Chapter Sixteen
It’s Saturday night, and I’m engrossed in the latest JoJo Moyes novel, and Christian is playing video games on his iPad. A loud bang on the sliding door glass startles the both of us. I look up to see a young delivery guy. He seems quite irked. He’s holding a large box. I’m surprised since I haven’t ordered anything. I hesitate to open the door, but he seems pretty legit.
I slowly slide the door open, and he jabs a clipboard and pen at me. “Sign there.”
“Oh… ok.” I sign quickly. I don’t know what has inched up his butt, but I don’t want to anger him further.
“This place was impossible to find,” he scoffs. “It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
“Yeah, we get that a lot,” I say. “We live off of the land here, and eat squirrels,” I add playfully.
He jerks back for a beat, and a second later he gets that I’m joking. “Ha-ha… good one.”
“Sorry about the drive,” I offer as I take the box from him, extremely curious. What could it be?
Christian is at my heels, as eager as I am. “What is it, Mommy?”
We both tear into the box, and before long, I discover a large white box and three smaller ones. “Dior,” I say. “Fancy.”
“Dior,” Christian repeats as he digs into one of the shoe boxes.
“Wait,” I say. “Let’s open the big box first.” By this point, I know what this is all about. I can’t believe Colton has sent me shoes, and what I believe is a dress. I don’t know how I feel about it all, but I’m too curious to ponder it for too long.
“I was right! It is a dress!” I cheer, giddy as a young girl at prom.
“Did you buy that?” Christian asks, confused.
“No, it was a gift,” I explain.
“From Judy?” he says, knowing Judy gives me a lot of gifts. Yes, but so far, no designer dresses.
The dress is gorgeous. Red. Simple and elegant. And it looks about my size.
“What’s this?” Christian says, unfolding a slip of paper.
I wave my arm at him. “Gimme, Gimme.”
Dear Clara,
You said you had nothing to wear so…
I guestimated on the size… I hope I did good. As for the shoes, I figured you were somewhere between a six and an eight, so I got all three sizes.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Colton xo
I’m all over those shoe boxes as I set out to see what surprises await me. Unlike Cassie, I’ve never been a fashionista and my closet is so tiny, it can barely hold twenty hangers. I’m usually not very impressed by pretty things, not unless they were made by God Himself. Yet I’m excited now because it’s the thought behind it all, and the idea of showing up at the party in a dress and shoes Colton specifically chose for me.
Upon further thought, as I open the first box of shoes, sparkly black sandals, size six, I wonder if the items were chosen by Martha. Makes more sense. Well, it was a nice thought regardless.
Christian has already opened the second box, a pointed toe slingback in red. Size seven. Bingo!
And the final pair is a black lace-up sandal. Size eight. I wonder if I could wear those too… on another occasion.
I’m greedy as I attempt to stuff my feet into the size six sandals, hoping to wear them too, but no cigar. Too small.
Next I try the size seven, and they fit perfectly. “If the dress doesn’t fit, I’m going to cry,” I tell Christian.
