Powdered Murder

"I am sorry to hear that." Joy nodded sympathetically.

"I can't have only three people in the wedding party besides Patrick and myself. My numbers are completely thrown off now. I need an even number or all the photos will look ridiculous." There was a Band-Aid on Lila's pinky finger, but no dried bloodstain on the bandage. She must have been using it to cover up a broken nail or chipped polish.

"Well, maybe we can find someone to replace--"

"No," Lila interrupted her, shaking her head. "The dresses have already been made, and I doubt I can find a girl in time who matches Bev's measurements." She eyed Joy and quickly looked away when her gaze wondered up to the tightly pi

"How tall are you?" Lila quickly asked me.

"I'm your average 5'5” last time I checked." My cheeks felt warm as I answered her because she wasn't the only one staring at my physique. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Patrick studying my face. He took a step closer so I could smell his cologne. Pine.

"Turn around," Lila instructed.

"Excuse me?"

"Gwenessa?" Patrick finally stated. I turned and looked him in the eyes for the first time in ten years. My toes curled in my snow boots, and I was pretty sure that my forehead was turning cherry red. My face cringed slightly when he spoke my full name. I didn't start going by Essie until I lost thirty pounds, grew my hair out, and started training clients in the Pinecliffe Mountain Resort's private fitness studio.

Gwenessa is the name my birth mother gave me, though I have never met her. I was adopted when I was a baby, and right after my new parents brought me home they found out they were having Joy. Joy and I aren't blood sisters, but most people in town couldn't tell the difference. Both of us have long, dark hair and a talent for attracting trouble.

Well, Joy attracts the trouble.

I'm the one who fixes it.

"She goes by Essie now," Joy mentioned.

"Whatever your name is," Lila butted in. She folded her arms, cell phone in hand. "Please, turn around so I can take a better look at you."

I contemplated telling Lila that a request like that should be paired with an appointment at my studio or even a cash tip, but I observed the look on Joy's face. This wedding meant everything to her. Work was her life, and she would probably kill me if I badmouthed the bride when she was in desperate need of a substitute for her missing bridesmaid. I slowly turned around. Not because I wanted to make Lila happy, but because I wanted to prove to Patrick and to myself that I wasn't the girl I once was.

"I don't know." Lila took a deep breath and scratched her porcelain face. Her makeup looked like it had been painted on permanently and not a hair on her head was out of place. Her hair was blonder than Patrick's and she fiddled with the buttons on her cell phone when she was nervous. "Can you dance? I mean, my bridesmaids have been taking lessons from professionals in L.A. for the past couple weeks, so. . . ."

"She can dance," Patrick reassured her. "Can't you?" He gently touched the middle of my back, sending tingles down my spine. He grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers and pulled me towards the stone fireplace near the center of the great room. He twirled me around and as he did, memories came flooding back. Memories of the two of us and the few moments we did have together before I'd left for college. When Patrick officially left Bison Creek to pursue his career, I took a good look at myself and realized how weak I'd become.

Patrick stopped noticing me because I brushed passed him at school like a frightened field mouse. I was afraid of saying something stupid, and dying later of embarrassment. But most of all, I was deathly scared of telling him how I felt about him. That I'd had feelings for him since middle school. Judging by the way he moved from girl to girl, starting with Big Boobs Bianca from gym class, I knew he didn't feel the same way. Avoiding him was my way of forcing myself to move on.

"Patrick, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"Come on. Can't an old friend ask for a favor?"

I looked up into his deep hazel eyes and saw the old Patrick smiling back at me. The boy from down the street who once told me he could outrun a coyote any day. Patrick's dirty blond hair was wavy and combed back like the mountain air had styled it for him during his run down the slopes this morning.

"Are we friends?" I replied. My voice sounded like it was quivering at first, but I quickly corrected myself.

"I'm sorry I called you Gwenessa, but in all fairness you haven't kept in touch."

"The door swings both ways, Bama." I took some pleasure in watching his wide smile curl when I called him the name he'd been branded with when he first moved to Bison Creek from a small town in Alabama. I was pretty sure by the shocked look on his face that no one had called him that in a very long time.

"Okay." He chuckled, twirling me again. "I promise not to call you ‘Gwenessa’ if you promise not to call me ‘Bama.’”

"Promise," I agreed. I followed Patrick's lead while he swayed from side to side, gradually dancing slower and slower, his attention focusing intently on the curves of my cheekbones.

"I hope you don't mind me saying but--"

"Enough of this, babe." Lila rolled her eyes. "We need to go over the wedding details, pronto." Her assistant, a short but sharply dressed man, brought her a glass of water. I smiled when I noticed that his choice of vessel was a wine glass. The kitchen staff would have handed him a traditional-style cup first. Her assistant either requested the wine glass or he'd rinsed out the residue of Lila's morning glass of white.

"Lila isn't as over the top as she seems," Patrick whispered, letting go of my hand. "She obviously thinks you can fit into the dress. Please say you'll be in the wedding. I don't want her to feel too overwhelmed on our big day."

"But I've never been a bridesmaid before and--"

"Come on," he pleaded. He glanced over at his fiancée and beamed, holding up my hand. "Here you go, babe. She'll make the perfect bridesmaid."

"What?" I murmured.

"Just play along," he said through his teeth.

"Fine," Lila agreed. She turned towards her assistant and resumed texting on her phone.

"Great," Joy added, "I will print another itinerary." Joy tilted her head towards the exit while clenching her jaw, as if to tell me to leave before I did something stupid.

"I guess I'll be seeing more of you, Essie. It'll be nice to have an old friend around." Patrick nodded, placing his hands in his pockets. It was the same nod he used to flash me from down the street when the two of us got home from school at the same time.

"I guess so," I quietly replied.

My eyes darted to the nearest exit as Lila exhaled loudly, her assistant reassuring her that everything was going according to plan. I quickly pushed open the door leading to the employee lounge and ran to change for my first training appointment. I had the feeling that I would be ru