"Oooh, a date. Oh, and I can tell he's special by the color your cheeks justturned."
Overwhelmed by the woman's kindness, Jordan suddenlyopenedup.
"Yes, he is special. He's the most amazing guy I've ever met, and this is our first date. He's the bass player in my best friend's band. They'reontour."
"Well then, we gotta dress you up in something pretty now,don'twe?"
Edra began opening up the plastic sleeves to look at the clothing until she found a dark maroon dress with tiny ivory flowers. It was vintage style with a full skirt, cap sleeves, and tiny pearl buttons going up the bodice. Jordan fell in love with itimmediately.
"Oh! It's perfect! Can I tryiton?"
Pointing to a dressing room, Edra handed Jordan the dress. While Jordan tried it on, Edra looked at her shoe wall and brought a couple pairs of shoes she thought Jordanmightlike.
"Try these Mary Janeswithit."
"Thank you so much for this, but the dress is a little big. Is there something else inthebox?"
"It doesn't matter what's in the box, honey, this is the dress for you. I saw your eyes light up like a Christmas tree when you saw it," Edra said as she grabbed a small red pin cushion. "If you give me fifteen minutes, I can get this dress to fit you like a glove. Just stand still while Ipinit."
Once Edra was done with the alterations, Jordan pulled her credit card out of herwallet.
"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me,"Jordansaid.
"Put your money away, child. I told you, that's not my dress. Those fools who keep giving me the wrong stuff can taketheloss."
"But what about the shoes and the alterations? You have to at least let me pay forthose."
Edra pointed to a sign that read "Free Alterations," then crossed her arms over her pillowychest.
"Please, Edra. I can't just accept all thisforfree."
"Listen honey, I've lived a long life and I've seen many things. I can see not enough people took care of you. Definitely not the ones who should've at least. You come back here tomorrow and tell me all about your date and we'll call it even,how'sthat?"
As her eyes filled with tears of appreciation, Jordan smiled and nodded, unable tospeak.
"Aww, come here baby," Edra said before giving her astronghug.
Jordan hugged her back, thinking Edra felt like an oversized pillow, and let out a long breath as her tears began to spill. She cried into Edra's shoulder and was happy that Edra didn't comment on it. Once Jordan regained her composure, Edra handed her a shopping bag with the shoes and thedress.
"Now you knock 'em dead tonight. And I'm serious, I haven't been on a date in ages. You come back and tell me every detail so I can pretend it was me in that pretty dress outwithTroy."
"It'sDylan."
"Well, when I was your age, his name was Troy. God resthissoul."
Edra smiled softly and pointed to a black and white photo in an old silver frame sitting on the counter. In the picture was a younger, thinner version of Edra standing next to a man holding a guitar in one hand, his other armaroundher.
"We were married for fifty years. What a mess I was when I met that beautiful man." She smiled, obviously reliving the moment. "Now get out of here, you're running out of time and I know you want to lookperfect."
Jordan took the bag and headed out, then turned back around, ran over, and gave Edra a kiss on thecheek.
"Thank you. For everything. Really," Jordan said, tears making her eyesshine.
After taking a quick shower, Jordan managed to get ready just in time. As she took one last look in the mirror, she heard a knock onthedoor.
"Wow! Look at you!" Dylan said. "I'm notworthy."
He pretended to bow, and she laughed before moving out of the way to let him in. Smelling like mint as he walked past, she noticed his shoulder-length light brown hair shone more than usual. This was also the first time she saw him in a pair of khakis with a navy buttoned shirt. She wondered if he brought that with him or if he did some last-minuteshopping,too.
