I catch up to Holly and she moves over, leaving a foot of space between us as we walk toward the doors.
This won’t do.
I step closer and reach out, softly grabbing her hand and interlacing our fingers.
She stops and looks from our hands up to me. “Why are you holding my hand?”
My lips twitch at the skeptical look on her face. She scrunches her nose, and it’s positively adorable. “I thought it’d be good practice for tomorrow, or when we’re seen in public. You know, trying to sell the fact we’re in love, we’re on a date, and we got marriednotfor convenience.”
She arches just one eyebrow but leaves her hand in mine, gently tugging me to keep walking. Sparks race up my arm. It’s funny how something assimple as holding hands helps me feel at peace about our marriage. Maybe it’s the way her fingers fit between mine, her soft palm against my callused one, or maybe it’s just the feel of her skin sending the fire through my veins and a peaceful warmth in my chest.
Holly tugs me toward the door and I step in front of her, gripping the handle as she reaches for it.
Our eyes meet, and I’m greeted by her squinty stink eye. As if that will scare me off.
I shake my head. “Nope. As your husband, I open the doors.”
She pulls her hand from mine so she can fold her arms and pop her hip out, looking adorably mad. Sorry ladies, but you do look pretty cute when you’re mad. It’s just a thing.
“I’m perfectly capable of opening a door.”
I shrug. “I know. But I’m trying to keep chivalry alive, even if I have to perform CPR on it daily.” I open the door and gesture her inside.
Her lips quirk and she relaxes, dropping her arms to the side and waltzing into the building as if she owns the place.
Holly guides us to a store with a French name I have no hope of pronouncing. She approaches a saleswoman and breaks into in-depth clothes lingo. I only catch a few words, ones I recognize as fabric types and the wordssuitandtuxedo.
Yep, definitely out of my element here.
Holly grabs my hand as the nice lady leaves and pulls me deeper into the store. It smells like money in here. You know, the super fancy colognes and freshly pressed clothes all mixed together to make my wallet quiver in fear.
I quickly forget about my wallet and internally start squealing like one of my newborn piglets. Holly initiated physical contact. I repeat, Holly initiated physical contact.
On the outside, I’m cool as a cucumber baby. Cool. As. A. Cucumber.
I’m grinning like a fool and I’m not even mad about it. So I’m not surprised when Holly looks back at me with a puzzled expression whenshe sees my face. “You seem extremely happy to be here.”
“This is fun. I’m easy to please.” I shrug and give her hand a squeeze, the motion grounding me in my new reality.
Her eyebrow quirk is back. “Fun? We haven’t even done anything yet.”
I stare straight into her eyes that I could get lost in. “Spending time with you is fun.”
Holly looks away, her eyes roaming across the store. But I don’t miss how her hand tightens in mine. “Let’s go look at a few things. Lucille is pulling different styles you should try, but let’s see if there are any fabrics and colors that catch your attention.”
I look around and spot the sales rack in the back corner and tug Holly in that direction. She matches my steps as I weave through racks of clothes.
“Where are you taking me? I thought we should start over there.” She points over her shoulder.
I scoff. “No, never start with the full price clothing, mi vida. Always start with sales and clearance.”
Holly’s confused expression is endearing. Sweet, innocent Holly. “Why would you want to look at a clearance rack?”
“To save money, and to get a good deal.” I drop her hand as I reach the rack and go for the men’s section.
Holly steps up next to me. Her hand lands on mine and stops my frantic flipping of hangers. “Nope, we’re not doing this. Don’t worry about the price tags. You’re going to go to the dressing rooms and I’m going to find clothes for you.”
I push the immediate insecure thoughts whispering in my brain away. This isn’t about my capabilities, this is about Holly being in her element. I need to let her shine.
