16. The Pretty Dress
The Pretty Dress
My opportunity came two days later, when Casey was getting ready to leave for her conference, and I walked into the living room to find Jaelyne glaring petulantly at the window.
“Hey, kiddo. What’s wrong?” I asked as I stuck my coffee in the microwave. Again. “It’s Saturday. You love Saturdays.”
“I want to buy a costume before all the good ones are sold out,” Jaelyne pouted. “But Mom’s too busy packing to take me, and Harper says she doesn’t want to.”
I was about to answer that I wished I could help, but that her mother had left far too much for me to do, when I had a sudden wisp of inspiration.
Margaret had said to help the story out.
Well, I knew how the next part of the story was supposed to turn out. Which meant this was my chance.
“I’ve got to finish checking all the horses’ water systems,” I said. “But if you help me, we would have enough time to go shopping before it gets dark.”
Jaelyne usually balked at the suggestion that she help me in the barn, but she must have been pretty desperate because she jumped up to help me right away. And an hour later, we were bundled up in our coats, scarves, and gloves, making our way into town.
There weren’t very many stores that carried costumes or costume dresses, and I could only afford a few of them. I’d told Jaelyne to bring her spending money as well, and for once, she didn’t whine about having to buy something on her own.
“So, what do you want to be at the ball?” I asked her as we made our way into the first department store.
“I want to be Kelsie from the Pretty Pirates,” she answered without even pausing to think.
I nodded and smiled. Every girl I’d seen that year was planning on being the same character from the popular TV series. But I wasn’t about to rain on her parade.
“What about you?” she asked. “What do you want to be?”
I thought about my tiara. “I’m going to be a princess,” I said.
She made a face. “That’s a little cliché, don’t you think?”
“Hey.” I poked her. “There’s nothing wrong with the classics!”
She rolled her eyes, but by that time, we’d reached the costume section of the store. Within ten minutes, my arms had been loaded down not only with Jaelyne’s prospective costume, but several others she wanted to try on, as well as no less than five princess dresses she’d found for me.
“For making fun of my costume idea, you’re sure getting into this,” I said as we headed to the dressing rooms.
She shrugged. “If you’re going to do something cliché, you might as well make it good.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Okay, kiddo. Try your favorite one on first.”
She did. And absolutely loved it. And insisted that I take at least five pictures of her in various poses. But then she also had to try on the pirate costume, a pop princess set, goth butterfly wings, and an outfit that looked suspiciously like it was from the decade of my childhood.
“How is this even a costume?” I frowned at the costume’s packaging.
But Jaelyne snatched the plastic package out of my hands. “Okay, now it’s your turn, Ella!”
I shook my head and laughed. “I know which dress I’m getting. The blue princess dress.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed like she might die. “What fun is it to costume shop if you won’t at least try your costume on?”
She had a point there.
So I obediently headed into the dressing room, and then promptly came out two minutes later. “See? It fits. Happy?” I twirled in a circle in front of her.
But Jaelyne was hardly impressed. “The other blue one would be much better. That one looks cheap.”
“That’s because it is cheap.” I looked down and fingered the fake silk. “The other one costs too much money.”
A wicked smile spread across her face. “I bet Asher would want you to get the pretty one!”
I put my hands on my hips. “Well, Asher’s not here, and I have to pay for my own dress.”
“At least pose.” She held up her phone.
I rolled my eyes like she had done but complied.
“Perfect.” She took the picture, then began tapping away at her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked. But she yanked her phone away from me.
“Nothing. Except sending this to Asher.”
I froze. “How did you get his number?”
She gave me a look like I must be the dumbest person on the planet. “Ella, you leave your phone unlocked all the time! I copied his number and texted him to let him know it’s me.” She gave her phone another evil grin. “Now I’m asking him which one he thinks you should get.”
“Jaelyne, you can’t just take people’s numbers without their permission!” I began to reach for her phone, but my own phone buzzed with a notification. I glanced down to see a text from Asher.
“Jaelyne, we are going to have a serious conversation about privacy. And about phone safety!” I said, willing my voice to sound stern as I opened my phone to read his text. I half-expected him to be asking who the heck was texting him pictures of me. But instead, it simply said,
Try another one on.
