Chapter 27 Culture Shock #2
“You made quite an impression at Jill Blake this morning.” The clerk pulled out his phone and found a TikTok video.
It seemed Brendan was right about social media. I watched a grainy video of myself accepting a thorough kiss from him at the first store we had visited. The audio was TikTok poor, but at one point, you could clearly hear him introduce me as “my fiancée” while a cutout of the poster squealed.
The video had maybe been taken four hours ago. It already had five hundred thousand views. And, as the clerk scrolled a few others, it was clearly not the only one that had been posted of us this morning.
“Congratulations on your engagement,” the clerk said after he put his phone away. “I don’t know how you snagged a man like that, but he is as fine as he is rich. Nice work.”
I didn’t know if I should be offended or not, but I was too busy trying to breathe after seeing for real what Brendan had been trying to tell me all day.
From the moment I’d signed that contract and accepted that ring in his office, I’d been on a stage.
But until now, I hadn’t realized just how big the audience really was.
These thoughts stayed with me well after we moved to Avondale, the most expensive shop we had entered thus far.
Up until now, I’d been messing around, content to try on small things, like day dresses or pants or equally minor things.
But the clothes here were for places I’d never dreamed I’d be going until Brendan Black had shown up at my front door.
They were for a character I needed to play, and that had to start now.
“My fiancé and I are celebrating our engagement in a few weeks. What do you have in terms of formalwear?” I raised my voice a little, making sure it filled the space so that others could hear.
Brendan’s brow lifted. I’d spoken before he’d even started to make his own little speech.
To my surprise, the shopgirl nodded immediately. Familiarly, even. “Right this way, Ms. Bishop.”
What a difference a day and a few million views made.
At the back of the store was a green velvet tufted settee surrounded by three racks of floor-length dresses.
“Would you like me to leave you alone to peruse our selection?” the clerk asked. “Or do you need help deciding?”
I gazed around the room, trying not to look intimidated. “How about both? Give me a few minutes and check on me in a bit, please?”
“Absolutely. Call out if you need anything. My name is Ivana.”
“Ivana. Got it, thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She gave a little bow before walking away.
The bow was overkill, but she was cute, I decided.
Brendan stepped out for yet another phone call while I browsed. Like Ducos, these didn’t even have price tags on them.
Well, I cared. For the first time all day, I cared.
“Excuse me?” I beckoned to a clerk. “Can you tell me how much these dresses are?”
The clerk looked almost confused by the question. Clearly, she had thought it wouldn’t matter. “Oh, well. They vary, but the ones you’re looking at range from three to nine, I believe.”
“Hundred?” My stomach flipped. That was a lot of money.
She blinked. “Um, no. Thousand.”
I could only stare. Okay. I needed to play this part better. What would Fake-Simone do?
She wouldn’t have asked at all.
“Although, if you’d like something better, we have a few couture pieces that might fit you. Let me look in the back.”
I nodded. “Yes, that sounds better.”
My stomach churned as she left, though frankly, I’d lost my enthusiasm for shopping. Particularly when I considered how many other times Brendan had handed his card over without even asking for the tally.
We had probably spent enough on clothing in a few hours to pay my rent for a year.
I thought of the people at the hospital, of Selena trying to find a job, of the thousands of homeless people in this city.
Performance or not, guilt overwhelmed me.
“Find something for the party?” Brendan asked as he came to find me. “Ruth confirmed that it’s definitely black-tie, so any of these would be—Simone, what’s wrong?”
I turned. His face blackened.
“Again? Those fuckers, I thought I made myself clear.” He turned with clenched fists, presumably to locate the clerk. It was only then that I realized he thought I was being mistreated.
“No, no, she’s been lovely.” I grabbed his sleeve to pull him back.
“Then what happened?”
I shook my head. How could I say this without sounding totally ungrateful? “How do you sleep at night?”
Okay, probably not that way.
Brendan frowned. “Come again?”
I groaned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then what did you mean?”
I sighed. “Only…don’t you think it’s kind of obscene, spending money like this? When there are so many people hurting and in need?”
The anger disappeared from his features, replaced by something else: confusion.
“Now you’re feeling guilty? Simone, you just signed”—he stopped and glanced around before continuing in much lower voice—“angel, you just signed a contract for ten million dollars, and you want to lecture me about money?”
I rubbed my face. “I—no. Yes. I don’t know.
That’s different. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe I’m part of the problem too.
I just feel so—it’s confusing. These dresses are beautiful, but they are so expensive they don’t even have price tags, and you’ve already spent so much money, and it seems, I don’t know, a bit problematic, you know? ”
That brow arched again. I wondered if he knew how cute he looked when he was confused. “A bit problematic?”
I huffed. “You don’t see it?”
“No, I do. I just think it’s funny you’re having a crisis of conscience after agreeing to do this very thing with me.”
I flopped onto the settee. I had nothing more to say.
Brendan took a seat beside me. “I get it. It’s a lot. Gotta be very different from what you’re used to.”
“I buy my clothes at the Goodwill. Different is the understatement of the century.”
He chuckled, but didn’t reply.
I leaned my head on his shoulder. Maybe we’d never be legitimate lovers, but in moments like these, it almost felt like Brendan could be a real friend. “I’m trying. I’m trying to be the woman you need me to be.”
“Oh, I know. I heard your little speech when we walked in here. Very imperious of you.”
He grinned. I shoved a fist into his shoulder, and he caught it to hold in his lap, massaging my fingers as he spoke.
“It’s just culture shock, angel. Happened to me too when we left Southie.
Ruth still has that stylist coming, and they can round out the rest of the things you’ll need.
Today was more about you—helping you find your confidence and making sure the world knows who you are to me.
I think we accomplished that, don’t you? ”
“Five boutiques and five hundred thousand views later, sure,” I grumbled.
Brendan shrugged. “Worth it. Listen, you want me to even things out? I can donate the same amount—or how about double—to Mass Gen? The Wild Bird Fund? Maybe Vi needs a few more lemon delight orders?”
I giggled. “I don’t think she needs that many. But…yeah, maybe something like that might calm my conscience a little.”
“And in the meantime, we can go home. Take a break from being on display.”
“That sounds great, actually.” I hadn’t realized how badly I needed a second to myself until it had been offered. As fun as today was, it had confused me even more.
“You got it, baby.” There was a tug on my hand, and I looked up to meet Brendan’s clear, solid gaze. “Anything bothers you again, even if it’s me, you tell me, all right?”
I nodded. “Will do.”
“Good.”
That gaze dropped to my lips, and he leaned in and pressed a kiss there.
It felt so real, but this time, I told myself from the start that it was for show.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized that we’d been alone in the back of the store, with no clerk in sight. No one to film the kiss or the conversation.
And I was just as confused as ever.