Chapter 19 Ruth #2
“Talia’s dresses are all about fashion, but the boots are the real deal,” Everett says in a hushed tone.
He leans in closer so I can hear him, and he squeezes my hand lightly as a beautiful golden-skinned, honey-haired woman floats out from a doorway I hadn’t even noticed.
She’s close to Everett’s height, with curves for days and a freckle beside her eye that lifts when her face splits into a wide smile.
“Everett Tanner! Man, it’s good to see you back in town again. How’s your mom?”
“Hey, Talia,” Everett says with a small laugh. “She’s good. We’re all doin’ okay. How’s Tess?”
“Tess is living her best youngest daughter life,” Talia laughs. “Bartend all day, party all night, call Mom and Dad once a week. Little sisters, am I right?”
Everett’s laugh is more of a guffaw, and then he squeezes my hand. “Hey, Tal, this is Ruth. We’re looking for boots, and maybe a hat.”
“You ain’t givin’ the girl your hat, Tanner?” Talia cocks her head with an exaggerated look of surprise on her face. “You know what they say about a cowboy’s hat.”
“Ruth can have anything she wants,” Ev says, with another squeeze of my fingers. “My hat. My heart.”
Talia’s expression melts into something soft, and she turns to gesture at the wall of boots on display.
“Well,” she says. “Take your pick. We got low boots, mid-calf, knee-highs. Sharp toes, round toes. Fancy or plain. You got any ideas what you want, Ruth?”
I clear my throat lightly before speaking.
“I like these ones,” I say, pointing at a pair around the height of my shoulders.
They’re ankle height and dark chocolate brown, with stars stitched in gold on either side of the shaft.
“And these.” Beside them, I spot a wine-red pair of mid-calf boots.
The decoration on them is minimal, just some simple stitching around the thicker panels of the boot shaft.
I point at them, too. Talia lifts both pairs from the shelf.
“You know your size?”
“Um… not really,” I say with a frown. I’ve learned the hard way that my shoe size is different in the US.
“No bother.” Talia waves a hand. “Lemme grab my sizer.” She disappears, seemingly floating on air, only to emerge a moment later with a measuring tape around her shoulders and a board that looks like something you’d find in a children’s shoe store.
She directs me to remove a shoe and place my foot on it, then wraps the measuring tape around my instep.
“’Kay. Be right back.” She floats away again, then returns with four large shoe boxes in her arms. She separates them into pairs. “Try these first,” she says.
I slide my left foot into the first boot. It’s a snug fit, the heel cup gripping my heel tightly.
“Can you wriggle your toes?”
I try, and find minimal movement.
“Take a step or two. How does it feel? Is it snug, or is it tight?”
“It pinches a little,” I admit. “Mostly on the toes.”
“Thought it might,” Talia says. “You’re kinda on the cusp of two sizes. The brown ones come in half sizes, so I went up a half size for you, but the red ones don’t. I grabbed a different one in a similar colour and style, though.”
I slide my foot into the larger brown boot while Talia unboxes the new red boots. They’re gorgeous—a little darker than the last ones, with cream threads swirling through cushioned panels on the shaft.
“This is a lot more comfortable,” I say, wriggling my foot inside the boot. It’s still snug, but my toes have more space to move, and my foot feels like it’s being held securely, rather than clenched in a vice grip.
“They look great with that shirt,” Talia says as I take a few paces back and forth.
I grin. The shirt is a sleeveless linen blouse, off-white with birds stitched in gold thread on the oversized collar.
It was a just because present from Paloma, who said she saw it in a vintage shop and thought of me.
I make a mental note to text her and check in later. Messages have flown back and forth in our group chat, as usual, but I feel as though Lo and I have been missing each other more often than not lately.
“Try the red ones, too,” Ev urges. “Try ‘em with that dress, baby girl.” He points at a dress so far out of my comfort zone it’s not even on my radar anymore.
It’s a white babydoll dress with roses the colour of the boots all over it.
It looks low cut at the front, short enough to show everything I haven’t got, and the sleeves are long and billowy, forming a loose cuff at the wrist.
“Oh, yeah!” Talia exclaims. She pops up from where she’s been inspecting the fit of my boots, and grabs the dress in two different sizes. She holds them out in front of me, eyes narrowed in scrutiny, before putting one back.
“Here,” she says, pushing the dress and boots into my arms and urging me to a curtained cubicle. “Try it.”
I’m skeptical, but I pull the curtain closed and slip into the dress and boots.
Both are a perfect fit, and as I twist and turn in front of the mirror, inspecting myself from every angle, I realise I’ve never felt as pretty, or as confident, as I do in this dress.
The dress Everett chose, the one he knew would be perfect for me.
I return it carefully to its hanger and change back into my regular clothes, then fling the curtain open with the boots under one arm and the dress on its hanger, handling from the other hand.
“I’ll take them both,” I announce happily.
“What about the other boots, baby girl?” Everett asks.
“I like them. I deserve nice boots.”
“You deserve the world, baby girl,” he whispers, sliding closer and dipping his face to my ear. He has the boots already boxed up, tucked under his arm. It’s then that I realise the box is wrapped with ribbon, and the receipt is tucked beneath the bow. He’s already bought them for me.
Katy was right when she said if he wanted to, he would. She was talking about an asshole ex-boyfriend, but Everett Tanner proves the point all the same.