Chapter 7 Evangeline #2
“Here we go,” he said, oblivious to her thoughts. “I’ll give you a call when Leo and I are done with our errands and we can decide where to meet up.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling terrible about her phone situation and even worse about having to lie. “I, um, lost my phone on the train on the way out here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Grayson said. “We can just set a time and meet right back here.”
“Okay,” she said, choosing not to remind him that without a phone she had no way to know what time it was. Hopefully, she could resolve the situation this morning.
They hopped out of the car and she moved to get Leo out, but Grayson waved her away.
“I’ve actually got to grab something at one of the big box stores up on Route One,” he said. “So I’m getting back in.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “Well, thanks for bringing me to town.”
“My pleasure,” he told her, his voice a little gruff. “Now, you can shop wherever you want, but I’d recommend checking out a place called Pura Vida on Ambler. You just go to the corner and turn left.”
She looked at where he was pointing and nodded.
“Okay,” she told him. “I’ll head over there first.”
“You can’t get lost,” he told her. “All the shops are either on Park, that’s this street, or Ambler.”
“That’s good,” she said. “Thanks a lot.”
“Sure,” he said, his eyes flashing to hers for a breathless instant before he headed back to the driver’s side.
It was cold out with an even colder breeze, but she still felt her cheeks heat from just a moment under his gaze.
Stop that, she told herself. Go get some clothes.
She passed a real estate office with a Victorian dollhouse in the window. Two little kids had their faces pressed against the glass while a lady who looked like she must be their grandma watched them fondly. The woman at the desk behind the window in the office waved to them.
As she got closer, Evangeline could see that the little house was decorated for Christmas with tiny lights and pine boughs, and the whole thing rested on a bed of cotton batting that looked like snow.
Walking up Park Avenue, she passed more sweet little shops. Locally Made seemed to sell all local artwork and pottery. Then there was Scandinavian Sundries which had racks of gorgeous woolen sweaters, pretty artwork, and a shelf of the kind of Polish pottery that Grandma used to love.
Mario’s pizza shop was already open, even though it was only late morning. She could see a man wearing an apron inside starting up the ovens. And the bakery smelled so good that it took all her resolve to keep walking.
Maybe I’ll stop for a snack and another cup of coffee if my shopping goes okay.
But she probably wouldn’t. She was on a budget anyway. Having to buy a whole new wardrobe and other things she needed was going to set her back a lot.
Don’t think about it, she told herself.
But thinking of her situation reminded her that she had to get to the library too, all in a pretty limited amount of time.
The corner of Park and Ambler was occupied by Gabriel’s drugstore. She could see people shopping through the big windows. Once she had some clothing she could stop there for bathroom stuff.
She passed more shops, including the toy store and the hardware store on Ambler before finding a sign that said Pura Vida. The clothing in the window was beautiful, all made of soft fabrics in pretty colors. There were even a few pairs of warm-looking boots and a display of scarves.
“Welcome,” a young woman said as Evangeline pushed open the door, releasing a pleasant whoosh of cinnamon-scented warmth.
“Thank you,” Evangeline said.
“I’m Ana,” the woman told her. “Is there anything special I can help you find today?”
Normally Evangeline would have slunk to the clearance rack in the back of the shop, assuming there was one, and furtively checked the price tags on her own.
But there was something so forthright and encouraging about Ana’s smile, that she found herself ready to open up.
“I, um, came out here for the day,” she admitted. “But I actually need to stay a while. I got a job.”
“Congratulations,” Ana told her with a big smile. “You’re going to love living in Trinity Falls. But I guess you kind of need everything, huh?”
“Yes,” Evangeline said. “But, um, I’m on a budget.”
“Is your name Evangeline Dunn?” Ana asked.
“Yes,” she replied, surprised.
“Then you don’t have to worry about a budget,” Ana said. “Your new boss called ahead of time. We’re putting your new clothes on his tab.”
“What?” Evangeline asked, unable to understand.
“Don’t worry. He can afford it,” Ana said softly. “Believe me. What kind of work are you going to be doing?”
“Just taking care of the baby,” Evangeline said automatically. “So I don’t need anything fancy.”
“But you have to be able to throw it in the wash,” Ana said, nodding. “Babies are messy.”
“Yes,” Evangeline said, feeling grateful to the other woman already for thinking of that. “But I really don’t want to spend too much of Mr. Ward’s money.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what,” Ana said. “Why don’t you set up in our dressing room in back? My mom and I will pull some of our clearance items for you and see what you like.”
