The Queen of Minor Disasters (28 page)

           
Cindy greets us as we enter the restaurant. “Your table is all set
girls,” she says giving me a thumbs up. I smile at her.

           
Lucy walks ahead of me and stops when she sees my mom and Gina at our
table. She looks at the balloons, the flowers, the cookies, and the giant gift
bag and starts to cry.

           
“Surprise,” Gina and my mom say.

           
“You guys are amazing.”

 She’s right though. It
is
amazing that my mother could change so
quickly, but that’s the way my family is. We stick together no matter what, and
now Lucy is a part of that.

           
My mother stands and gives Lucy a hug, which makes her cry even harder.

           
“Lucia, I am happy to have you as my daughter. You always were anyway.”

           
“Thanks,” Lucy says and wipes her eyes.

           
“Welcome to your bridal shower.” I take a seat next to her.

           
“Thanks guys, you really didn’t have to do this.”

           
“Yes we did, you’re the bride,” Gina squeals.

           
The waitress approaches our table and we all order pancakes. My mom and I
get blueberry, Gina gets chocolate chip, and Lucy orders hers plain.

           
“I hope I can keep these down,” she says when the waitress leaves. She’s
already looking a little green.

           
“Try drinking a glass of whole milk,” my mom says. “It really helped me
when I was pregnant.”

           
“Did you get morning sickness?” Lucy asks.

           
“Ha, I had it so bad with the twins. They started giving me
agita
their first week of life.” My mom
looks at me. “And twenty-seven years later, they haven’t stopped.” She sticks
out her tongue.

           
“Hey,” I say. “I am an
angel
compared to Lorenzo.”

           
Lucy laughs because she’s seen me at my worst.

           
The waitress passes by and Lucy orders a glass of whole milk.

We must look funny celebrating
a bridal shower on the back deck of Cindy’s instead of in some mansion like we
did for Gina, but the truth is, I like this much better. My mother is relaxed
and making jokes, Gina looks like she’s having fun, and Lucy is so overwhelmed
with our surprise that she flips between laughing and crying. We all laugh at
her.

“With all those hormones you’d
better watch out. You might be having twins,” my mom warns.

“Can you imagine?” Lucy says
dreamily. She looks off in the distance and I see her face get sad. I wonder if
she’s thinking about her mother.

“Open your present!” I order
and thrust the bag in front of her.

Lucy smiles and pulls the
tissue paper out of the pink gift bag. She removes canary yellow dishtowels
with an embroidered D stitched in blue on them. “Oh,” she coos. “They’re so
cute. I love yellow.” She laughs.

“We know you better than you
think,” my mom says and pats her on the shoulder.

Lucy takes out two sunny
porcelain mugs and smiles. “Prefect for our morning coffee,” she says. “Thanks
guys.”

“There’s one more thing,” Gina
says reaching into her bag. She takes out her laptop and starts typing, then
flips the screen towards Lucy. “You need to select something wonderful from
Saks.”

“No, I can’t,” Lucy says,
embarrassed.

“Please, do you
know
what kind of a discount I get?” Gina
insists. “Now pick something nice, a stunner.”

We watch as Lucy scrolls
through the items on the screen. She clicks on a few images to make them
bigger, and then finally decides on an extra fluffy feather bed. “I’ve always
wanted one,” she beams.

“It’ll be yours by next week,”
Gina says. “From me and Pietro.”

Lucy gives her a hug. “Thank
you.”

“Ok, one more thing.” My
mother pulls an envelope from her purse and hands it to Lucy.

I had no idea she was planning
something else. Am I the only one who didn’t get Lucy something special?

Lucy opens the card and reads
the message that my parents have written her. She starts to cry and dabs her
eyes with a napkin. “Thanks, Mom.”

“We’ll go shopping for it
after the wedding.”

“For what?” I ask.

“A washer and dryer,” Lucy
says. “So we don’t have to go down to the basement of Lorenzo’s building.”

An awkward moment passes,
where we’re all realizing that this is really happening. Lucy and Lorenzo are
getting married.

Gina steps in. “Tell me about
your dress.” She looks at Lucy with a sparkle in her eyes.

“I don’t know what I’m wearing
yet,” Lucy replies. “I guess I’ll go buy something new.”

