Page 55 of Give Me a Shot

“Good call,” Alice said.

Jess grabbed the pants and reached for the top but remembered something else.

“One weird thing,” she said. “The doctor asked about anything stressing me out, and I mentioned I’m doing the Ren Faire. Then she said stress can manifest as pain. Do you all think the Faire is making my muscles hurt?”

“Hmm,” Alice said. “I guess. If it’s stressing you out, that would explain why you never talk about it.”

“True,” Stephanie said. “Remind me why you’re doing this again? You don’t actuallyhave to.”

Jess sighed. Rather than overthink, she co-opted Mo’s explanation.

“It’s for a really good cause,” Jess said. She grabbed the top out of the closet and held it up with the pants for her friends to see.

“Is it a date or a research symposium?” Stephanie asked. “Next.”

Jess showed them the skirt and T-shirt.

“Meh,” Alice said.

Jess pulled out a long-sleeved brown dress with a high collar and flower print.

“Okay, Grandma,” Stephanie said.

Jess glared at the screen.

“Maybe it will be more efficient if you pick up the laptop and pan across your closet,” Alice suggested. Jess raised an eyebrow but complied.

“Wait!” Stephanie said before Jess started to pan. “What’s that red thing?”

Jess followed the angle of the camera and saw what Stephanie had caught at the far end of the closet. She returned the laptop to its place and pulled out the vintage-inspired red dress that she’d retrieved among other things on her only visit to her parents’ house since she returned to the States. A dress that was only in her possession because Cassie had chosen it for her so that they could attend a ’50s-themed party at the end of the previous summer. The last summer her fun-loving sister had had. A dull ache began rising in Jess’s limbs.

“What isthat?” Stephanie asked. She’d leaned close to the camera, resting her chin in her hand.

“It’s a dress,” Jess said, pulling the hem to the side so they could see the skirt.

“No kidding,” Stephanie said. “What’s it doing inyourcloset?”

“It’s beautiful, but isn’t exactly something I’d pick out for you,” Alice said.

Her friends weren’t wrong. The only reason she owned such a thing was to make her sister happy. And now it lived at the back of her closet. She sighed and explained how she’d ended up with it.

“I think it’s perfect for tomorrow night,” Alice said.

“Me too. You’re going to look stunning,” Stephanie said.

“Really?” Jess held it up again, then in front of herself while looking at her reflection.

“The question isn’t how it’s going to look on you,” Alice said. “It’s how do you feel about wearing it?”

“I mean…okay, I think.” She held the dress at arm’s length again. “It should still fit.”

“I swear, if I didn’t know that this was just a question of old habits dying really, really hard, I would reach through the screen and strangle you,” Stephanie said.

Jess looked sharply at her.

“I love you,” Stephanie said. “Welove you. With your compartmentalizing emotions and everything. The question is, are you okay with wearing this great dress even with its connection to Cassie? We tease you, but we know this is an emotional change for you, after anothermuch biggerchange. We just want to be sure that wearing that Cassie dress and embarking down this path isn’t going to be too much.”

Jess wasn’t sure how to respond. Steph had brought up some good points. But before she really tried to let herself feel their weight, she wanted to get Alice’s read.

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