Page 100 of Shiny Things

“What are you up to? Why didn’t you put her in her place?”

I shrugged. “She’d never believe me anyway. Let her figure it out on her own. Besides, if I’m lucky, I might get out of cooking tonight.”

The two of us burst out laughing.

We talked and joked until she pulled up in front of my biggest nightmare.

I groaned in misery remembering the last time I’d set foot in there.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t shop here.”

“Why not?”

“Because they literally won’t sell to me.”

I went on to tell her about how I had seen this dress in the window for prom and it was perfect. I’d saved up for a year for the perfect dress, and that was it. I didn’t have a date, but I was determined to go to my senior prom.

“But when I went to try it on, they laughed at me and told me my money wasn’t any good there, that a Grimes could never do justice to one of their dresses. I was completely humiliated and ended up skipping the prom entirely.”

“That’s bullshit. Come on.”

“Gia, I’m not kidding. I can’t go back in there. It may have been a long time ago, but the people haven’t changed any.”

“Would you please trust me.”

She had no clue how bad things could get, but against my better judgement, I followed.

“Gia!” the girl behind the counter greeted. “It’s been far too long since you stopped in. What can I do for you?”

Then she did a second take, looking at me.

“I know you must be in a rush, but do you think you could ask your diner girl to wait outside. We don’t really serve to her kind.”

“Excuse me? Since when?”

“Since always.”

“Oh, my mistake, and here I always felt so welcome here, but if you don’t serve to ravens, then I suppose we’ll move on.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know I didn’t mean it like that. It’s her Flock. We cater to a higher clientele.”

Gia looked back at me, and I shrugged giving her an ‘I told you so’ look, but she just winked at me.

“Well, thanks for letting me know. I’ll be certain to let my mother and Aunt Ginny know that Davenports aren’t welcome here anymore.”

“Wait, what? That’s not what I meant. You misunderstood. She’s a Grimes.”

“Not that it should matter to you or any of your customers, because seriously, it’s really bad business to discriminate against anyone, but this is Kim Grimes Davenport, my sister-in-law.”

“Your wh-what?” Her jaw was practically touching the floor.

“You heard me. Come along Kim. We’ll have to look elsewhere for our dresses for Aunt Ginny’s party tomorrow.”

And with that she turned and walked away. I shrugged at the saleswoman.

“Your loss,” I told her and turned to hurry and catch up with Gia. “That actually felt really good.”

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