I stared at the text incredulously. Were he and Jaelyne seriously teaming up on me?
“You heard him,” Jaelyne said smugly, picking up the more expensive costume and waving it in front of me.
I frowned at her, hoping that my disapproval showed through.
But when I put the other dress on, I couldn’t help taking a big breath and sighing as I looked at it in the dressing room mirror.
The fit was much better, clinging at more flattering places, unlike the other one, which had been ridiculously loose.
There were several layers of sparkly tulle over the skirt, and the skirt flowed down from where it hugged my waist to the tops of my boots.
“Come on!” Jaelyne whined from the other side. “I want to see it!”
Knowing she was going to take a picture the moment I stepped out, I opened the door and posed the way I knew she wanted me to. And in a way that wouldn’t be super embarrassing when she sent it to Asher.
She did, and just a moment later, another text came through.
That one. Get that one.
I checked the tag again and nearly choked. “Jaelyne, I can’t get this one. It’s–”
“Ella!” Jaelyne groaned. “Would you do something spontaneous for once in your life?”
I was about to retort that she wasn’t the one paying for the dress, but then I remembered the tiara waiting for me at home, and my breath caught in my chest when I imagined what they would look like together.
And against my better judgement, I made a decision I knew I would probably regret in a few days.
But for once, I was going to do something spontaneous.
I would buy the pretty dress.
Jaelyne wanted to stop for hot chocolate on the way back to the house, but I could feel a chill in the air. And as we hadn’t brought our heavy coats, I decided that we were going straight home.
Which was a good thing. Because not long after we got home, I realized that the chill was not in the air, but rather in me. And not just a chill, but a razor-sharp sore throat as well.
With my fuzzy autumn blanket wrapped around my shoulders, I made my way on wobbly legs to Casey’s room, where she was putting the finishing touches on her suitcase.
“Oh good, you’re here.” She checked her smartwatch. “The Uber should be here soon. I’ve sent you an email with all the contact information in case of an emergency. I’ll be back in four days, but if you don’t–”
“Casey,” I croaked as I leaned against the doorframe. “I’m getting sick.”
Casey stopped talking and finally looked directly at me. “Well, don’t come in here then!”
“Please don’t go,” I pleaded. “I can’t take care of the horses like this.” My temp was already a hundred and two and climbing. And though it killed me to beg for anything from Casey, I knew without a doubt that I wouldn’t be able to take care of the ranch. Not like this.
Casey huffed. “Ask your sisters to help. They know how to do everything.”
I tried again. “Casey–”
“My Uber’s here, Ella. I’ve got to go.” She grabbed her suitcase, pausing only to wait for me to vacate the door and make my way down the hall so she could give me a wide berth. “I’ll text Harper to help you out. You’ll feel better after a good night’s rest.”
And with that, she was gone.
My temperature continued to climb. It was a hundred and three by the time the horses needed to be fed.
Blanket still wrapped around my shoulders, I wandered the house for a good ten minutes, calling out for Harper to help me.
But she either wasn’t there or decided not to answer me because I couldn’t find her anywhere.
I sat down on the couch, doing my best to puzzle out how to get the horses fed, but my brain felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. Harper wasn’t here. Jaelyne probably would have helped me if she hadn’t been at a sleepover across the street. And Derrick…
I knew Derrick would help me if I asked. But in my befuddled state, I couldn’t remember how to get ahold of him. And yet…
The horses had to be fed.
With the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders, I shuffled out to the barn and began filling the horse’s feed buckets.
But not three buckets in, I paused. Something wasn’t right.
One of the horses… Trixie. Trixie was supposed to get her powdered medication mixed into her feed.
But as I stared stupidly down at the buckets, I couldn’t remember which one was Trixie’s.
As I tried to puzzle this problem out, I began to shiver until I couldn’t get my legs to hold me any more. It was all I could do to shuffle over to the nearest hay pile and lower myself onto it, pulling my blanket tighter and praying for the sickness to go away.
But instead of the sickness going away, my consciousness left instead.