In a perfect world, Cheryl would thrill to the idea of attending their class reunion. It would be a chance to see faces she hadn't seen since high school. And though most of them would only distantly recall her by name, nearly everyone would recall the strange girl Evelyn decided to befriend. How modest was her perfect world, Cheryl reflected, that an ideal evening at the class reunion would be one where she could simply sit back undisturbed and observe all the rest. There would be no Alderman Vernon trying to engage her in conversation for Evelyn's sake. No Darla Granville-Thorp staring down at her with poorly disguised pity. No self-proclaimed ladies' man Roscoe Evans offering suggestively to supply just what Cheryl needed to loosen her tongue.
There would, of course, be Evelyn. Evelyn would be in her element. The greater the pressure the less her friend seemed to feel it. She would smile and flirt and dance and make it all seem so easy. When Leonard was alive, he would smile at his wife and shake his head. It was plain that he, like Cheryl, could not truly understand just why Evelyn chose to brighten his life. Perhaps it helped that despite Evelyn's banter and flirting, it was apparent to everyone present that she was Leonard's - mind, body and soul.
Cheryl recognized the gift Evelyn possessed. She tried, at the various functions her friend hosted, to be more open and accessible. She tried forcing out the small talk strangers so easily exchanged. One disastrous moment when her courage had been bolstered by two glasses of champagne Cheryl had attempted to flirt with a man who sat beside her between dance songs. All to no avail. She'd ended that outing as she invariably did all the others...at a table quietly talking to Matt Averill, a close friend of Evelyn's who was in the class one year ahead of theirs.
Making the decision to go to their class reunion was one thing. Having an entire day to obsess about it was something totally different. Several times over the past 24 hours Cheryl had dialed Evelyn's number to beg off from the commitment she'd made, only to be met by the same greeting...'Nope. Sorry. You promised.' Now a delivery man was at her door with a package from Evelyn. He had been to the house before, delivering gifts from Nicole on Cheryl's birthday. The delivery man was tall and neatly dreadlocked and he looked barely out of his teens. He was polite and soft-spoken and always called her 'ma'am'.
Cheryl signed for the package and tried to tip the young man, who smilingly informed her that 'things' had already been taken care of. The delivery was a zippered garment bag whose paperwork said it came from Evelyn while its logo proclaimed that it came from Saks. Cheryl stretched out the bag along her couch and just stared at it for awhile. She was hesitant to open it. The very act would make her attendance at the class reunion a real thing.
Her cell phone rang. The unexpected sound startled Cheryl and she jumped. It was a rare occurrence for her cell phone to ring. Less than a handful of people had her number and Evelyn always called the house. "Hello?"
'Did you get the dress?'
"You know I did. Did you pay that young man to call you as soon as he delivered it?"
Evelyn made a noise that sounded like a hoot. "Pay him? Girl, please! Evelyn Jones does not pay young men for anything! A little flirting, a little flattery and I have them eating out of my hand." She laughed. "Now stop staring at the bag and open it. You are going to look fabulous in what I chose."
Cheryl hesitantly drew down the garment bag's zipper. Anyone observing would have thought she expected to find a poisonous snake inside. "Well? Well? Don't leave me in suspense," Evelyn prompted. "Tell me what you think!"
Cheryl held up the dress. It had a plunging neckline and low-cut back. And it was red. Bloody, scarlet, eye-catching red. "What do I think?" Cheryl repeated. "I think you sent me your dress by mistake."
"Relax," Evelyn laughed. "That isn't your dress. And no matter how much I wish you would, I know you wouldn't wear something daring like that. I just wanted to get your reaction. Your dress is the one under it."
That dress, Cheryl breathed a sigh of relief, was more her style. It was a plain black floor length dress-not too revealing or bold. "It's perfect," she told her friend.
"I thought you would like it. And it's a good thing you do. I bought it four months ago. I couldn't return it if I wanted to."
Cheryl really should have been angry at the way Evelyn had skillfully manipulated her life. Her friend had known for months that she would maneuver Cheryl into attending their class reunion. In fact, Cheryl mused ruefully, Evelyn had been so confident of her skills she'd even picked out a dress for her. She could not be angry, though. Evelyn had blazed a path into the crippling shyness that was her life and dragged her out into the world where she really wanted to be. Cheryl was content being a minor player in a universe where Evelyn shone. A lifetime of friendship was more than she had ever dreamed of having with someone so...alive.
"Stop thinking so much," Evelyn chided. It was as if she could see into Cheryl's living room. "As usual I have everything covered. Trust that...And stop calling me."
Cheryl returned the red dress to the garment bag. She took her own into the bedroom to try on. The plain black dress would not make jaws drop the way that red number would, but neither would it draw undue attention Cheryl's way. And that was how she preferred it.
Maybe, just maybe, this reunion might not be so terrible after all.
