“I need a break!” said Molly. “I’m getting a snack! There’s food set up in the dining room, people!”

Everyone laughed, and I heard people moving around to the dining room.

At first I felt a little hurt that everyone had abandoned me for some food, but then I thought, Well, when I put this one on, I can make a grand entrance.

Chapter Ten True Blue

I pulled the next dress on myself and easily zipped it up. It felt light and flowy, like I could run around in it if I wanted to. I turned around to leave and I heard a gentle swish, swish from the bottom of the skirt, which made me happy for some reason. I felt like I had on a magical fairy dress, like I could float across the room without my feet touching the floor.

Everyone was in the dining room when I came out, so I walked over to the mirror to get a look before anyone else could see.

I stopped when I got close. There was a picture of Mom that we had on a table in the front hall. She was in a cornflower-blue dress, smiling at the camera, her head tilted back and her eyes crinkled up with laughter. It was taken when Mom and Dad were at a fancy party in Chicago, right before we found out Mom was sick.

I looked down and realized the dress I was wearing was the same purplish-blue color of her dress. It made my hair look darker and my lips look brighter. I looked a lot like Mom in that picture.

“Oh!” I heard a gasp behind me. It was Mimi, and her hand flew to her mouth.

Everyone rushed back into the living room and everyone, it seemed at once, said, “Ohhhhh!”

“That’s it!” said Kelsey. “That’s the magic dress!”

“Oh, Lindsay,” said Mimi. “You look so beautiful.”

I spun around. “I look like Mom.”

Mimi looked startled. Then she smiled. “You do. You look exactly like her, and that color…”

“It’s her favorite color,” I said, remembering. “True blue.”

“True blue,” Mimi whispered, and I could see her eyes were filling up with tears.

The room was really quiet. Mimi came over and put her hand on my shoulder, looking at me in the mirror. I didn’t know if she was looking at me or if she was seeing Mom.

True blue was a color Mom made up. She always said her favorite shade of blue was a little purple, a little white, and a little gray mixed together. She mixed it up on her paint palette and even kept some in a paint jar on her shelf. It was hard to find anywhere, but this dress was the closest to her shade of true blue I had ever seen outside of her paintings.