Chapter 9 #2
Nola’s lips pressed together and she marched for the door. “I need to go back to bed,” she said. “Alice, this will all blow
over so don’t you dare give that man another thought,” she commanded, and left.
“Go ahead and shop for your new dress. I can hold down the fort here until closing,” Bettina said to Alice. “You need something
fun to do to take your mind off . . .” She halted and cleared her throat. “You need something fun to do.”
“Shopping?” The only other word dearer to Scarlet’s heart was chocolate. “I’m on it. We need to find you something sexy to wear and turn you into Cinderella.”
“That won’t be hard,” Bettina said. “You’ve got a great canvas to work with. So go on, get out of here. We’re not that busy.”
“Oh, brother,” muttered Alice, but she got her coat and followed her sister out the door. “Cinderella” was her favorite fairy
tale.
Besides, if she stayed in the bookstore, she was bound to encounter customers who’d seen the meme and wanted to console her. She didn’t want to talk about the meme. It was already all she could think about.
Scarlet insisted on driving, so they dropped off Alice’s car at her place. As soon as she was in Scarlet’s Alice found herself
wishing she’d driven separately. There she sat, a captive audience while Scarlet ranted about the evil Parker Black.
“Can we please talk about something else?” Alice begged as they crossed the West Seattle Bridge, heading for downtown.
“Good idea,” said Scarlet. “But you need to know, I haven’t forgotten what he’s done to you. He will pay.” Scarlet the avenging
angel. “Meanwhile, we’ll focus on making you fabulous for the gala. We’re bound to find something at Nordstrom Rack.”
“I was thinking more like Ross Dress for Less,” said Alice, who was opting to pay for her dress herself.
“Let’s aim a little higher,” said Scarlet.
Since she was at the wheel Alice didn’t have much say in the matter.
There were bargains to be had at the store, and Scarlet insisted Alice try on both a slinky black dress with a scooped neckline
and a lack of back, which Alice was sure would leave her freezing to death, as well as a red number with a fitted bodice and
a full fifties-style skirt. That one had netting of some sort over the satiny material and was sprinkled with red sequins.
Alice couldn’t help wondering how she’d look in the sophisticated black dress, and she had fallen in lust with the red one.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to pull off wearing either though.
“These aren’t going to work,” she predicted as Scarlet led her to a changing room.
“You don’t know that,” Scarlet said.
Yes, she did.
She tried on the black dress first. Gosh, she didn’t look half bad in it. From the neck down. But with her pale skin and lack of makeup it was hard to think of herself as anything other than Wednesday Addams.
Scarlet, who’d insisted on being in the room with her, turned her this way and that. “Perfect fit,” she says. “My gosh, it
proves you have boobs after all.”
It was a little low-cut. Alice tugged at the neckline and Scarlet swatted her hand away.
“Stop that,” she commanded.
“I feel exposed,” Alice said.
“Exposed is nude beaches and costume malfunctions. You’re barely showing any cleavage. This is sexy, not slutty. Although
at this point in life.” Alice looked at her, horrified, and she said, “Never mind. Try on the red dress.”
The red dress was so not Alice, but she wanted it to be. It called to her, saying, “Party, party. Find Prince Charming and
have fun.”
“Oh, yes, this is you,” Scarlet approved.
Alice did love the dress. She felt pretty in it. But was it too sexy for her? Could she pull off a dress like this?
“Gosh, I don’t know,” she said. “Is it too much?”
“Too much what? Too much fun? Get it.”
Alice studied her reflection and bit down on her lower lip.
“You really need to get in touch with your inner heroine, the one who puts on her party dress and goes to the ball and has
the prince falling at her feet,” said Scarlet.
Alice half laughed. “You know there won’t be any princes at the gala. It will all be married men and their wives or divorced
men and their girlfriends. There are no single male writers in Seattle who aren’t gay.”
“You might meet someone who’s just moved here,” Scarlet suggested.
“Anyway, even if you don’t, wouldn’t it be fun to meet some of your favorite romance writers looking like you belong in one of their novels?
You’re a story waiting to happen. I’ll come over early, and we’ll do your hair and makeup. You won’t even recognize yourself.”
Not recognizing herself, that sounded like a nice change. One night as a red dress kind of woman, one night getting to see
how Cinderella felt as she walked into the ballroom. Alice studied her reflection, gnawing on a corner of her lower lip. The
dress fit beautifully. Like the black one, it had a scooped neckline, but the scoop didn’t scoop up quite as much flesh. Just
enough to show the world she had breasts.
The red sequins winked at her. The dress whispered, “You look sexy, girlfriend.”
