“Thinking about Dad?”
“What? No.” Cece snorted. Her ex-husband was enough to put her in a bad mood, though.
“He makes me cranky, too, so I get it. At least you don’t have to deal with him as much.”
“You shouldn’t either.”
Natalie pointed at a dress in one of the windows. “That’s pretty.” They stopped to take a closer look. “Dad calls once a week to check in.” She sighed. “I think he’s trying to make up for leaving like he did.”
“Maybe.” Cece shrugged, not really caring what her ex did. He’d said the scandal was too much. Too embarrassing. She’d suspected he was already involved with someone else, and not long after he’d left, that suspicion had been confirmed. But she’d been too busy trying to survive ovarian cancer to do anything about it. Fortunately, she had survived. No thanks to her husband.
She chose to focus on the dress. “You should try it on. That color would suit you.”
“It’s probably five hundred dollars. Jim would kill me if I spent that kind of money on a dress. Especially with Tyler’s braces not paid off yet.”
“Trying it on costs nothing.” She grabbed her daughter’s arm and tugged her into the shop.
As it turned out, the dress wasonlythree hundred and twenty-five dollars, and it looked spectacular on Natalie, butthen, she looked great in everything, even if Cece was biased in that regard.
Natalie did a twirl, making the dress’s gossamer skirt float out. “It is really pretty.”
“I’ll buy it for you,” Cece said. She didn’t mind spending the money. She’d done all right in the divorce. And if it made Natalie happy, it was well worth it.
“Mom, you can’t.”
“I can.”
Natalie shook her head. “That’s a generous offer and it’s a beautiful dress, but where would I wear it? It’s too nice for church.”
“PTA meeting?”
Natalie laughed.
“Jim has work functions you go to sometimes, doesn’t he?”
She nodded, her expression darkening. “Yeah. But I don’t usually go to those.”
Cece’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. Again, trying not to pry.
Natalie tipped her head toward the dressing room. “Back in a minute.”
While she was changing, Cece browsed around, mostly looking at the earrings. Not so much because she wanted to buy a pair, but she did the beadwork class at the community center every month and was always looking for inspiration.
She picked up a pair of turquoise and purple hoops made of seed beads and silver spacers. Very pretty. And probably something she could make. She snapped a pic with her phone as Natalie came out.
Cece tucked her phone away. “Are you getting the dress?”
“Not today. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“You’re welcome.”
They made it around the rest of the mall then took the escalator up to the second floor, which put them right in front of Burberry.
Cece stopped to look, nostalgia getting the best of her. “I used to have a Burberry trench coat. Found it in a charity shop in London when I was there on assignment in 1988.”
“What happened to it?” Natalie asked.
“I gave it to a friend when I got pregnant with you. Wouldn’t fit me anymore.”
