Page 94 of Keeper
“Need me to come with you, Mr. Vaughn?” Olivia asked.
“Nah, I’m just looking.”
Okay, I won’t lie to you. I knew exactly where I was going—there was a certain dress that had caught my eye a few times before. It was a sleeveless white dress with a long skirt and a deep slit. I dunno, I don’t know a whole lot about women’s fashion—butman, I knew it’d look stunning on Ainsley.
I grabbed the dress and hurried back so she could try it on.
“Knock knock. I’m back.”
Ainsley cracked the door open and her jaw dropped. “Oh,wow!”She took the dress and draped it over her body. “It’sgorgeous.” She started hunting for a price tag. “But there’s no price. How much is this?”
I tried to catch Olivia’s attention and stop her from saying it aloud, but it was too late. “The fit-and-flare silk evening gown is $2,890.”
Ainsley’s stunned silence afterward was deafening.
“Tanner, no,” she said at last, her voice firm as she thrust the rejected dress towards me. “No.No way.”
I kept my hands in my pocket, refusing to take the dress back. “What’d I tell you? Don’t worry about the price.”
She stared into my eyes and lowered her voice to a stern whisper. “No, Tanner. That’s way,waytoo much for a single dress.”
Olivia had probably seen a scene like this a thousand times; she knew it was the perfect time to take a walk. “I’ll be back in a few,” she said as she gracefully retreated.
“It’s way too expensive,” Ainsley said, speaking more freely now that we were alone. “Look, I think it’s super sweet that you’re doing all this for me, but—”
“You said it yourself, the dress is gorgeous.”
“Yeah, but it’sthree thousand dollars! That’s almost half a semester of tuition. I’m not even fancy enough to wear something like this—what would I wear it to?”
“Don’t worry about all that,” I said. “Just try it on.”
“Tanner.” Her eyes burned into mine. “Can’t you find something cheaper? A gown under a thousand dollars, maybe?”
“Icould,” I said. “But I’ve always loved that dress.”
She scoffed with disbelief. “Really? You come here to look at dresses?”
“Well,no,I don’t come here to look specifically at dresses. But I told you I come here for suits and ties, and every time I’ve walked past that dress, it catches my eye. And all I can think is how beautiful it’d look on the right girl—and then I start thinking how much I’d love to have that girl on my arm.”
Her eyes, still on mine, began to twinkle as they softened. She made one last half-hearted attempt to give me the dress back, but I still refused to take it.
“Please, just try it on, Ainz. If you don’t love it, we don’t have to get it.”
She stared at the dress in her hands. A burgeoning smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“I can’t believe you,” she whispered, beaming as she retreated into the fitting room. “I simply can’t believe you.”
“I’m the worst, aren’t I?” I teased.
“Not atall,” she said as she shut the door. “Just the opposite. You’re way too good.”
Olivia, intuitively sensing our squabble was over, swooped past. I gave her the thumbs-up and she returned.
“Is she your girlfriend?” Olivia asked in a whisper as we waited outside the fitting room.
I smiled shyly. “Little early to say. But hopefully soon?”
Her hand went to her heart. “That’s so sweet. She’s a lucky girl.”
