Once outside their office, I grabbed Todd’s arm. “Let’sgo.Now.I’ve been dying to tell you what happened.” I hadn’t had a chance to tell him Arch asked me out.
He gave me a startled glance as I swept us past the sweet receptionist, through the cubicles, and out to the front office. He turned and gave a finger wave to Blondie as I practically ran us out.
Once we reached the quiet of the empty elevator, I collapsed against him. “I just got asked out on a date by Arch Beaumont. And he wasnervous about it.”
Todd’s mouth dropped open. “Dear lord, forget shopping for me. It’s fairy godmother time.”
Chapter Five
Too many bodies and too much noise permeated the mall. Todd ran around in rare form, excited to send me off on a date with the gorgeous lawyer. He dragged me from store to store, buying enough clothing to send me on fourteen dates and him on another three. We were both overloaded with bags and making our way to the exit when one of my nightmares walked toward me—my stepsister. Halfway across the mall, the derision on her face came into focus as she made a beeline for us.
Todd nearly dropped his bags when he spotted her. “Oh, god, where can we hide? I don’t have the energy for that bitch after all the shopping we did.”
“Neither do I.” The back of my neck clenched painfully. I rolled my head to ward off the oncoming tension.
“At least you look killer today. Hold your head high; you’re ten times the woman she is, inside and out.” His words gave me the strength to shake my hair out and stick my nose in the air as she reached us.
“Hello, Michelle.” The frown on my face came out in my voice.
“Ellie. What’re you doing here? You don’t shop.” Her snide voice infuriated me.
“You have no idea what I do or don’t do.” I tried to keep my voice even, showing no sign of upset.
She sneered at the various bags we carried. “Trying to burn through your meager trust fund?” She laughed. “I’d think you’d learn to be more frugal since you won’t have any income from the company.” Taking her cue from her mother, she always belittled me as a kid. I refused to let her bother me now. I’d no longer let her shake my self-confidence. I wasn’t a chubby teen anymore.
I arched an eyebrow but otherwise gave no expression, intentionally keeping my face blank. With all the grace as I could muster, I calmly replied, “You can believe what you’d like, Michelle. We’ll sort it out in court. Now, excuse us, please. Have a good day.” I attempted to sidestep her, but she blocked my path.
“No amount of expensive clothes will make you desirable, Ellie.” Her predictable words weren’t even the worst she typically offered.
“Michelle, maybe you should eat some makeup so you’ll be pretty on the inside,” Todd cut in. He’d been quiet as long as he could stand, knowing I’d want to fight the battle my way. She refused to even glance Todd’s way, tossed her hair and took off.
“Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to be silent? I’m sorry, but I had to,” Todd’s words rang empty. He wasn’t sorry, but I didn’t blame him one bit.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad.” I tried to grab his hand, but couldn’t reach it under all the bags.
We ended up following Michelle toward the exit. She turned off into a shop near the door. “Look at that outfit! She has no clue how to dress for her body type, and she saysyou’renot desirable. What a horrible little woman!” Todd’s rant made me giggle.
“Yes, she is. But we’ll stomp her mom in court, and she’ll have nothing she can possibly say.”God, I hope I’m right.Todd held the door open for me to walk into the parking garage. We loaded the car quietly and left.
Todd pulled out of the mall parking lot into traffic. “When’s the date?”
“He didn’t specify. He said sometime.” I sighed and watched traffic pass us while we waited to turn onto the interstate ramp. “I don’t know, did I exaggerate his asking? Maybe he did want to hang out as friends.”
“You said he seemed flustered. You were pretty sure at the time that he wanted an actual date.”
“Yeah, that’s true. We’ll see if he ever goes through with setting a date and time.” Todd took us to a burger joint near our apartment building to get dinner for us and Rick. We spent the evening watching an old army show on Netflix and munching on french fries. Todd spent part of the evening hanging up all of our purchases. Rick and I tried to help, but he wouldn’t let us. He swore it was his favorite part.
With no real holiday plans, I slept in the next morning. I awoke to two missed text messages.
Wes: I enjoyed seeing you yesterday. It was too brief. Coffee one day soon?
Heat flooded my stomach. Though excited to get a message from Wes, I checked the other text before replying.
Arch: Dinner Friday night? I got theater tickets.
I replied to Arch, and we agreed I’d be ready at six.
I sent a text to Todd letting him know. His reply was immediate.
