Page 63 of The Auction
“It was, but her daughter came home from college and wanted to try running her own business. It doesn’t have like a crazy amount of stuff, but she shops all over Montana, so it’s not just Riverbend’s leftovers. And she gets new stuff in every week. You want to check it out with me?”
“I…uh…,” I pointed to the groceries in the truck.
“They’ll be fine for a couple of minutes. I just don’t want to go in by myself. Rule of shopping, never shop alone or else you will buy the most hideous thing.”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to buy…”
We both stopped talking and she averted her eyes like she’d stepped into something she knew stunk. What I’d said was accurate. I’d never been allowed to buy anything on my own. But that was Herb.
Creed didn’t seem to have those restrictions on me.
“Anything hideous,” I finished, with a half laugh. “Creed would be mad at me.”
Immediately, April’s expression changed. Like of course, she misunderstood that I was some restricted adult who couldn’t do basic things without supervision.
“Cool,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Without any sort of legitimate reason, and because I was a little curious, I shut the back of the truck and headed across the street and down a couple of blocks back into town. We took the stairs up to the space that had been converted into a shop. An open sign hung from the door and April didn’t hesitate.
My first thought was that it smelled a little musty. Butthat seemed reasonable in the summer when the place was stuffed with clothes.
There were as many round racks that could fit in the space available. To navigate through, you had to push through hangers and clothes, but April seemed to be on a mission.
“Hi Kaye!” she called out.
“Hi April, new stuff is in the back near the dressing room,” a disembodied voice returned. I couldn’t see her, but she had to be somewhere in this miasma of people’s discarded clothes.
“This way,” April directed me.
I could see the small corner of the room that was sectioned off with a curtain. I assumed that was the dressing room. In front of it was another round rack, although this one was more carefully spaced and not completely overstuffed with clothes. On top was a cardboard sign with neat lettering that read: Just In.
The sizes were sectioned off and so I focused on the medium and small area.
“Oooh! Look at this dress!” April pulled it off the rack and showed it to me. It was soft pink, with white detailing along the shoulders. Straight skirt, knee high, the white pearl buttons only went up so high on the chest where it opened to a V-neck.
It was pretty. Maybe the prettiest dress I’d ever seen. “You should totally try that on. It would look awesome on you.”
“No way,” April said. “Pink is not my color. You try it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have much reason to wear something like that.”
April did this head tilt pouty thing. “Juliette. You’re married now. You should have a dress that you wear to makeyour husband sit up and take notice. What about date night?”
“Date night,” I scoffed. “What’s the point of being married if you’re still dating?”
“My mom and dad have a date night at least once a month. My mother insists on it, but truth is, I think my dad likes it when she puts on a fancy dress and make up just for him. Now listen to me, I may not be a married woman, but I know things, having two older brothers. Try this on.”
It couldn’t hurt to try it on, I thought. I took the hanger from her and walked behind the curtain in the corner. I kicked off my worn sneaks, and pushed the straps of my overalls off my shoulders. I pulled off my shirt and studied myself in the mirror. The bra was the same one I’d had since I hit puberty. And my underwear was white and came in a six pack.
Creed had been making noise again about me moving back into his bed. He wasn’t shy about letting me know he wanted to keep messing around and see how things progressed. But of course, I kept digging in my heels.
In so many ways it felt like a tug of war. I was clearly slipping across the playing field. And the puddle of mud in the middle was just waiting for me, eventually. But giving up didn’t feel right. So I kept tugging.
This, I thought, looking at myself in the mirror. This was what he was so hot for?
My brown hair was braided down my back. My skin was white and brown depending on where the sun hit. My underwear was not sexy, and my face…I don’t know. It was just my face.
I reached for the dress and pulled it off the hanger. You had to undo all the buttons, slip your arms init, then button it all up again. It cinched it around the waist and just under my boobs.
