Page 54 of The Holy Grail
Jules conceded the point, even though she thought it unlikely it would make a difference to Evan if she was dating the greatest guy in the world, then murmured, “Things should get better once my job is done and he and I won’t see each other as much.”
Chapter 15
Clothes shopping
After a nice dinner at Kyoto, in a nod to ‘where it all began’, Malcom and Jules drove to Macy’s, which was located in a nearby mall. It was where he had purchased his outfit for their first date, so going back seemed like the best choice.
After parking and getting out of the car, he took her hand—something she found herself really enjoying—and as they approached the store, she leaned into him and asked, “Are you ready to have some fun?”
“I’ve never really thought of shopping as ‘fun’ before, so …”
“That’s because you’ve never been shopping withme,” she told him with a quick kiss. “And this is going to be fun, becauseI’mfun.”
He kissed her back. “Okay, then I guess I’m ready to have some fun.”
Once in the store, Jules led him to the men’s floor, where he glanced around at the hundreds of racks of clothes, interspersed with numerous display tables piled high with folded shirts and sweaters. Within moments they were at the back of the store, which was basically a wall of pants folded neatly into built-in cubby holes: jeans, cargo pants, khakis, joggers, corduroys, and chinos, with numerous sub-categories, like straight-leg, relaxed fit, and athletic fit. To make things even more complicated, there were choices of ‘washes’—dark, light, acid—and of course there were levels of ‘distressing’ to choose from.
The last time he’d been here, he’d almost gotten a headache.
“I refuse to wear pants with holes in them,” he warned her. “I’m forty-two, not twenty-two.”
With a chuckle, she pulled up the back of his shirt to look at his butt, specifically to see the brand and size (but also just to look at his butt) before letting his shirt fall back into place. “I wouldn’t even suggest such a thing. We’re going to focus on pants like the ones you’re wearing, because they’re fairly traditional and they make your ass look amazing.”
“Really?”
She patted one of his butt-cheeks, which was pleasingly round and firm under her hand. “Really. I would never lie about that.”
She went through the display of jeans with impressive speed while he simply watched like a helpless male, which, when shopping with a female, most men were. When she had an armful of pants for him to try on, they headed over to the small dressing rooms and found an empty one. When she set the stack down on the short wooden bench, then proceeded to take a seat next to it, he looked at her with a combination of surprise and uncertainty.
“Do you want me to leave?” she asked.
“Um … do you want to stay?” he countered.
“Well, I did sit down, so … yes.” When he continued to just stand there, she added gently, “Is this you being shy or are you legitimately uncomfortable with me staying? Because if youareuncomfortable, I’ll leave.”
“I’ve just never done this before—”
“What do you mean? You and your wife never shopped together?”
“No.”
She gave him a quick wink. “Oh, well, then I guess you and I are learning how to do this together.”
He nodded, still looking a little unsure. “This probably sounds really weird, but what if I try something on and it looks bad? I don’t know if I want you to see that.”
“Because if a pair of pants don’t do your ass justice, you might become less attractive to me? Is that what you’re thinking?”
He paused, because when she said it like that, it sounded more than weird—it sounded borderline stupid—but he forged ahead. “Maybe.”
“I really don’t think you need to worry about that.” She gave him an innocent smile. “But, in the unlikely event that a pair of pantsdon’tdo your ass justice, I’ll blame it on the pants. How’s that?”
“All right,” he acquiesced. “But the next time you go clothes shopping, I’m going with you and having a front row seat while you try stuff on.”
“Fine,” she agreed without hesitation. “I mean, I was spread out on your countertop a few days ago, so, I’m really not worried if you see me trying on an unflattering dress or whatever. Know what I mean?”
He really did like the way she made everything so simple. “Good point.”
She leaned back against the wall and crossed one leg over the other, careful not to come in contact with his shin in the crowded space. “Now lose the pants so we can get started.”
