26. Lucy
“What about this?”I held up a smock dress that fell right beneath my knees.
“Do you want him to think you’re there to bake him bread and tend to his chicken coop? You’re not wearing that on your first date with Sawyer.”
“It’s not our first,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Lucy!”
“What about this?” I held up another knee-length dress, it being more form fitted.
“Better, but not quite what we are looking for.”
“We?”
“Mmhm! Here,” Gracie handed over a stack of four dresses. “Try these on.”
The first boutique we stopped at was a total fail. The second had some good contenders, but I wasn’t feeling it—and most of the ones I liked were sold out in my size. This is the only boutique on Main St. that I’ve felt remotely hopeful at. I dreamed of the day when I walked along the store fronts that I could come into these shops and mosey around for hours on end. I’d stand outside and look up at the window displays and imagine playing dress up in outfits just like these.
I hung up the options that Gracie handed off to me on the wall opposite of the mirror, and drew the curtain close to the changing room.
“Hey, Grace?” I called out.
“Yes?”
I poked my head out from the curtain. She sat crossed-legged on an ottoman a few feet away. “Are you sure you didn’t hand me your options?”
“This isn’t about me, this is about you. Don’t knock ‘em till you try ‘em, come on, I bet they’ll look great!”
I closed the curtain back up and evaluated the dresses once more. And just like that, I knew I didn’t have to try on the rest. With a tight midsection that had buttons trailing along it, the sleeves of the dress fluttered out and there was a plunging neckline. But it was a sleek black color, a dress that fit like a glove. And you can’t go wrong with a Little Black Dress.
I stepped out and did a predictable twirl. Gracie gasped and I felt myself getting misty eyed. This is exactly what Little Lucy dreamed of. Dress shopping before a big date with her best girl friend. The bookworm, school nerd that kept to herself when she was last in Rider would have never imagined this coming true.
“What do you think?” I smoothed my hands over the skirt of the dress.
“First, I want to see something.” Gracie turned me to face the mirror beside the changing rooms. She stood behind me and pulled my hair back at my temples. She clipped a silky, black bow into my hair, then pushed the bottom portion over my shoulders. “What do you think? I found this on the stands over there while you were trying this on.”
“I love it.”
“Then let’s get it.”
I turned back around and hugged her before returning to the changing room. I gave myself one last look with an ear to ear grin to dress the look up, then switched back into my clothes.
For a single moment, it felt like everything else could actually wait to be dealt with and the world wasn’t going to blow up into flames.