“Yes,” Evangeline said. “But, um, I’m on a budget.”
“Is your name Evangeline Dunn?” Ana asked.
“Yes,” she replied, surprised.
“Then you don’t have to worry about a budget,” Ana said. “Your new boss called ahead of time. We’re putting your new clothes on his tab.”
“What?” Evangeline asked, unable to understand.
“Don’t worry. He can afford it,” Ana said softly. “Believe me. What kind of work are you going to be doing?”
“Just taking care of the baby,” Evangeline said automatically. “So I don’t need anything fancy.”
“But you have to be able to throw it in the wash,” Ana said, nodding. “Babies are messy.”
“Yes,” Evangeline said, feeling grateful to the other woman already for thinking of that. “But I really don’t want to spend too much of Mr. Ward’s money.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what,” Ana said. “Why don’t you set up in our dressing room in back? My mom and I will pullsome of our clearance items for you and see what you like.”
“Wow,” Evangeline said. “Okay. Thank you so much.”
“No problem,” Ana told her. “If you’re on a break from taking care of his little one we want to take advantage while we can.”
Evangeline nodded and swallowed over a lump in her throat. Everyone here was just sonice.
She went back to the dressing room, but since she didn’t have anything with her yet, it didn’t take much to settle in.
The overhead speakers played soft Christmas carols in Spanish that reminded her of the radio that was always on in the corner bodega back home. She didn’t understand the words, but the tunes were classic and it was all very comforting.
Ana was talking with the lady at the counter, who looked a lot like her, but older. Evangeline figured that it must be her mom. The two of them headed off through the store, grabbing things off racks here and there.
Evangeline found that odd, since normally the sale stuff was all in one place, not all mixed in with the other things.
Please don’t let this be too expensive,she prayed inwardly.
Even if Grayson was willing to pay, it wasn’t right to spend his money this way. She would have to insist on paying herself.
“Here we go,” Ana said a moment later, hurrying over with an armload of clothing. “And this is my mom, Mariangel, but everyone just calls her Mari.”
“Hello, sweetheart,” Mari said with a slight accent that Evangeline couldn’t place.
“Hi,” Evangeline replied. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“We’re going to go look for more things,” Ana told her. “You just let us know if you need different sizes.”
“Do you have coats and boots maybe?” Evangeline asked shyly. “These aren’t really my style.”
“Of course,” Mari said, nodding with a wise smile.
Evangeline pulled the curtain closed and set the trove of beautiful clothing on the bench.
It was everything she could have dreamed of--cute stretchy jeans that ought to fit anyone who tried them on, sweaters and soft t-shirts that she could layer, and even a few cute dresses. Everything seemed to be mostly cotton, so it ought to wash well.
Unfortunately, there were no price tags on any of it.
Shrugging and hoping for the best, Evangeline started trying things on.
“We found you a coat and a pair of boots we think you’ll like,” Ana said from the other side of the curtain. “I’m just putting them on the chair out here. Is everything fitting okay?”
