Rosamund wiped her hands on her skirt and picked up the phone. "Hello?" she said.
"Hi! Is this Rosamund?"
"It is," said Rosamund. "I don't mean to be rude, but who is this?"
"My name is Elissa Fisk. I think we have a few mutual friends. Do you have a minute to talk?" added the woman - Elissa.
"Yeah," Rosamund said, and went to sit down.
"When I was ten years old, my brother left home," Elissa said. "He was barely fourteen. He's been going by surname only since I was little. Anyway, at the wedding - Michael, right, that's his name? - at Fisk and Michael's wedding, Michael's little sister Kathryn met my second oldest sister Judith. I think you did too?"
"I did. How'd you know about that?"
"It's sort of a funny story," said Elissa, and explained.
Rosamund listened, spellbound, at the perfect rom-com unfolding. "You set them up on a date? That's so cute!"
"They're adorable," agreed Elissa. "Anyway, I stole your number from Kathy's phone in the hopes that you'd be willing to help Kathy get ready for the date. I don't want her backing out."
"And you'll get Judith?" guessed Rosamund.
Elissa replied, "Yep! Oh, I've got class, just - ask Kathy if she has any plans Friday night, and go from there."
"It's been nice talking to you, Elissa," Rosamund said.
"Call me Lissy," said Lissy.
-.-.-.-
"Wear a black dress," Lissy ordered from where she was sprawled out on Judith's bed.
Judith hesitated. Then, "I have a lot of those."
"Are any body-conforming?" asked Lissy.
"Yes," said Judith.
"Bring them out here so I can help you pick."
Judith sighed, but gathered that section of her closet into her arms. Lissy gaped when she dumped the mountain of dresses on the bed, and Judith glared. "Not a word," she said.
Lissy nodded, already going through the dresses. She selected a backless one with flattering seam-lines and held it out. "This," she said.
"Really?"
"Yes," said Judith. "Now, tell me, why do you own… twenty-seven little black dresses?"
"Because they're basically pencil skirts with camisoles built in," said Judith. "Also, I look fantastic in them."
"Uh-huh, and that's why you're wearing one on this date. She's great, I swear, you're going to like her."
-.-.-.-
"Try this on," Rosamund said. "It's tight on me, so it should fit you."
Kathy glanced at her friend's breasts, which would probably suffocate in the coat she was being offered, and shrugged the coat on over her clothes. It did fit nearly perfectly. She ran her fingers over the cobalt blue wool. "It looks… kind of like Judith's yellow coat," she murmured.
"Don't be silly, that was a trench cut with pleats, this is a princess cut," said Rosamund.
Kathy nodded, not understanding half of that. "So… I look okay?"
"You look lovely," Rosamund promised. "Now, how would you like me to do your hair?"
-.-.-.-
Judith took one look at the woman sitting at the bar and knew she'd been had. But she could recognize a good bit of meddling, so she approached anyway. "Either this is a really, really weird coincidence, or Lissy is an evil genius," said Judith.
Kathy nearly fell off the barstool. "Judith," she said.
And Judith knew she hadn't introduced herself at the wedding, so that was weird. "Did Lissy tell you my name?"
"Uh…" said Kathy. "Okay, so, I may or may not have stalked you a teensy bit. I just wanted to know who you were."
"You went looking for me?" Judith said.
Kathy bit her lip. "You made a really good first impression?" she said.
Judith laughed, because that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard, and Kathy grinned sheepishly at her, and then the bartender was asking if they needed anything to drink, and Kathy was ordering Judith an ice water and herself a Shirley Temple while Judith recovered.
"Oh, god, I don't know how I lived with Lissy for so long without realizing she's an evil genius," said Judith, wiping at her eyes.
"I figured it out when she showed up to the body farm in a pink dress," Kathy said. "Oh, shit, is Lissy your sister?"
"Yes, she is," Judith replied.
Kathryn covered her face with her hands. "I've known my brother-in-law's sisters for weeks without realizing."
"There's another one," Judith told her, and snickered when Kathy thumped her head against the bar. "He has three sisters, a brother-in-law, a niece, and a nephew. You get to introduce your brother to his own in-laws."
"Hell no, this is Fisk's dysfunctional mess, he gets to tell Michael, I'm just gonna stand back and watch."
-.-.-.-
"You're brilliant," Rosamund told Lissy, as Judith and Kathy held an excited conversation inside the restaurant.
Lissy turned away from the restaurant's front window and did a perfect curtsy. "I know," she said.
"We really ought to go on a double date sometime," said Rosamund.
"We could do a quadrouple date with these two, our boys, and the newlyweds."
Rosamund grinned at her. "I like the way you think."