I turned at his wonderstruck tone, but he was gone. In an instant he was in the hall, laughing as he drifted backward. “Is that it?” he said. “Is that the dress you bought to wear to Trent’s wedding rehearsal and dinner? Damn, woman, you need some serious help.”

Following his gaze, I looked at my outfit. “What?” I said, warming. My nose tickled, and I muffled a sneeze, the heat and humidity starting to get to me.

Jenks was still laughing. “It’s a dinner, Rache. Not a dance club!”

Worried, I touched the jacket’s sleeve. “You think it’s too much?” I asked, working hard to keep my tone noncombative. I’d had this conversation with ex-roommates before.

Jenks landed on the hanger. “Not if you’re going to play the part of the town whore.”

“You know what?” I said, starting to get ticked. “Being sexy doesn’t come naturally, and sometimes you have to go out on a limb.”

“Limb?” he choked. “Rache, if that’s the way you dress for a wedding rehearsal, it’s no wonder you spent high school fighting off bad boyfriends. Image, girl! It’s all about image! Who do you want to be?”

I went to flick him away, and he darted to the ceiling, a trail of silver dust drifting down like a ribbon of thought he’d left behind. At the window a cluster of his kids were giggling. Flustered, I closed my curtains. Rex, drawn by the sound of Jenks’s voice, padded in from who knew where, settling herself in my threshold with her tail curled about her feet and her eyes on Jenks. The pixy had landed on Nick’s file, now shoved in among my perfume bottles, and I hoped the idiotic cat wouldn’t jump up there after him. I felt a slow buildup of a tickle in my nose, and I scrambled for a tissue, startling Rex into skittering out to the hall when I sneezed.

Looking over my tissue, I watched Jenks’s head go back and forth. “It’s a nice outfit,” I protested. “And I didn’t buy it for Trent, I bought it for my birthday date with Kisten.” I touched the beaded sleeve again, feeling melancholy. So I liked to dress up. So what? But maybe…maybe my image could use a little more class and a little less party girl.

Snorting, Jenks gave me a long, knowing look. “Sure you did, Rache.”

Bothered, I turned off the light and headed into the kitchen, scooping up the two bags of tomato stuff for Glenn that I had left in the hall. Still laughing, Jenks followed, landing on my shoulder in a show of apology.

“You know,” he said, and I could hear the smile on his face in his tone, “I think you should wear that dress to the rehearsal. It will cheese off that witch of a woman.”