Page 25 of Already Home

“It sounds wonderful.”

“It took a while to get there. I spent years slicing and dicingto prove myself. The hours are long. It’s impossible to have much of a sociallife. Unless you’re married to a chef, which has its own problems. It’s not likethe store, where I have a lot of direct contact with customers. When you’re backin the kitchen at a restaurant, you don’t get much interaction.”

Violet had never thought of what happened behind the sceneswhen she went out to eat. She’d never considered that the person cooking thefood cared about her experience one way or the other.

“You put a lot of yourself into what you do,” she said.

“Which is both good and bad.” She shrugged. “So tell me aboutyour date. Where are you going?”

“Wildfire. It’s in Old Town.”

Jenna studied her. “We’re nearly the same height, but you havemore curves. Not that I’m bitter.”

“You don’t have to worry about your weight,” Violet pointedout.

“Yes, and you get to have breasts.” Jenna sighed. “My mom isalways worrying about her weight. She gains and loses the same fifteen poundsnearly every year. What she can’t see is she’s beautiful no matter what. When Iwas a teenager, I would see my dad watching her and I knew what he was thinking.It totally freaked me out. Parents should not have sex. But now, I think it’sgreat. Well, in theory. I still don’t want the details.”

She moved into the closet. “Your date is on Tuesday,right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So he’ll probably be coming from work. Which means a suit. Ithink you should wear a dress. That’s my mother’s training coming out, by theway.” She raised her voice to a slightly higher pitch. “A man likes to see awoman in a dress.”

Violet knew she had plenty of experience when it came to thelikes and dislikes of the average male but didn’t think it was helpful when itcame to things like dating this particular kind of guy. This wasn’t her world.Who was she trying to kid?

Jenna pulled out three or four dresses. “Why don’t you trythese.”

The top one was a short-sleeved cotton dress in dove gray. Thebodice had tight horizontal ruffles with some banding at the waist. The skirthad wider ruffles.

Not really her style, Violet thought, eyeing the dressdoubtfully. She wasn’t exactly a ruffle person.

“I have a belt that could go with this,” Jenna said. “Itactually looks really great on.”

“Okay. I’ll try it.” After all, her goal was to look likesomeone else.

Jenna handed over the dresses. “Can’t wait to see the fashionshow.”

She stepped out of the closet and returned to the bedroom.Violet pulled off her black pants, the tank top and lace overshirt she wore,then stepped out of her boots. She drew the ruffled dress over her head andbuttoned the front.

“There’s a full-length mirror on the back of the bathroomdoor,” Jenna said, pointing, then leading the way.

Violet trailed after her. Once in the huge bathroom, completewith separate shower and massive soaking tub, she closed the door and stared atherself.

The color wasn’t bad, she thought, turning back and forth. Thefit was great, but the style just wasn’t working.

“I look like I’m twelve,” she said.

“It’s not quite right,” Jenna agreed. “There’s a black dressthat should be better. Let me get it.”

She left the bathroom, then returned seconds later. The dressshe held looked more fitted. A simple scoop neck, tank straps and a skirt thatfell to mid thigh. Some tucking detail on the front gave the shapedefinition.

“Simple, elegant, silk,” Jenna said, holding it out.

Violet’s gaze dropped to the tag still attached. “I can’t wearthat. It’s new.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s your dress. You should wear it first.”

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