Lily nodded. She threaded a needle in about two seconds. I’d been trying for ten minutes.
“El concierto es mañana por la noche”, dijo. “Annie me envió un mensaje de texto en el almuerzo. Dijo que iba a cantar. En el frente. No detrás de la cortina”.
– ¿En qué?
Lily held up the blue dress.
“If we can fix it in time,” she said.
I looked at the ripped seam. The missing buttons. The footprint.
“Then I guess we’re staying up late,” I said.
We worked until almost two in the morning.
Lily did the hard parts. I did what she told me to. I ironed. I held pins. I cut thread. At one point, I found an old button tin in the hall closet. It was Ruth’s, from years ago. Lily dug through it and found two tiny pearl buttons that almost matched.
“These are close enough,” she said. “Nobody’s going to look at her buttons.”
