Chapter 17 Grace
GRACE
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Dale Garrett: Listen, I know everyone is enjoying the early flowers since it’s warmed up so quickly, but there’s this tall one behind my house that’s suspicious. I can’t tell if it’s a hidden camera, but it’s pointed right at my house.
Comments:
Tammy Jane: Who would even spy on you!? You don’t do anything that interesting.
Dale Garrett: HEY!!! I’M INTERESTING.
Marjorie Brown: Not gonna lie, I thought this was from Hugh.
Hu Gh: Even I know they don’t use no damn flowers. They spy on us using these damn phones!!!
Dale Garrett: Oh God, don’t compare me to Hugh again. I was just worried about my privacy!!!
Jade Clark: When are you gonna show your entire ass like Hugh did in here? I’ll just need a bit of a warning before I’m scarred again.
Saturdays were always decently busy, but this one kept me moving the whole time. By the end of the day, when an older woman walked in, I felt like I was dragging my feet. I did my best to ignore it.
It didn’t help that I was anxious as I waited to hear back about the test. I wouldn’t know until Monday, and that made everything feel worse.
The woman looked familiar in a way I couldn’t place. It was possible she’d come in years ago and I’d forgotten. I wouldn’t admit it, but pregnancy was making me forget simple things. I wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or the stress.
“Hi! Welcome to the Treasure Trove. I’m Grace. Can I help you find anything today?”
The woman’s eyes found mine immediately and she perked up. “Hello! I’m Virginia. How are you?”
This wasn’t that unusual. Usually, people from the town cared more about me than the clothes, and it was nice to see someone not from here do the same.
“Oh, just a little tired, but it’s been a day. I’m happy to help you find whatever you need, though.”
Virginia’s mouth twisted. “I’m not sure what I want, honestly. I just figured I’d see what you have.”
She was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, which told me she probably worked on her feet. I tried to cater to how people lived their lives. There was no point in telling them to buy clothes they wouldn’t like.
“You know, I have a few new pairs of jeans in. One of them holds the record for the most pockets.”
“In women’s jeans? How many pockets do they have, four?”
I laughed. “About ten, actually.”
“Now that’s interesting. But I also want something . . . nicer.” She sighed. “Over the years, I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not ever dressing up. Do you have anything that’ll look nice on me?”
Now I had energy. A makeover? Oh, I was lucky today.
“I’ve got a lot of things that would look nice on you. Hang on just a second.”
I piled dresses of all shapes and sizes onto my arm.
“Oh, hon, I’ll carry that. You just said you were tired.”
“Absolutely not.” I gripped the pile tighter. “You’ve made my day by asking for new outfits. I have all the energy in the world for this.”
“Feisty,” she said with a laugh. “All right, I’ll back off.”
I resumed my hunt before putting everything in the fitting room. “First things first, it’s a rule here that I get to see what you like on yourself.”
“Are you making sure it truly looks good?”
“No, I just like to see people’s faces when they feel amazing.”
Her cheeks turned red. “That’s so sweet, Grace.”
I waved her off. “I try. Now, rule two is the most important to me.”
“And what’s that?”
“Have fun.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said when she went to the back.
Virginia shuffled around and I waited patiently for her to find something she liked. I heard her gasp when she put one thing on.
“Okay, I might need an opinion on this.” Her voice was unsteady.
“Show me,” I said.
“I like this,” she said as she opened the door. “But I feel like I can’t pull it off.”
It was a linen spaghetti strap dress in a light blue. At first glance, it complemented her figure beautifully and the color was perfect for her skin tone.
But she picked at the fabric and shuffled it around, eyes on the mirror I kept outside of the dressing room.
“I think it’s beautiful, but what do you think?”
“Sometimes people say I can be a little hard on myself. It’s just that things change over the years and . . .” Her eyes were stuck on her arms, and she poked the loose skin there. “Well, I don’t always like it. I should just get over it and buy the dress, right?”
“No,” I said. “You don’t have to do that.”
“B-but I like the dress. And I want to feel beautiful.”
“Then let’s find one similar that you actually feel beautiful in,” I offered. “I have a few ideas.” I went to the back and got dresses in a similar shape with sleeves. “Here, try these.”
Virginia looked at them and then me. “I’m sorry to make you run around like this.”
“Hey, remember rule two. You’re supposed to have fun. I sure am.”
“Okay, sorry.” She finally took the dresses. A minute later, she came out in another one.
And her smile was blinding.
“It has pockets!” she said with joy. “Oh, and it’s so comfortable and cute.”
