Imagining Us

Ch.56- Halfway There

She spun again as her mum instructed. They were in her old bedroom in her parent's house which now also happened to be her mum's sewing room. That in itself was strange because there was a whole other empty room that she could have used.

Why did she have to use her old room?

Esi did not have the energy to mentally dissect that. She tried to focus on the different patterns of folded fabrics that lay in various locations around the room.

This room had held her pain, her grief–After Sabine, after Andrew, even for a bit after Remi.

She couldn't help but wonder if this room would  see those same emotions after Porte. But some part of Esi–some hopeful part of her actually held hope. She hoped that it would see her joy instead.

"That looks fine. Let me see the back," her mum mumbled around the common pin in her mouth.  Her voice pulled Esi out of her reverie. The pins were in case her mum needed to make any more adjustments to her dress.

"Does the back need adjusting?" Esi asked. She was trying on the dress she'd bought for the art gala that Porte had invited her to.

To say that she was nervous was a major understatement. She might not have known much about the members of Danvers family before, but everyone in Connecticut knew about the Madre Luna Gallery and the shows that they hosted. Shows that served to rival those at their prestigious Ivy League school. Now that she knew them better, it made sense for them to be very involved in the art world.

"The back is fine, I'm just checking the stitches I made under the arms and you should be good," her mother answered.

"You don't think it's too much?" she asked unsurely.

Her mum cocked her head and put her hand on her hip.

"I think that the dress is perfect," she answered. "And no doubt Porte will think so too."

"I'm not wearing it for him," Esi protested, but she could feel her cheeks flushing.

"Good, because you shouldn't. Wear it for you and if he happens to like it then that isn't a bad thing either," her mother shrugged. "When your dad and I–"

"Mummm," she groaned. "Please don't." She saw the smirk on her mum' face, and Esi already knew the direction that the conversation was heading.

Her mum chuckled. "After all these years, you're still so squeamish–how do you think we made you and your brother?"

Esi deadpanned, " That doesn't mean I have to know details specific to my parents."

"Fair enough. Come here and look in the mirror."

Esi walked over to the full length mirror that she had hanging at the back of her door.

The midnight blue dress clung to her body like a second skin. There was something alluring and mysterious about the dress on her. A shoulder was left bare while the other was draped in a long sleeve. The dress tapered down her legs, the ends of it adorned with sequins that flickered whenever she moved.. Lord knows she was glad that it had a slit so that she could actually walk.

"What do you think?" she asked her mother again.

Her mum flicked her eyes up and threw the question back at her, reminding Esi that she wasn't the one that had to wear it.

Esi thought that it looked good. The dress fit perfectly with the nautical theme that the invitation indicated the gala would be.

"It looks better than I expected," she answered honestly with glassy eyes.