“Wow,” Evangeline said. “Okay. Thank you so much.”
“No problem,” Ana told her. “If you’re on a break from taking care of his little one we want to take advantage while we can.”
Evangeline nodded and swallowed over a lump in her throat. Everyone here was just so nice.
She went back to the dressing room, but since she didn’t have anything with her yet, it didn’t take much to settle in.
The overhead speakers played soft Christmas carols in Spanish that reminded her of the radio that was always on in the corner bodega back home. She didn’t understand the words, but the tunes were classic and it was all very comforting.
Ana was talking with the lady at the counter, who looked a lot like her, but older. Evangeline figured that it must be her mom. The two of them headed off through the store, grabbing things off racks here and there.
Evangeline found that odd, since normally the sale stuff was all in one place, not all mixed in with the other things.
Please don’t let this be too expensive, she prayed inwardly.
Even if Grayson was willing to pay, it wasn’t right to spend his money this way. She would have to insist on paying herself.
“Here we go,” Ana said a moment later, hurrying over with an armload of clothing. “And this is my mom, Mariangel, but everyone just calls her Mari.”
“Hello, sweetheart,” Mari said with a slight accent that Evangeline couldn’t place.
“Hi,” Evangeline replied. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“We’re going to go look for more things,” Ana told her. “You just let us know if you need different sizes.”
“Do you have coats and boots maybe?” Evangeline asked shyly. “These aren’t really my style.”
“Of course,” Mari said, nodding with a wise smile.
Evangeline pulled the curtain closed and set the trove of beautiful clothing on the bench.
It was everything she could have dreamed of--cute stretchy jeans that ought to fit anyone who tried them on, sweaters and soft t-shirts that she could layer, and even a few cute dresses. Everything seemed to be mostly cotton, so it ought to wash well.
Unfortunately, there were no price tags on any of it.
Shrugging and hoping for the best, Evangeline started trying things on.
“We found you a coat and a pair of boots we think you’ll like,” Ana said from the other side of the curtain. “I’m just putting them on the chair out here. Is everything fitting okay?”
“I love all of it,” Evangeline told her. “Everything fits and it’s all so beautiful.”
“My mom will love to hear that,” Ana said warmly. “She made most of those pieces.”
“She’s so talented,” Evangeline said, amazed, before her stomach twisted at the thought of what handmade clothing like this must cost.
“You have to tell her that yourself when you check out,” Ana said with a smile in her voice.
“I, um, don’t see any price tags,” Evangeline ventured.
“Well, since you need so much, we’re going to give Grayson a special deal,” Ana said mysteriously. “So anything that fits that you like, just bring it out.”
“Okay,” Evangeline said, feeling sick.
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it, Grandpa was fond of saying about any item without a well-displayed price tag. And the fact that Ana didn’t give her a quote probably meant it was even worse than she’d been thinking.
But she hadn’t passed any other clothing shops and according to Grayson, the whole town was only two blocks, so it wasn’t like she had a whole lot of options.
As she folded up all the clothing, she remembered about the coat and boots. She left the neatly folded items on the bench and opened the curtain to find a pretty red coat and the cute brown leather granny boots from the front window.
They’re probably a fortune, she thought to herself, as she grabbed them to try on.
Even if she couldn’t afford to buy them, wasn’t it okay to just treat herself to a little fashion show?
“Oh wow,” Ana said, approaching just as Evangeline spun in the mirror.
“Everything is amazing,” Evangeline said. “I wish I could buy it all.”
“I talked with my mom,” Ana said. “We’ll give Grayson a good deal for all of it.”
She went on to name a price so reasonable Evangeline was pretty sure she couldn’t have even gotten just the coat for it in the city.
“Are you sure?” she asked softly.
“We really need the rack space for new inventory,” Ana told her. “I was honestly thinking about taking a carload over to the charity thrift shop over at the church. You’d be helping us out. But no pressure, of course.”
“Yes,” Evangeline said. “I’ll obviously take it. Thank you so much.”
“Our pleasure,” Ana said with a big smile. “Do you want to wear some of it home?”
“Oh wow, yes,” Evangeline told her.
“Great,” Ana said, pointing to a spinning rack with underthings. “Help yourself to anything you need.”
“Thank you,” Evangeline said. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“That’s our job,” Ana said with a smile.