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He didn’t trust himself to stay a minute longer. Without a word, he flung the door open and sprinted down the wobbly steps where life made sense and temptation wasn’t holding a pair of hundred-dollar bills. More proof that she didn’t belong.
CHAPTER 3
Janel
Janel sat on the floor gathering her clothes and putting them back in the suitcases. They should have taken the cases to their bedrooms as soon as they arrived, but they were both freezing and hastily pulled on more layers of warm clothing before they even knew where the bedrooms were.
She shook out the Bergdorf Goodman blazer and frowned at the partial boot print marring the fabric. She’d have to brave the basement again to use the machines she saw down there to clean the wool blazer. How hard could they be to use? She really had no idea.
In her world, she wore something and it magically reappeared in her closet freshly cleaned the next day. She realized that was a privileged attitude, but that was her reality. The staff would faint dead away and be consumed with doubts of inadequate job performance if she ever showed her face in the laundry rooms. Another good reason for coming to North Carolina.
“Who was that dishy man?” Rica asked, coming out of the kitchen with two mugs of hot tea. She placed one on the little table in front of the couch and pushed clothes to the side to make room to curl up on one end of the artificial leather eyesore. “He sure didn’t talk much.”
“No, he didn’t.” From the moment she addressed him, he gave her the impression he’d taken an instant dislike to her. Janel couldn’t understand why. They had only just met. There had been no time to form an opinion one way or the other. This was an entirely new concept to her. Everyone liked her. “I have no idea of his name, he didn’t give it, but he is our neighbor. At least I think he’s our neighbor. He could have been visiting.”
Her whole interaction with him seemed off. She took a sip of tea, ignoring the taste, and looked around the room wondering what he saw to make him surly. Maybe it wasn’t her he didn’t like; maybe it was the house. That didn’t sound right. It was something more. She picked up a Carolina Herrera knit sweater and folded it while rethinking their time together.
“I think we may have miscalculated” she concluded, and placed the folded sweater on top of the other designer clothes.
“What are you talking about?”
“This,” Janel replied and opened her arms wide to include the mess of clothes around the room. “We aren’t in Tanistan anymore and we certainly aren’t members of the royal family here in North Carolina. Which is exactly what we want. And wearing these clothes, as our moms would say, will make us stick out like a sore thumb.”
Rica surveyed the room and her gaze landed on a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes. Slowly she nodded coming to the same conclusion. “We should have thought of that. Appearance is everything.”
Leaving the floor, Janel picked up her mug of tea and joined her cousin on the sofa. “We should have. So what do we do?”
Rica giggled. “We go shopping, of course!”
* * *
“This wasn’t what I meant, Janel,” Rica said, eyeing the overstuffed rack of assorted clothes. “Are you sure this is the correct store?” she asked, keeping her hands to herself.
“I’m Jane. And you’re Ree. Don’t forget that,” Janel reminded but she too had to wonder if her mother was playing a trick on her by telling them to come to this store for clothes.
“Do you think we got the name wrong? I can’t believe Aunt Mari would shop at this place. Frankly, I don’t see any good will anywhere in here. Everything is old,” she said with distaste and pulled a pair of jeans from the rack and gasped. “These clothes are used!”
“Look closer, Ree. Everything in here is used. This must be what’s called a second-hand store. Now, come on, let’s not be snobs. If you think about it, this is perfect. I suggest we start with a few basic pieces and build a wardrobe from there.” Janel thought it adventurous.
Pulling a horrid floral oversized dress from the rack, Rica shuddered and quickly put it back. “I don’t think that’s going to work. Foundation pieces look exactly like everything else in here. Maybe we should just concentrate on getting jeans and tops. Warm, thick, insulating tops. And we need bigger coats.”
“Good strategy. We need different boots too. I noticed our neighbor eyeing my boots last night. We need simple things.” She would miss her Giuseppe Zanotti boots, but it couldn’t be helped.
Over two hours later, they left the store with their arms loaded with plastic bags filled with clothes. There were so many, they couldn’t hold them all.
“I’ll call for an Uber,” Rica said as she fumbled to contain her bags while digging around in her new imitation leather handbag for her phone.
Janel’s attention, however, had been diverted to the business across the road. “Hold up, Ree. I think I have a better idea.”
Rica followed her gaze and her eyes widened. “You’re kidding, Jane. We don’t know how to drive.”
“I’ve driven before,” Janel replied firmly.
Rica gave an un-princess-like snort. “You’ve driven a golf cart. An actual vehicle is quite different and there are rules and laws you have to abide by. You don’t know those. Plus, I think you need a license, which neither of us has.”
Janel knew all of this, but having a car would make their lives much easier while in the States. “But look at that little red and yellow car. Isn’t it cute?”
Rica shielded her eyes from the sun and agreed, “It is, but there’s no way you can walk into that store and leave with that car. It just isn’t done. I dare say even if they knew you were a princess, you couldn’t make that happen. Besides, do you see the condition of the vehicles? They are just as used as the clothes we purchased. Even the cute car you love has a dent in the back door.”
