‘No.’
‘Nightwear doesn’t count, Rebecca.’
‘Oh. Yes then.’ She followed her friend over to the rail of clothes, running her hand along the rainbow of different textures and fabrics. ‘You don’t have to give me a lecture you know. I get it.’
Fran pulled out a long dress from the rail. It was a dark blue colour, but the fabric shimmered in the light. ‘This one’s for a night out, and I thought this one for Saturday.’
Reaching further along the rail, she held out another dress. This one was cream, neat little blue flowers embroidered along the hems. It looked lovely, fresh and perfect for the shower. She didn’t even need to check the sizing. Fran had a hawk-eye for these things.
‘You going, on Saturday?’
Fran nodded, taking out another outfit from the very back.
‘Yep, here’s mine.’ It was a lot brighter than the one she’d offered Rebecca, pastel colours giving way to vibrant tropical colours. The female equivalent of a Hawaiian shirt. ‘I must say, I am looking forward to meeting this Luke.’
Rebecca blushed, taking the outfits from Fran and heading to the changing rooms to see how they looked. Fran would insist on it anyway, she never let anything leave her shop that looked and felt anything less than perfect. Rebecca thought about her baking and could relate.
‘He’s okay.’ Pulling the curtain shut behind her, she put the hangers on the peg in front of her and sat down for a second on the upholstered chair that sat in one corner of the changing room. Opposite, the full-length mirror looked back at her. She looked at the outfits on the rails, and back at herself. The dress had a little thigh split in the material, that gave it a sexier look. She’d not worn anything like that in such a long time. She wouldn’t have thought twice about it before, but now, it was all that she could think about. Once more, Rebecca realised that the life she had was gone forever, and looking back at herself, she brushed back the tears. Standing up, she tried the outfits on facing the wall. She never looked behind her or turned around. By the time she left the changing room, outfits in hand, she was perfectly shut down once more.
*
Open-mouthed in the mirror, looking like a fish gasping for air, Rebecca ran the wand up her lashes, almost poking herself straight in the retina when there was a loud knock at the door.
‘Luke, can you get that please? I’m just putting my shoes on.’ She pushed her feet into her favourite heels and grabbed her bag. The knock came again, but no Luke.
‘Luke, you here?’ She looked into the lounge but it was empty. His room door was closed. ‘Luke?’
She headed to the door to the café downstairs, wrapping her long coat around her tightly and pulling the handle down as she threw her handbag strap over one shoulder. Luke was standing at the other side, flowers in hand.
‘Hi.’
‘Hi,’ she replied, looking from the flowers to him. He looked gorgeous. His glasses were off, his hair freshly washed and shiny. She could smell him, recognising the scent she’d been enveloped in using the bathroom after him. Soap, and his cologne. He hadn’t even touched her shampoo. ‘You really meant pick me up, didn’t you?’
He grinned. ‘Yep, all out tonight. I wasn’t sure how we were going to get there, so I ordered a cab to be safe. Okay?’
She nodded dumbly. ‘It’s the west-facing slopes we’re heading to. Not far. Nice flowers.’ They locked eyes for a moment, and her mouth went dry. He looked so good, so confident now.
‘Oh yes, sorry! These are for you,’ he said, offering them to her. ‘I hope you like them.’ They were beautiful, wrapped with ribbon and full of colour. As she leaned to get them, their fingers brushed each other’s and the jolt that ran through her confirmed what she already suspected. She was starting to fancy the pants off her dorky clumsy houseguest, and she was going to be spending a whole evening with him, on what looked like a very date-like non-date. ‘I just wanted to say thanks, for everything you’ve put up with. I’m happy to have met you Rebecca, I mean that.’ As he spoke, the two of them slowly gravitated closer. Had her hands not been full of flowers, she was pretty sure she would have snogged the lips off him. The butterflies in her stomach had changed into huge bats now, all jumping and flapping their wings off at the thought of her lips touching his. ‘I am happy to have been able to get to know you.’
‘Me too.’
His eyebrows raised, and he moved closer, pushing the flowers tighter to her own chest, and his.
‘Really? Redeemed myself a bit, have I?’ She felt too drunk on his proximity to answer him clearly. It was like they were in a little bubble. ‘I’m glad. Actually I—’
The toot of a horn broke the silence, and she turned to put the flowers in some water.
‘Cab’s here,’ she said unnecessarily. When she returned to the stairs, she could hear him outside talking to the driver. Smoothing her coat down around her, making sure she was covered, she headed down the stairs. Once more, he’d been cut off from what he wanted to say. It was getting harder to act like she didn’t care about what his back story was, why he was really here.
*
Pulling up at the restaurant, they could hear the people outside, sitting in the outdoor heated seating area, which ran around one side of the restaurant, drinking, eating and laughing. The neon sign lit up the place from above and cast rainbows across the snow around them. She opened the cab door, stepping out and drinking in the great outdoors. Rebecca would normally be holed up in her place right now, tinkering around by herself. She’d missed the adult life. She’d been living like a
