Brushing aside the memory of Earl, she moved on. “Now that Annie’s in school, I’m going to start looking for a job.”
“Why don’t you talk to Colette Cavalier? She needs a sales assistant to replace me.”
Suzanna chuckled. “Maybe so, but I doubt I have the qualifications. I have no retail experience, zero fashion sense, and practically live in jeans.”
“Makes no difference. Colette lets you wear what you want outside of work. In the shop, she has you wear outfits from her collection. You’re a sales clerk but also kind of a model. She says customers are more likely to buy when they see someone wearing the clothes.”
“Really?” Suzanna leaned in and asked a number of questions about the duties involved, the type of customers, and whether or not experience was a requirement. Thinking back to her days at the Snack Shop, she said, “I’ve got a little bit of sales experience but not much.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Colette trains people to do things her way. If she likes you and thinks you’ll be good with people, that’s what counts.”
“It sounds like a dream job.”
“It was,” Ginger said wistfully. She leaned back and proudly patted her belly. “But I’ve got a much more important one coming up in December.”
They both laughed. Ginger offered to give Colette a call and put in a good word if Darla Jean were interested.
“Oh, I’m interested,” Suzanna replied. “Very interested.”
The conversation moved on, and Ginger began talking about a new restaurant that had recently opened up in downtown Barston. “They have steaks that are out of this world.”
“Instead of telling them about the place, why don’t we take my brother and Darla Jean there for dinner this Saturday?” Phil said, looking over at Ginger and giving a wink. “Our treat, to thank Gregg for all the work he’s been doing.”
“A fabulous idea!” Ginger said.
Gregg turned to Suzanna. “Well, are you okay with Saturday night?”
She hesitated for a second, not because she had something else to do, but because it had been so long, so very long, since someone had asked her out, that she’d all but forgotten how good it felt. She looked up, let her eyes meet his, then nodded.
“Sounds wonderful.”
——————
LATER THAT NIGHT, AS SUZANNA lay in bed waiting for sleep to come, she thought back on the evening and all the promise that lay ahead. She hadn’t come to Cousins intending to live a lie but it had happened, and now that lie was turning into reality. She could almost believe her past was truly buried and forgotten. She’d left no evidence behind, taken a few dollars and nothing else. There was no trail for Earl to follow. She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing Earl and the dingy little house on Shady Creek Road, but this time they appeared at a distance, further away than she remembered, surrounded by dark pines and shadows that obscured the ugliness of what she’d known.
She breathed a sigh and relaxed into the pillow, assuring herself that Suzanna Duff was actually disappearing. She was a woman who had simply rolled away like a lost marble. Gone. Completely and forever. Replaced by Darla Jean, a woman with a grandmother who loved her, a grandfather who’d pined for her return, a family history. Soon that same Darla Jean would have a job; a respectable job, one where truckers didn’t reach over the counter trying to steal a pack of cigarettes or catch a feel.
The more she thought about it, the more determined Suzanna became. Come what may, she was going to hold on to this new life. If, in the weeks or years ahead, someone stepped forward claiming to be Darla Jean, she would call them an imposter and tell Ida to send them packing. She owed it to Annie. Hell, she owed it to herself.
As she drifted off to sleep, she recalled the look on Gregg’s face as he awaited her answer about Saturday night. She pictured the way he seemed to look straight through to the very inside of her heart, and she remembered how at that moment she’d wanted to reach out and touch her finger to the curl that had fallen across his forehead.
Suzanna
Cavalier’s Couture
THE FOLLOWING MONDAY, AFTER SUZANNA dropped Gregg off at the school, she drove over to visit Ginger.
“I was in the neighborhood,” she said, “and thought I’d stop by.”
It was partly true, but the bigger truth was that she couldn’t stop thinking about the job at Cavalier’s Couture. Suzanna knew she had little to offer in the way of experience and even less awareness of fashion, but with Ginger’s endorsement she stood a chance. Not wanting to make it appear as though that were the only reason for her visit, she sat at the kitchen table patiently listening to Ginger’s thoughts on decorating and commenting on the pictures torn from baby magazines.
After an hour of chit chat and two cups of overly sweet tea, Suzanna felt settled enough to broach the subject. Even then, she still had butterflies in her stomach and a slightly higher pitch to her voice. Trying to still her nerves, she took another sip of tea, then leaned back in the chair and casually asked, “By the way, have you called Colette Cavalier to find out if she’d be interested in meeting me?”
Ginger slapped her palm to her forehead and laughed. “Good grief, I’d forgotten all about it. Thanks for the reminder.” She stood, grabbed the receiver from the wall telephone, and began dialing.
Suzanna felt her heart thump against her chest. “I’m not trying to pressure you into doing this, if you’d rather not.”
“No, I’m happy to, and—”
A click sounded, and Ginger suddenly switched to a more sophisticated voice. There was a brief hello, a few words about how she was enjoying her time at home but missed the shop, then she went on to say, “I was devastated
