cousins, Brittany’s tantrum had subsided to sniffles, barely heard above the processional music.
    The church was packed. It looked like the whole town had turned out for Debbie’s wedding, and I was glad. It was her big day, pineapple dresses, flowered hats and all.
    There was Joe, smiling at me from a pew, tall andhandsome in a pinstriped suit and the vintage Hermes tie I’d given him for the occasion. I tried not to look at Evan, knowing he’d make me laugh, but couldn’t help but notice how fabulous he looked in a untucked fitted buttondown and gray silk blazer. His boyfriend Butch stood next to him, bald head gleaming, muscular shoulders straining the fabric of his coat, a single daisy pinned to his lapel.
    Then I was at the front of the church, taking my place next to Diane. Silence for a moment, broken only by a final sniffle from Brittany, and the wedding march began. Despite my desire to be somewhere else, wearing something else ( anything else), I felt my heart swell along with the music.
    Nicholette Nadine Styx, romantic sucker extraordinaire.
    A shuffle of feet as everyone rose, and all heads turned toward the rear of the church. All heads except Joe’s, that is. He was looking at me. I gave him a wink, and was rewarded by the way his smile deepened, warming me to my toes. I might look like a pineapple piñata in a borrowed dress, but Joe didn’t seem to mind.
    Debbie was glowing, trembling on the arm of my Uncle John as he walked her down the aisle. I shot a glance at Dale where he stood at the altar, a band of white showing on his forehead where his hat usually rode. The pants of his rented tuxedo were hemmed too short, and the sleeves too long, but he was beaming as he watched Debbie come toward him.
    The church organ was only slightly off-key. I risked a glance at Evan, not surprised to find him clutching at Butch’s arm, a bit dewey-eyed as he watched the bride. I was quite familiar with his fairytale visions of me in white and him in Armani—we’d talked aboutour ideal weddings since we were kids in junior high school.
    Evan caught me looking at him, but he just arched a blond eyebrow, then turned his gaze back to the altar.
    A lump rose in my throat as Uncle John said the words that gave Debbie away, placing her hand in Dale’s.
    My dad would never get a chance to do that. He and my mom had died together on that wet stretch of road seven years earlier. It was my only comfort, knowing they’d died as they’d lived, together.
    I missed them so much.
    And then it was time for the vows, which I only half-listened to. My attention was distracted by a shaft of light that came through the stained glass window over the altar.