She nodded, decision made. “I’m going to get it.” If she was going to be a story she might as well make it a good one.
“Yes!” Scarlet approved. “Okay, next you need shoes.”
The first shoes Alice tried on had heels so high she was sure she’d get a nosebleed, and she wobbled in them. “I’ll break
an ankle,” she predicted.
“No flats,” Scarlet said firmly. “Your legs will look like sticks.”
“I don’t want to feel like I’m walking on stilts,” Alice said, just as firmly.
“Okay, maybe a kitten heel,” Scarlet said.
They finally found a pair that Alice liked and Scarlet approved—black heels with a little black bow on top. The heel was still
higher than Alice would have chosen but she thought she could manage to walk in them. She looked down at her feet and smiled.
Yes, she was getting these shoes.
“You are going to be so cute,” Scarlet said, beaming.
“I’m going to feel cute, anyway,” said Alice.
They completed her outfit with a silver shrug Alice could wear if she got cold. “Only if you’re absolutely freezing to death,” Scarlet instructed. “Otherwise no covering up and hiding.”
Scarlet wound up getting a pair of silver heels, then dragged Alice back to where they’d left behind the black dress and bought
it in her size. It was a Scarlet kind of dress, and with her red hair she would look stunning. Alice wouldn’t have to even
try to hide at the gala. She’d be invisible in her sister’s shadow. But that was okay. She understood her place in the world.
It would be enough for her to enjoy her new dress and pretend she belonged in the spotlight.
“It’s too bad Mark isn’t going to get to see you in that dress,” she said as they left the store.
“He doesn’t deserve to,” Scarlet said with a frown. “And I’ll have more fun without him.”
What was the point of having a man if you had more fun without him? “Don’t you miss him, even a little?” Alice ventured.
Scarlet shrugged. “Yeah, I do. I hate going places all by myself. And waking up alone feels weird.”
“But you miss him, right?” Alice prompted.
“I miss . . . some version of him, of what we were. But . . .” Scarlet shook her head. “It’s hard to put into words. We were
so happy at first. I guess I hadn’t spotted his flaws yet.”
“We all have flaws,” Alice pointed out.
Some people might have seen Scarlet’s larger-than-life type A personality and lack of patience as a flaw. Maybe poor Mark
had gotten worn out trying to keep up. Maybe he wanted a break from all the planning and pushing and just wanted to be happy
together.
“Flaws I can live with,” Scarlet insisted. “But downright rebellion—nuh-uh.”
Said Queen Scarlet. Off with his head.
Well, at least no one would ever walk all over Scarlet. Too bad Alice hadn’t kept in touch with her inner Scarlet when she’d debated Parker Black.
Put it out of your mind, she advised herself. Parker was history. He had no place in her world, and she’d never see him again. She didn’t need to
keep letting him live rent free in her head.
But it seemed like he tried to keep breaking in.
Nola wasn’t out for petty revenge, but she also was not going to take turning her daughter into a laughingstock lying down.
The next day, feeling stronger and ready for battle, she put in a call to Parker Black’s producer, timing her call for right
after the show ended so she would be sure to catch him in.
“You back for a second round?” he taunted.
“No, I’m back to inform you that if you don’t take down that meme of my daughter you will be hearing from my lawyer,” Nola
said tersely.
“You and your daughter have a podcast, right? That makes you both public figures. She’s fair game.”
Nola’s blood pressure shot for the moon. “I guess we’ll have to go to court to settle that.”
“Hey now, there’s no reason to get adversarial,” he said, backpedaling. “We’ve taken it down. But if it’s been copied and
has gone viral there’s nothing we can do about that. Sorry,” he added.
“I’ll just bet you are,” said Nola. “I think we might still have to sue you.”
“If you feel you need to, but I’d hate to see you waste your money. KWOW has some pretty impressive lawyers.”
She bet it did. She didn’t acknowledge that though. “You’d better hope this thing dies down in a hurry,” she said, and ended
the call just as Alice walked into their back office.
“Who were you talking to?” Alice wanted to know.
Nola had been encouraging her daughter to ignore what was being done to her and move on. Well, do what I say, not what I do. When it came to their children being hurt, mothers didn’t move on.
“I was talking with Parker Black’s producer, threatening to sue.”
“Mom, we can’t afford the kind of legal muscle it would take to go up against the station,” Alice protested.
“I’ll come up with the money.”
“How? You just got the house paid off last year.”
“There is such a thing as a loan.”
“And there is such a thing as letting go,” said Alice. “Yes, my face is out there, but the good news is, nobody knows who