Page 54 of The Promposal

“That’s why. Because she’s awesome and does everything right and everyone loves her and it annoyed me. But the thing was, she was there for me. Ella showed up. She helped me. Even when I was awful to her, she did her best to be my sister. And it made me realize how much I loved her and how important she was to me.”

I put down another pair of cards and realized that Kenyetta wasn’t paying attention to the game, but to what I was saying. “It’s okay if you start out not liking someone and then change your mind.”

She nodded, her focus back on the cards. “I’m going to be sad when you leave and won’t tutor me anymore.”

“We’ll always be friends.”

“You’re going to college in the fall,” she protested.

“I won’t be too far away. And you can call me or text me any time you want. I’ll always be just a phone call away. You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that if you think you’re going to get rid of me so easily, Kenny-the-Pooh.”

“Ugh,” she said and rolled her eyes. “I never should have told you about that.” It was the nickname her father had given her as a baby because of her big, rolly tummy. Just like Winnie-the-Pooh.

“Too late. It’s in the vault now. At your wedding, when I’m your matron of honor, I’m going to announce it to the entire room.”

“You are so embarrassing,” she mumbled, but I saw her secretive smile at me promising to be a part of her life for a long time. Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it. “I gotta go. Bahati’s waiting for me out front.”

She gathered up her things, and I stayed quiet, not wanting to beat a dead horse. I’d done my best to nudge her toward trying to work things out with her potential future stepmom.

“I’m glad we got to work together and become friends. I’m going to miss being able to hang out with you every week,” I told her.

Without warning, she threw her arms around my neck, almost knocking me out of my chair. She didn’t say anything, just squeezed. And when the hug was over, she ran from the room. I found myself having to fight back tears, and I gulped several times, trying to keep them in. I’d known it would be hard to say goodbye to her. Just not this hard.

The thing that made me feel better was that I’d been like her Yoda. Not small and green, but more of a mentor since I could help her given that I’d been where she was. Who knew that playing Musical Chairs: Stepmothers Edition would make it so I could help someone else? Like the pain and annoyance had all been worth it just so that I could try and help Kenyetta down her path.

It made me wonder if someday I’d meet someone else with a terrible mother, and I could tell them been there, still haven’t murdered that.

I mean, assuming that I hadn’t.

I gathered up my things and headed home. As I pulled into the driveway, my phone chirped at me. It was a text from Ella.

YOUR DRESS IS COMPLETE. REPEAT, YOUR DRESS IS COMPLETE. YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, AND JAKE WILL LOSE HIS EVER-LOVING MIND. OVER.

Now this I had to see.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ella practically tackled me when I walked in the front door. “Come see! Come see!”

She was wearing her “new” prom dress, created from two of her old gowns. And while I hadn’t been able to picture it when she’d first described it to me, now I was blown away by how pretty it was. “Your dress is amazing!” I told her.

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed her dress, as if it didn’t matter. She grabbed me by the wrist and led me into her room.

My dress was hanging on her closet door. “That’s the kimono?” I asked, my mouth hanging open.

“The silk was much easier to work with than I thought it would be. So soft, but still really strong.”

Ella had altered the bodice of the dress to be sleeveless and brought in the sides. She had also given it a bit of a plunging neckline, something a little more daring than I might normally wear. I didn’t know what she had done to the skirt, but now it hung down like a bell, as if it would move and flow when I walked or danced. Ella lifted it down from the closet door and handed it to me.

The bottom embroidery was still intact, beautiful silver renderings of a Japanese garden with birds taking flight. I noticed that the back had a deep V as well, even more than the front. It was a very grown-up dress.

It was absolutely perfect.

“Try it on!”

Without hesitation, I kicked off my shoes and tore off my pants and shirt. Ella helped me slide the dress on over my head, and it made that silk-whispering sound against my skin, feeling as smooth as water. I saw that she’d cut the bow down by half. I looked at my reflection and watched her tying it in the back for me.

“I didn’t realize this at the beginning, but there was so much material with this thing. I guess it’s a lot of padding and tucking to make it fit right when you wear it traditionally, but that also meant I had a lot to work with.” She stepped back to take a look at me, even making me spin around. “Sometimes I even impress myself.”

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