Page 50 of Wild About You
“Too many things,” she says.
Well, fuck me.
I follow Everly around racks of shirts and dresses, keeping my head down and my hands shoved in my pockets. She hums lightly under her breath as she slides hangers around the rack, occasionally pulling something off to get a better look and then shoving it back.
After she’s done that through most of the store, I say, “What was wrong with that one?”
Her brows lift and my gaze slides over to the plain black shirt she just put back on the rack.
“It’s forty dollars.” She moves along, this time to a clearance section.
“So?” I grab the shirt and carry it with us.
“So that’s crazy. It’s a basic T-shirt.”
“Isn’t that mostly what you wear?” I use the hand holding the shirt to wave it in front of her to a plain shirt, this one a dark red.
“This shirt cost me five bucks.”
“Do you like the shirt?” I ask, shaking the hanger to indicate the black one.
“Yeah.” She lifts one shoulder in a small shrug.
“Okay, then. What else?”
“This one is only thirty.” She holds up a cropped sweatshirt with the words Good Vibes Only, in big block letters that are neon colors—orange, pink, yellow. It’s so not Ev’s style, but I grab it and add it to the pile.
Pretty soon both of us have our arms full of clothes. Some of it ridiculous, some stuff she actually likes. I take a seat in a chair outside the fitting room.
A woman with a daughter that looks a few years younger than Everly, smiles at me as her daughter carries a dress. The daughter smiles too, though in a less obvious way. Have I mentioned that shopping is torture?
I smile back and then drop my gaze to my lap.
“Oh my gosh. You have to see this one.” Everly comes out of the room in the white sweatshirt. Ignoring how much of her stomach is showing, I can admit it somehow isn’t awful.
“What do you think?” She makes a pose and then bursts into laughter.
“Sold,” I say. “It’ll be worth it just to make fun of you every time you wear it.”
She shakes her head and disappears back into the dressing room.
“Daughter?” the woman asks me.
“Nah.” I shake my head.
“Girlfriend?”
Coughing, I manage to get out. “Sister.”
Her head tilts to one side and her eyes soften. “Oh, how nice.”
I have no idea what to say to that, so I just smile and wait for Ev to come out again.
She does, a dozen more times until she’s tried on every single item. We have more in the get pile than the put back pile, and my sister hasn’t stopped smiling.
More women come and go, and it feels like I might die in this chair waiting for Everly to choose what she wants and doesn’t. She tries to put back several of the more expensive items, don’t think I don’t notice, but I add every item except the definite nos to the stack and pay for it while she bites on her thumbnail.
“All right. Please tell me we can go now?” I ask, handing her the bag.
