“I love it. Kids are honest—what you see is what you get. Your mama said you finished dental school.”
Rowan’s eyebrows rose. “You guys still talk?”
“We run into each other every now and then. She seems really proud of the fact that you’re a doctor.”
Hmm. She’d never said as much to her. “It’s not like I’m curing cancer—I fix peoples’ teeth.”
“It still makes you a doctor.”
A ringing noise sounded through the car’s speakers. “La Privé.”
“Hi, Gloria. This is Marla. We’re about five minutes away.”
“I’ll send Adam out to wait for you.”
“Thank you. See you soon.” Marla pressed a button on the steering wheel and disconnected the call.
She glanced at Rowan. “Parking is a pain in the ass this time of day, so they block off one of the spots whenever I make an appointment.”
“Wow, that’s service,” Shelby said.
“For as much as we’re going to spend, it’s the least they do.”
Rowan’s cheeks flushed. “Uh…Marla, not to be crass but I don’t have a lot of money to spend on a dress. I wasn’t planning on spending more than a couple hundred dollars.”
Marla smiled. “Oh, you’re not spending a dime—Luke is.”
“I’m not really comfortable with that,” she said.
“Too late,” Marla said. “He called ahead with his credit card information and gave me explicit instructs to spare no expense, so I don’t plan to. It’s the leasthecan do after what he’s put you through.”
“Amen, sister,” Shelby said from the back.
Apparently, Marla was on Team Rowan. She turned left at the next light and stopped half-way down the block and waved at a man in a suit standing in front of a parking spot.
He leaned forward, glanced through the windshield, then smiled and stepped out of the way when he saw Marla.
She parallel parked on the first try, earning a decent amount of awe from Rowan. It always took her at least three tries when she had to do it.
Her door was opened as soon as Marla shut off the engine and the man offered a hand to assist her out. She managed not to clothesline herself with the seatbelt and made what she thought was a semi-graceful exit.
“Thank you, Adam,” Marla said.
“Of course. Gloria is waiting for you upstairs.” He jogged ahead of them to open the door to the nondescript storefront and they followed Marla in.
Rowan clenched her teeth to keep from gaping. The color scheme was beige and muted bronze with plush couches and glass tables.
Shelby slipped her hand into Rowan’s and squeezed. “I dare you to ask one of the employees if they work on commission,” she whispered.
Rowan stared at her for a heartbeat and snorted out a giggle. “I thought it was just me.”
“Oh, no.” Shelby shook her head. “I feel like Julia Roberts following Richard Gere into the store. All that’s missing is the hooker dress and thigh-high boots.”
“How much money do you think we’re going to spend?” Rowan asked in a low voice.
Marla stopped in front of a curtain and pulled it back, revealing a flight of stairs. “Not quite obscene, but we’re definitely going to do some damage.”
She gestured for them to go up and then followed them, drawing the curtain closed behind them.
