She dumped two bags on my armchair. One was a Nordstrom bag. The other was just a brown paper bag, but it was sizeable.
“Hello, child, all good?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, eyeing the bags.
“I can’t stay,” she said. “I want to be nowhere near Tod when this wedding meeting is happening. I don’t have an assignment, and I don’t want one. I want to dress up, show up, watch people get married, then eat cake and dance my ass off. So…bye.”
With that, she swept out.
Jacques barked at the door, miffed at being dissed even for a head scratch.
Important note: Jacques liked kissy noises. But he preferred scratches.
“What was that?” I asked as Knox went to the bags.
He started with the Nordstrom one.
He pulled out a shoebox.
A Tom Ford shoebox.
He tipped open the lid, shoved aside some tissue, smiled at what he saw inside, then handed the box to me.
I set down my wine, completely opened the lid, folded back the tissue and had a shoe orgasm.
In it was a pair of emerald-green patent leather strappy sandals with a gold heel that were so much nicer than the ones that were in the trash, it wasn’t funny.
Was I actually feeling happy I got in a catfight in a nice restaurant owned by a mob boss so I could eventually end up with this pair of shoes?
Yes.
Yes, staring into that shoebox, I was feeling that whole debacle was sooooo worth it.
I was still shoe orgasming when something landed on my head and Knox landed on his ass beside me.
Before I even knew what it was (though, I figured I knew what it was), Jacques barked twice, indicating his approval.
I pulled it off my head and saw it was an acorn-colored Stetson with a braided band.
It was shit hot.
Not as shit hot as the shoes but still shit hot.
I looked to Knox. “You asked Shirleen to shop for me?”
“Woulda done it myself, but I can’t drive,” he replied.
No.
He would have Lyfted to the mall, or whatever.
But that would have meant he couldn’t come to SC to make sure I walked to my car without one of his family or ex-girlfriends pouncing on me.
“You know, I can take care of myself, most of the time,” I said softly.
His brows drew together. “Why did you say that?”
“Because you went out of your way to escort me to my car today.”
