Sid Sanchez hated seeing me in white.
Even for the wedding gown, he'd chosen a gaudy bright red.
And the white gown I'd fallen in love with, he gave to my best friend to wear as her bridesmaid's dress.
My eyes rimmed red, I begged him, "This is our wedding. Just this once—can't I?"
Sid stayed cool and unmoved, stroking my hair.
"Be good. White's bad luck. The most it can be is a bridesmaid's dress. The red one looks just fine on you."
Lena Fox stood beside us, clapping and smiling. "Sid has such great taste. That red gown makes you look so elegant and regal."
But that red gown didn't suit me at all.
Then I caught Sid and Lena nestled together by the sea, watching the sunset.
Lena tilted her face up and asked, "Next month is your wedding to Penelope Henson, after all. Is it really appropriate for me to show up at the ceremony in a white gown?"
Sid wrapped her tenderly in his arms.
"Lena, just to see you walk in wearing a wedding gown, I've been laying the groundwork for two years. Acting like I hated Penelope in white—by now she believes it completely."
"Since I have to marry her in this life anyway,"
"then letting you show up in the gown—it'll be like you get to marry me, just once. That's not too much to ask."
When he finished, the two of them kissed like they couldn't bear to part.
I forced the tears back down and dialed the wedding planner.
"Hello. The bride needs to be changed."
——
The voice on the other end was a little shocked. "Miss Henson, are you sure there's no mistake?"
"The wedding's only a week away. You're certain you want every detail switched from your information to Lena Fox's?"
I looked at the two of them, still kissing deeply in the dying light over the sea, and my smile turned bitter to the bone.
"Yes. Switch all of it."
These past two years, whether I wore a white dress or a white blouse,
Sid would frown the moment he saw it.
He'd even act nauseated, like he might be sick.
"Penelope, take it off. White really doesn't look good on you."
Even my white pajamas got crowned with the label of bad luck by Sid.
So under his negative reactions, over and over,
I purged most of the white clothes from my closet and replaced them with soft pastels.
And Sid was finally satisfied. "Penelope, these soft colors suit you best."
"Be good. Don't wear white anymore."
Since Sid had been laying the groundwork two years in advance, all so that on the wedding day Lena could wear the white gown and openly marry him just once—
then I'd simply grant the wish.
White or red, I didn't want the gown anymore.
Sid, whom I'd loved for five years, I didn't want him anymore either.
"Sid, what excuse did you use to slip away and watch the sunset with me today?"
Lena giggled in his arms.
"Penelope is my best friend, after all. You really shouldn't keep coming to see me behind her back. It's not right."
Sid lowered his head with a doting smile.
"Not right? Haven't I already come to you behind her back plenty of times?"
"Last night in my sleep I almost called out your name, and I didn't even notice myself doing it. That's how much I miss you. Lena, you're my cure, plain and simple."
"If I don't come see you, I'm afraid I'll really start mistaking Penelope for you…"
Watching this, the pain cut at my heart like a knife.
I didn't want to keep digging into exactly when Sid had gotten together with Lena.
Maybe it was two years ago, the time Lena knocked on my door soaked from head to toe.
There'd been something clearly off in Sid's eyes.
Or maybe it was three years ago, the time a pipe burst at Lena's place and Sid, hearing of it, ran over without a second thought to fix it.
