Come Undone Read Online Free PDF Page B

really wanted to see some action movie that everyone had been
talking about at work. I said no, but he promised to take me for ice cream
afterward, so I agreed.
    “Well, we go out of the way to this small theater in Lincoln
Square, that’s totally not our regular place, and when we arrive, he waltzes
right in without paying or anything. I’m like, ‘Andrew, what is going on?’ but he won’t tell me. We enter an empty theater
where there’s an attendant holding a tray of two bubbling champagne flutes.
Instantly, the screen lights up, and I recognize the first bars of “Moon River.”
It is, of course, Breakfast at Tiffany’s ,
my favorite movie. We take the drinks and follow the man to the middle of the
theater. There, resting on my seat, is that famous little blue bag. Of course,
I begin to cry right away. Andrew pulls out the box, tells me how much he loves
me, and asks me to marry him.”
    “Wow,” Gretchen said, grinning from ear to ear.
    “That is amazing,” I agreed. It was a Lucy-tailored proposal, and
I found comfort in the fact that Andrew knew her so well. Gretchen and I
prattled accordingly, gushing over the ring: three oval cut diamonds, centered
on a smooth platinum band.
    I was hit with a fleeting pang of envy; not over the ring or
Andrew’s elaborate proposal, but because he’d planned it just for her. Bill’s
proposal had been sincere, like everything else he did for me, but we’d had an
audience. All of my friends and family looked on as he bent on one knee, and
all I remembered thinking was that he needed new pants, that they were too
short. Everyone was looking, watching my every move, waiting for me to say that
one magical word.
    I glanced down at my own gold and diamond solitaire stone, an
heirloom that he had inherited from his grandmother. It was so thoughtful, that
I hadn’t had the heart to tell Bill it wasn’t my taste.
    For the next hour, we passed the news around like a hot potato,
jumping from detail to detail. Lucy straightened her back as she envisioned out
loud the wedding of her dreams.
    “And of course there is the matter of the bridal party,” she said,
pursing her lips. Gretchen and I broke into large smiles and nodded our heads
in anticipation of the question.
    “Gretchen Harper, Olivia Germaine,” she started. “Please do me the
honor of being the bridesmaids in my wedding! I’ve asked my sister to be the
maid of honor, and that’s it. My three girls.” We agreed immediately, having
discussed this moment many times before. “I can’t believe you never took Bill’s last name,” Lucy added. “I can’t
wait! Lucille Marie Greene.”
    I twisted my mouth at her. “It’s a lot more hassle than you
realize,” I said. “Tons of paperwork.” They gave me the same exact look of
skepticism as I gulped my water. “What? It’s not that I don’t want to, I just
never got around to it.”
    “Poor Bill,” Gretchen said with a shake of her head.
    I sighed. “Well, maybe that will be my project for the summer. I
know it would make him happy. It’s just that . . . Wilson? It’s so . . .” I
made a face. “I don’t feel like a Wilson.”
    “Are you telling me this whole time you’ve been putting it off
because you don’t like it?” They giggled in unison and I shrugged.
    “Maybe. Speaking of Mr. Wilson,” I said, pulling out my phone to
text him. “I wonder if I can get him to pick me up.”
    “I have to take off too,” Lucy said. “I’m all booked up tomorrow.”
    “Good girl! How is it that you get to shop for a living?” asked
Gretchen. “That makes me jealous.”
    “Don’t be. You try reasoning with a sixty-year-old woman who only
wants to wear ivory to her daughter’s wedding. She insists it’s not the same as
wearing white.”
    “What’s wrong with that?” I asked, chewing on a piece of ice.
“Just kidding,” I said, recoiling at Lucy’s horrified look. “I promise, no
white for your wedding. Or ivory.”
    “You’ll be wearing