Page 2 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

When the sun came up, Maisey was awake before the alarm went off, thinking about everything that would go on that day. In a couple of hours, everybody was up, dressed, and out the door, and Maisey sang along with the stereo in the car as she drove toward the office. She was almost there when her phone rang and she answered the familiar ringtone with, “Hey! Good morning!”

Her friend’s chipper voice sang back, “Same to you! You headed to work?”

“Yep. You hard at it?”

“Oh, yeah. Got Maya and Candace off to school and I just dropped Lara off at her school.” Lara attended a special needsschool near Williamsburg, and Cherilyn dropped her off there every morning and picked her up every afternoon. “So I was wondering… Wanna go dress shopping tomorrow evening?”

“Yes! That’ll be so much fun! I’ve got to get something new.”

“Do you want to start at the Thrifty Wench or?”

“Absolutely not!” Maisey shouted. “No more used clothes for me! Nope! All new from now on!”

“Okay, okay!” Cherilyn answered, laughing. “I get it!”

“You’re evil, you know that?” Maisey pretend-snarled.

“So I’ve been told! Okay, I’ll call Carly and we can make an evening of it.”

“Great! Looking forward to it. Thanks, hon. Shoot me the deets later.”

“Will do. Have a great day. Bye.”

“Bye.” Maisey smiled. An evening of shopping! How great would that be?

Pretty damn great.

“Ohhhh, that one is sooooo you!” Carly singsonged when Maisey came out of the dressing room.

“You think so?” She twirled in front of the full-length mirror in the ladies’ department, and the skirt of the white dress with red polka dots spun and billowed.

“Absolutely,” Cherilyn said with a nod. “It looks beautiful on you.”

“I like yours,” Maisey said and pointed to the garment bag Carly had hung up nearby.

“I love blue. I think it’s probably my best color. What about you, Cher?”

Cherilyn was prowling through racks. “I’m just not finding anything I really like.”

“Oh, come on. That red one you picked out was classy.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it fit right. I need boobs,” Cherilyn muttered.

“Youhaveboobs,” Carly pointed out.

Cherilyn sighed. “Okay, I needmoreboobs.”

“No. Trust me, you don’t. I have more boobs, and I’d like to give some away,” Carly groused.

“I’m with you. You can have some of mine,” Maisey offered.

“Wish that worked, but it doesn’t.” Cherilyn prowled through the racks. “I need…”

“You need this one!” Carly chirped and held up a dress.

Cherilyn’s eyebrows shot up. “The bodice is a corset!”

“Yeah, it’s a bustier bodice! You wanted more boobs, you got ’em!” Maisey added and pointed at the dress.

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