Gina looks appalled and I can
tell she’s itching to say something. Luckily my mom jumps in. “Whatever makes
you comfortable, Lucia.”

Just like that, an idea hits
me.

“You know what happens after a
bridal shower right?” I ask with a twinkle in my eye.

“What else can happen? I’m
getting married in six days?”

“You can’t get married without
having a bachelorette party,” I explain. My mom and Gina both look at me as if
I’ve lost it, and Lucy stares at me blankly.

“Make yourself available on
Tuesday.” I say. “All day.”

Yields 3 dozen

Ok, so maybe Lucy’s not really
Italian. But she’s going to be part of our family now, and no DiLucio girl can
have a shower without these cookies. Even if you’re not Italian, you can make
them for a bridal shower. They’re pretty much the perfect cookies.

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 cup of sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons of baking powder

3 1/2 color cups flour

for the icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter (softened)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons milk

1
       
bag of shredded coconut

1)
     
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2)
     
Cream the butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a
time. Beat well.

3)
     
Add the vanilla and mix well.

4)
     
Slowly add in the flour and baking powder. Mix
until incorporated.

5)
     
Drop teaspoons of dough onto a greased cookie sheet
2 inches apart.

6)
     
Bake for 6 minutes or until the bottoms are
slightly golden.

7)
     
 Place on a cooling rack to cool completely before
icing.

For the icing:

1)
     
Mix powdered sugar, lemon, butter, and milk
together in a large bowl until smooth.

2)
     
Divide the icing into a few separate bowls and add
a few drops of food coloring into each bowl. My mother usually makes one pink
bowl of icing and one pale green. She leaves the last one white for a nice
array of color.

3)
     
Ice cookies and top with shredded coconut.

4)
     
Place cookies in an airtight container and they
will last 4 days.

5)
     
You can also freeze the cookies in an airtight
container and defrost them at room temp two hours before serving (or you can
eat them frozen like I do. That’s Food Therapy at its finest).

Tuesday can’t come fast
enough. I wake at 6:00 a.m. and I
know
the day is going to be great. My best friend and brother are getting married in
four days, and all the plans are set.

I pick Lucy up at Lorenzo’s at
7:00 a.m. She’s been staying there openly since the big news hit, and though my
parents are not pleased with them living together before the wedding, they’ve
kept their mouths shut. At this point what can they really say?

I honk twice.

Lucy walks out of the
apartment wearing slim fit jeans, a long gold tank top, and brown flip flops.
Her hair is pulled off her face, and big hoop earrings hang from her ears. She
looks at me as she gets in the car. I’m wearing a pale grey pencil skirt and a
black tank top. Of course, I’m in heels.

“Am I dressed okay?”

“You look beautiful, mamma.” I
smile as she gets in the car.

“So what kind of wild and
crazy stuff are we doing at 7:00 a.m.?” she asks sinking into the seat.

I start laughing. “Don’t worry
about it.” I pull the car out of the driveway.

“Can we at least stop at Quick
Mart? I need some breakfast.”

“Of course,” I say and turn
the car around.

Lucy buys a large bottle of
whole milk and a granola bar. I opt for a large coffee with French vanilla
cream.

 “Your mom’s trick really
worked,” Lucy says as we get back into the car. She opens the cap to her milk
bottle and takes a sip. “I think the milk coats my stomach.”

“Well keep drinking it then,
because we have a long day ahead of us.”

“Where are we
going
?”
she whines and stamps her feet. Lucy’s acting about five years old.
She’s going to be a
mother
?

“Relax. The only thing I need
you to do is pick some music.” I hand her the leather CD case from the console.
“Something upbeat.”

She decides on Beyoncé as I
pull onto the Garden State Parkway. We car dance for a few hours, laughing and
gossiping like old times.

That’s the thing about best
friends. No matter what happens between you, you’ll always be able to brush it
off and, eventually, laugh.

We make it to Bella Sposa’s
just as they open at 11:00. When I called Maria to ask her about a dress, she
suggested we get there early, so that Eva will have time to make any
alterations before we leave tonight.

When Lucy sees the back and
white-striped awning she looks at me. “You took me here to pick up your
bridesmaid’s dress? That’s not exactly a fun bachelorette activity.”

I open the car door. “Get out.
It’s time for you to pick your wedding dress.” I step out of the car and into
the August heat.