Page 49 of The Identicals
Harper laughs. “Is that even legal?”
“No,” Ainsley and Meghan say together.
Meghan says, “She doesn’t let men go into the dressing rooms because one time a couple had oral sex in there.”
“The girl was loud. Everyone heard,” Ainsley says.
“Good God,” Harper says.
“Men have to stay in this part of the store,” Meghan says. She points to two leather wing chairs over by the three-way mirror. “These are the appraising chairs.”
“Or they can stand,” Ainsley says. “But not within peeking distance of the dressing rooms.”
“Classical music only,” Meghan says. “I tried Billie Holiday one day…”
“Mom blew her stack,” Ainsley says.
“Thereisone piece of good news,” Meghan says. Then she places her hands under her prodigious belly and groans. “Braxton Hicks.”
“Oh, dear,” Harper says. Harper is getting a funny feeling about Meghan. She’s like a champagne cork about to pop.
“The good news is that Mary Jo’s son and daughter-in-law have finally intervened. They’re moving her to a retirement community in Maryland, closer to them.”
“Thank God,” Ainsley says.
“So you get to hire someone new!” Meghan says.
“Or we can just do it ourselves,” Harper says.
Meghan groans again. “You can’t possibly do it yourselves,” she says. “You’ll lose your mind—I guarantee it. Place an ad and find someone with retail expertise. It doesn’t have to be in fashion. Someone responsible but relaxed, firm but friendly. That’s what this store needs to become—relaxed and friendly. A place where you’re welcomed and remembered and talked to pleasantly, even if you do come in wearing culottes with Skechers. It’s up to you guys to change the reputation of the Eleanor Roxie-Frost boutique on Nantucket. Before it goes under.”
“Under?” Harper says.
“Sales stink,” Meghan says. “That’s another thing Tabitha seems to have her head in the sand about. This store has been losing money for years.”
For the first time in practically ever, Harper feels a pang of sympathy for her mother and sister. In so many ways, they are their own worst enemies. It looks like it’s up to her and Ainsley to rescue the store. She can just picture Tabitha and Eleanor shuddering at this thought.
“I’ll give it a shot,” she says.
It’s nearly the end of school. Ainsley has only one half day left, which she is already pressuring Harper to let her skip.
“Don’t you like the last day?” Harper asks. “Don’t you all sign one another’s yearbooks?”
Ainsley looks at her feet. She’s wearing a pair of fancy flip-flops decorated with faux jewels—red, turquoise, yellow. The baubles look like gumballs. Harper was excited to see that Tabitha carries more flip-flops like this—Mystique sandals—in the boutique. Harper is going to get a tortoise-shell pair and wear them all summer long.
“Ainsley?”
“What?” Ainsley says. Each day after school she has been more somber and withdrawn than the day before. There have been no rides home with Emma or other friends. Just now, in the shop, she was the most lively she’s been since her trip to the principal’s office. “The half day is pointless. It has something to do with state mandates. No one is going to beteaching. I’d rather be at the boutique.”
“Let me think about it,” Harper says. She squints as she steps out of the cool, fragrant boutique onto the bright, busy street. She misses Edgartown, the Vineyard in general, Reed.
Reed isgone?Harper has done a gut check every day since Rooster told her this. Does she believe Reed has left the Vineyard, and, if so, where did he go?Ishe looking for Harper? If he were looking for Harper, where wouldhego? Where would he thinkshe’dgone?
The circular reasoning addles her.
He would never guess Nantucket. He knows Tabitha lives here, and he knows Harper and Tabitha don’t speak. Furthermore, Vineyarders don’t go to Nantucket and vice versa. It’s like some weird law: you pick one island or the other.
Harper likes caring for Ainsley because it limits the time she has to dwell on such things. “Let’s get ice cream.”
