Page 38 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
Chelle periodically took items from me and carried them to a changing room. Finally, having made my way around the whole shop, I followed her toward the changing area with the last batch of garments.
“I’m going to take the girls next door to the toy shop while you try those things on, okay?” Sully said. “No hurry. Take your time. Hang on to the things that fit and look good on you, and I’ll take a look at them when we get back.”
When I got to my dressing room, I was surprised at the number of items hanging on the hooks inside.
“Wow. This is going to take a while.”
Chelle grinned at me, her eyes sparkling. “I added a few things I thought would suit you.”
“Oh, these aren’t for me,” I corrected her wrong assumption.
“Have fun. Call me if you need any help.”
She pulled the curtain closed, and I got started. I’d promised Sully to help him with this, and I was determined to do a good job at it. I tried on every item.
Some of them werereallycute, fitting me like they were made just for me and making me wish they weren’t destined for another woman’s closet. Hopefully Sully’s mom would be thrilled to own one of them. I certainly would be.
Admiring the fit of one particularly cute pair of cropped pants, I checked the price tag. If my eyeballs hadn’t been securely attached, they would have popped out of my head.
Fivehundreddollars? For a pair of pants? I stripped them off and hurriedly tried on the other items, trying not to look too long at any one of them.
When I was about to take off the last one, I heard Chelle’s friendly voice outside the changing room door.
“Mr. Reece is back, and he’s asking to see whatever you have on at the moment.”
I looked at myself in the mirror, at the wrap dress I wore.
The color was so bold—a dramatic red—I wasn’t sure what I’d been thinking picking it up. In all likelihood, it wasn’t something Sully’s mother would even wear.
It was a “notice me” dress—the exact opposite of whatmymother would have approved of—with fanciful ruffles drawing the eye to a neckline that wasn’t exactly plunging but definitely emphasized the attributes of a feminine figure.
The thought of Sully seeing me in it caused a swarm of combat butterflies to ambush my stomach.
“I… was just about to change back into my clothes,” I called through the door.
“Do you want me to tell him that? He seemed pretty insistent.”
As Chelle waited for my answer, I considered hastily changing into another, more modest outfit.
Beware the evils of men.
The much-repeated mantra, spoken in my mother’s hate-filled voice, rang through my brain like a jarring alarm clock shattering a beautiful dream.
But Sully’s not evil.He was nice.
He was good to his daughters—and to me. He was even kind and generous to strangers. Based on the outgoing mail I’d seen on the counter, he made frequent donations to charities around the country.
And he’d admitted (unlike so many other people) that hedidn’tknow everything, that he needed help. My help.
Besides, was itreallysuch a terrible thing to be noticed?
Straightening my shoulders, I turned and opened the fitting room door. The boutique owner gave me a wink and a thumbs up as I walked past her and onto the shop floor.
Sully was facing the other way, speaking to his daughters and pointing at something out the window.
I cleared my throat, which seemed to be inhabited by a large boulder all of a sudden.
Sully turned around. When his eyes landed on me, his strong jaw literally dropped, going slack as his eyes widened involuntarily.