That one was made with a softer material that I was planning on putting out in the spring.
Virginia could get it early.
“I think that’s the one.”
“You’re so right.” She twirled around. “I haven’t felt like this since before I had my son.”
“You deserve to feel like this every day.”
“Do you have this in any other colors? Would pink look okay?”
“I have something very similar in pink.”
“Perfect. I wanna try that one.”
“It’s the fifth in the pile,” I said with a wink. She laughed and went back in. When she came back out, her smile was just as bright.
“These colors look so good on you. I think you’ll have to even get T-shirts too.”
“I bet I could wear them at work.” When she mentioned her work, her smile faltered. “But on second thought, I think I should just focus on the dresses.”
“What do you do for work?” I asked.
“I’m a house cleaner,” she said. “It’s not glamorous or anything, but it pays the bills. Or it used to.”
“Not everything has to be glamorous,” I said with a shake of my head. “But you said it used to pay the bills. Did something happen?”
“No, not entirely. But a lot of my clients left recently, so I’m not sure what’s gonna happen.” She sighed. “I live in what used to be a small town. But Nashville’s growth swallowed it up and it’s more of a suburb now. A new company extended their services and they’re far cheaper.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I lowered my rates to get my old clients back, but they didn’t want to go through the hassle of changing cleaners again. People there used to care about each other, but it’s changed, and as much as I wanna deny it, I can’t anymore.”
“Change like that is so hard.”
“I just miss the town it used to be. Honestly, being here is the closest I’ve felt in years.”
“Are you in a position to move?” I asked. “Hell, we’d be happy to keep you.”
“That’s sweet,” she said. “Before recently, I never would have considered it. My husband and I met there. Hell, he came into this world and left it there.” Her eyes grew wet. “I never thought I’d ever wanna leave.”
It was like looking in a mirror. I would never want to sell Mom’s house, not with all the history there.
“Take your time with something like that,” I said softly. “If you can, just think on it. Something might pop up that’ll tell you what you should do.”
“Yeah,” she said. “It just might.” I smiled and gave her a moment to feel her emotions. Then she let out a laugh and wiped at her eyes. “Oh, look at me, crying on a stranger.”
“It’s pretty normal for around here. Don’t worry about it.”
“I at least need to get cleaned up before my son sees me like this. He’s such a worrywart, I swear.”
She went back into the fitting room, and gears turned in my mind. She’d mentioned her son twice, and the more I looked at her, the more I realized she wasn’t familiar.
Her facial structure was.
“All put together now,” she said when she was done. “I’ll help you put this back.”
“Oh, I’ve got it.”
“Honey, please let me help.”
“It’s nearing five, and Dean’s done working around now.”
“Yeah, he is. I’m sure he—” She paused. “Wait a minute, why did you mention Dean?”
“He’s your son, isn’t he?”
Virginia’s jaw went slack. “How the hell did you figure that out?”
“You look alike,” I replied. “And I’m good at reading people.”
“No kidding. I didn’t mean to lie or anything. I just had to meet you, considering . . .” She looked at my stomach.
So she knew.
“I’m not easily scared off.” I shook my head. “It’s great to meet you. We would have to get to know each other eventually.”
“Just know that if you need anything, I’m here. Well, for now I am, until I go home. But I’ll answer the phone. Or drive. Just ask Dean.”
I had a feeling Dean wouldn’t tell me if I did.
“That’s very sweet of you, and I’ll definitely take you up on that. I’m still figuring things out.”
“As you should, I can’t believe you found out so far in!”
“Yeah. That’s what I get for having an irregular cycle.”
“Tell me about it. Mine was terrible and it took me years to get pregnant with Dean. I don’t know if you have that issue, though.”
I let out a laugh. “No, obviously I don’t. Let me at least ring you up.”
“Don’t you dare give me any discounts.”
I sighed. That was exactly what I was going to do.
“Fine. Full price for my . . . mother in . . . accident?”
She had to smother a laugh. “We’re gonna have to come up with a better title than that.”
“I’ll add it to the pile of all the other things to figure out,” I said. “It only grows now. Hey, maybe you could ask Dean.”
“Oh, he doesn’t know I’m here. And he won’t.”
I blinked. “Really?”
“He has a habit of stopping me from doing what I wanna do. And I wasn’t letting him this time.”
I laughed. “You seem to have it all figured out.”
“Sometimes I do, but I do need to get back to my house. It’s quite a long drive and I have one of my last remaining clients tomorrow. I can’t be late for that.”
“So you drove all this way just to see me?”
“I did, and it was a great decision.”