Page 5 of Veiled in Brick

I snickered. “Do you wanna help me or not?”

His thick eyebrows pinched together. “You want me to help you pick out an outfit for yourdate?”

“The quicker I find something, the sooner we’ll be at Henry’s,” I reminded him.

Liam nodded, turning his head around to view the store’s entirety without moving his feet, and stated, “Green dress, front window.”

I knew the one. Olive green, it had large, pearlescent buttons down the center and a skirt that would flutter down to just above my knees. The top was modest but had a ruching to it that I knew would be a flattering cut for my ample bosom.

“That one?” I questioned. “Why that one?” Liam raised his left shoulder and then dropped it, and I pressed jokingly, “It’s because it doesn’t show off any cleavage, isn’t it?”

He exhaled loudly. “It matches your eyes.” His words struck me in a way that I couldn’t fully discern, and I paused to consider them for a beat. They still hadn’t fully sunken in when he quickly added, “You wanna look nice? Get the green dress. Now, can ya try something on so we can go? I’m thirsty.”

Chapter 2

I got the green dress.

I wasn’t sure what exactly made my decision set in stone. It could have been the way that the fabric felt on my skin, the fact that it perfectly matched the high wedges I had already chosen to wear for the day, and the realization that it emphasized my petite frame in all the right places. Or, it could have been the sight of Liam’s dark eyes widening the moment that I stepped out of the dressing room. Flattery aside, I went with the former.

The recent memory of his oh-so-silent approval brought a soft smile to my lips, but only for a brief moment as the uncomfortable sensation of uncharted territory prevailed. I had bugs under my skin—and they wanted out.

I considered the metaphorical insects’ existence over and over in my mind during the night—not constantly, of course. Just…in between immersive conversations. Enough to make me run my hands over the crepe material of my dress time and time again to the point that the feel of it was memorized by my palms. There was a nick in the fabric that rested along my right thigh. A single thread was peeking out behind the third button that lined up the center of the skirt. I pulled at it, twisting it over my finger until I felt resistance, and released it altogether.

I sat in a dimly lit establishment. The table at which I sat looked like a butcher block, decorated with different colored stained pieces of wood. The place was neither big nor small; neither busy nor deserted. It was a place I could see myself going on a Friday night even if it were just with friends. I wasn’t with just friends, though. I was with James. At a restaurant that he suggested near his neck of the woods in Roanoke. On our date. We had already eaten dinner, gone through generic pleasantries, had all-together enjoyable chit-chat, and now, we were waiting for the waitress to return the bill back to us.

“You work at that store, right?”

I stopped fiddling with my dress and snorted at his lack of detail.

“You realize that sentence could mean literally anything.” James dropped his eyes to his glass on the table, smiling as he swirled the amber liquid inside, and I quipped, “That store could sell…yarn. Watches. Fucking…lumber. Tile. Toilets. Dildos—”

“How in the world did you go from yarn to dildos?”

I slung the rest of my green drink back, the taste of sour apples coating my mouth. “No one wants to be in this mind, Jay.”

I stated it sarcastically, but he noted:

“I do.”

His grey eyes shined with sincerity, and I found myself grinning at the gesture.

“Anyway,” I muttered, “what store do you mean?”

“The yellow one.”

“Descriptive.”

“Sells clothes.”

“You’re getting warmer.”

He pointed at me. “Has that dress in the display window.”

“Are you stalking me, Jay?” I whispered dramatically.

James laughed softly. “You learn things after you hang around for a while, fuckin’ sue me.”

“I lack the supplemental income for the fee for a lawyer, but thanks for the offer.”

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