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But this red dress, it wasn’t me. Not at all. It was too tight and too short and it showed of…everything. “What in the hell was I thinking?” My reflection didn’t look terrible, but it had to be the lighting because I felt like sausage stuffed into a casing. The color was striking and oddly didn’t turn me ghostly white, plus the sales chick had called me smoking hot in the dress.
Smoking hot. How could I pass that up?
“You were probably thinking that you look hotter than you ever have, and that’s no small thing,” she said in her signature matter-of-fact tone. The first time I bought something from Hope and Mikki, it blew my mind.” I smiled thinking of Bo’s trip to get something sexy and how awkward and uncomfortable she’d been.
“You can’t see this dress Bo. It’s indecent!”
She snorted and in my mind I could see her shaking her head, thick brown hair falling around her shoulders. “Let me see. You know I’ll tell you the truth.”
‘Too much of the truth,” I muttered and switched the call to video mode. “All right. Lay it on me.” I held the phone up to the mirror so she could get a full length view.
Bo looked at me, tilting her head this way and that, nodding to herself and mumbling. “You look hot Janey. Like for real hot. Like if you wore that around town, the rest of us would talk about you behind your back. For being hot instead of being pushy, like we do now.” Her smile softened the blow but I made no apologies for who I was, a girl always willing to help. Sometimes a hammer worked better than honey.
“Thanks, but doesn’t it matter if I don’t feel comfortable?”
“Of course, it matters but you just need to own you great you look. It’s a little short, yes, but all the important parts are covered so relax. Chill. Just be one of those girls who looks effortlessly hot.”
I snorted at that. “Effortlessly? I still have to do something to this hair and this face.”
“Gloss it up and get gone,” she said with finality. “Tell me all about it. When you’re back in Tulip.” With those last words, Bo ended the call. So typical.
I gave myself another view in the mirror. It was the last night of the convention and me and a bunch of girls were planning to go out, to leave the hotel and have a fun night in Santa Fe. And this red dress was exactly a fun night in Santa Fe kind of dress, which meant I had to get comfortable. To that end, I kept the dress on while I worked on my hair and makeup, refusing to adjust it with every move I made until the dress moved with me.
It took an hour longer than it needed to, thanks to all the not adjusting I did but finally by eight o’clock, I was ready to have some fun so I left my room with the tiniest silver clutch I could afford on my impromptu shopping trip and headed down to the bar to meet the others.
A quick glance at the clock said it was just after eight but there were not photo girls in sight. Not anywhere. Figuring I must be early, I slid up to the bar and decided to order something unusual. Something out of the ordinary. “A Mai Tai, please.”
The bartender flashed a bland smile and got to work. I watched him work, wondering where the life was in this man. He was young, barely old enough to drink the alcohol he sold but his face and hands were without lines, without signs of living. It was a pity because he could be a compelling subject. In a few years.
“Thanks,” told him and turned my attention to my drink. And my phone. There were no text messages or missed calls and I was starting to get the feeling I’d been stood up. Was it more pathetic to get stood up by one man or a group of women? Both felt terrible and I sucked down half the sweet drink in one big gulp.
Then another.
And another.
“One more, please.” The bartender nodded without judgment and I appreciated his discretion.
“Drinkin’ alone? That’s a shame.”
Rafe’s voice sounded right behind me, so close I could feel the heat of his breath on my neck. I turned so barely an inch separated us. “Not alone anymore. Have a seat.”
He blinked, surprised and I smiled, happy that I wasn’t the same old boring Janey. “Thanks. Great dress.”
I looked down with a smile of surprise because I hadn’t adjusted it once. “Thanks. Too bad it’s all for nothing. I think the girls stood me up.”
“You mean the group of women who left a few minutes ago? All dressed up to cause trouble?”
