Standing behind Viv, I took a moment to soak it all in. In addition to Piper, there were seven women in varying states of undress. Judging by the number of hats Viv and Fee had made, it stood to reason that these were Viv’s bridesmaids. All seven of them. Whoa. I didn’t think I even had seven friends.

“What seems to be the trouble?” Viv asked. She glanced around the room with her chin tilted up, looking peak fashionista. There were mutters and grumbles but no one seemed to want to speak. Finally, the one called Trisha cracked.

“Piper told us all to wear a shade of gray to dinner tonight,” she said. “She didn’t care what shade it was, the important part was that it was neutral so that her yellow dress would stand out in the pictures.”

Viv nodded, unsurprised. As for me, I had to battle my eyebrows to stay down because they wanted to rise up at this jaw-dropping display of narcissism. I mean, I get that bridesmaids are supposed to adhere to the bride’s chosen color palette at the wedding. We’d done enough hats for bridal parties that I grasped that. But to have them dress in similar colors for a dinner two days before the wedding seemed like an overreach.

Personally, I loved the original intent of having bridesmaids. The custom, dating back to ancient Rome, was that the bridesmaids would dress all in white, exactly like the bride. The theory being that the bridesmaids would confuse evil spirits and potential kidnappers from knowing who the real bride was. So they were more like bodyguards than witnesses to the ceremony. How cool was that?

“I’m failing to see the problem,” Viv said. She sounded as forbidding as Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. The women collectively looked nervous, well, all except Piper.

“The problem is that Trisha and Sunny packed the wrong color dresses,” Piper said. “Mauve and taupe are not gray.”

“I look terrible in gray!” Trisha protested.

Piper ignored her and continued. “There were only two dresses in the village that fit my requirements. This one on Sunny.” Piper indicated the brunette, who was in a lovely maxi swing dress in a soft pearl gray.

Sunny had her curly light brown hair twisted into a messy bun at the nape of her neck and was wearing a long double strand of pearls that reached down to her waist. She had round eyes, a turned-up button of a nose and a rosebud mouth. She was also gently rounded, so anything clingy was out of the question.

“And the problem?” Viv asked. She yawned gently, patting her lips. It was a signal that she was running out of patience.

“Sunny has gained some weight—” Piper began but Trisha interrupted.

“Some weight? She’s gained a stone!”