The deep green of the dress looks fantastic. It brings out slivers of the same colour in her eyes, making them flash as dangerously as emeralds against the ruby crimson of her painted lips.
Released from its elastic, her hair is dark blonde rather than the mousy brown I’d first thought. With a few highlights added, it’s full of warmth, even under the cold glow of the store’s fluorescent lighting.
Everything fits. Everything looks exactly like it should.
Shegrabs her phone off the makeup bench and stuffs it in the side of her bra. “Could I get a matching bag?” I ask Tandi, and she nods, grinning at the idea of adding another commission point to the sale.
“Oh, I don’t need…” George trails off, biting her lip.
“You can keep it after,” I say, unsure what’s worrying her. A childhood trauma involving a purse? Seems unlikely.
“You’ve already spent so much…” She cups her elbows, glancing nervously after the saleswoman. “I don’t want to cost you anything more.”
The concept is so foreign, it takes me a few seconds to understand she’s serious. “You don’t want a free handbag?”
“I’d love a free handbag,” she immediately retorts, then holds up one of the selection that Tandi hurriedly arranged. She flips the price tag around so I can see the four-figure sum clearly. “This isn’t free.”
I start to ask why she would care, then shrug. Either way, it doesn’t bother me. “Whatever you want.”
I tip Tandi a few hundred to make up for the loss and strip off my jeans and t-shirt, stepping into my suit and getting ready in about two minutes. One assistant folds my discarded clothing into a bag, handing it to me along with George’s original outfit. After knocking back the last of my glass, I hold an arm out for my date.
An arm which she leaves hanging like I’m some loser who isn’t worth the trouble to treat politely.
No. Worse than that. She’s actively glaring at me.
“What?”
“Have you been drinking the whole time?”
I feel a hit that she didn’t pay enough attention to me to know for sure, then forgive her the oversight on account of theparade of staff members who’d been fussing over her while they left me to my own devices.
Another hit comes because she’s right. Even if she hasn’t voiced the whole opinion.
I’m meant to be driving her to Dad’s ‘little house’ in the country. Even with my tolerance, most of a bottle of champagne is at least half a bottle too much.
Nothing I can’t buy my way out of, but I still don’t need to court trouble.
“Here.” I toss her the keys. “You’re not on anything, are you?”
“No, I’m noton anything,” she says, mugging me and turning on her heel like she’s pissed off I just ruined her night. “Where are we even going?”
The change in attitude is startling, setting my curiosity alight. What happened to Miss Meek and Mild?
“I’ll give you directions,” I mutter, waving goodbye to Tandi with far less grace than I’d greeted her. “And you might want to try pulling your neck in.” Thinking of the incident with the bag, I slyly add, “You’re wearing about ten grand worth of dress and jewellery. A thank you wouldn’t go astray.”
The flush comes back, creeping out from her neck to the delicate curve of her shoulder. The dress only has spaghetti straps, one of which I pretend to fix into position just to touch her gorgeous creamy skin.
She jerks away like I burned her.
“Sorry,” she says, holding a hand to her throat, eyes staring at the floor. “My mum was ki—” Her voice breaks off, and she compulsively swallows once, then again. “Drunk driving is dangerous, that’s all. I didn’t mean to be rude or imply anything or…” she trails off for the second time, shaking her head.
A dead mother to add to her deadbeat father. The sharpness of her inquiry dulls to tolerable levels.
“Luckily, I’m at the stage of inebriation where I’m incredibly forgiving,” I say, throwing my arm over her shoulder.
She’s so tiny that it steers her off on a tangent for three steps before she counters the weight. The door back to the carpark doesn’t open as we approach; the time since closing enough that they’ve turned off the sensors for the night.
Like the gallant gentleman I am, I step forward to press the release, then hold the door open for George to walk through.
