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“That would be a good house for kids. They could each have their own room and there’s a library where the shelves are attached to the walls. That’s much safer,” I pointed out.

“I should get inspections to make sure that everything is safe,” Oliver answered. “First, I have to decide if I’m serious about this.”

And first for me was planning out something to wear to his party. I had expanded my activewear wardrobe because I used it so much now, and I had ordered a few shirts and a pair of jeans that fit me better than my former ones. I had also purchased several fleece and wool items to combat the cold of my apartment, all in large sizes so that I could fit several layers under them. None of that stuff made me want to throw up but it also wasn’t very cute or flattering.

What would be? That night, I took the stairs up a few flights and knocked on Carmen’s door. She was a little older, maybe around my grandma’s age, but she was a person who went out and when she did, she always looked good.

“Kat,” she greeted me. “What’s up?”

“I need help with my clothes,” I said. “Do you have a minute?”

She did and after a few of them had passed as she looked at the contents of my closet, she frowned and turned to me. “This is extremely uninspiring,” she said. “You have nothing to wear.”

“I know,” I concurred. I never felt inspired when I opened that door, but at least there were clothes that kept me warm.

“Why is so much of it brown?”

I looked at it all, wondering the same thing. “It’s a cozy color. Like earth,” I said.

“Like dirt,” she confirmed. “I don’t have anything against it but I can’t imagine it would be right on you. I wish I was better at this…oh, I know. We’ll ask Vera.” That was Mrs. Doyle in the garden apartment. She had been a seamstress and had her own shop for years, Carmen told me. “And she has a great eye.”

I thought back to seeing Mrs. Doyle and realized that she always did dress very well. “I’ll take any help,” I said, and we went down to get her.

“Good night, who decorated this place?” Mrs. Doyle asked as she walked into my apartment. “Franciscan monks?”

“What?” I asked.

“They take a vow of poverty. I think she’s insulting your décor,” Carmen explained.

She was. “Where do you sit down at the end of the day?” Mrs. Doyle demanded.

“I have that nice chair.” I pointed to the one that Carmen had helped me assemble. “When I’m tired, I go to bed.”

She had a lot to say about that, too. “An air mattress?” she asked me. “I guess you’re young, so you don’t care about comfort.”

“I never really cared where I slept,” I agreed. I had been on floors, on couches, on…whatever. “What difference does it make?”

Apparently, a lot. The two of them stared at me, Carmen as if she was waiting for a punchline, and Mrs. Doyle as if I’d just started drooling on the floor.

“Why are all your clothes brown?” she asked after she had also perused my wardrobe. She told me that we were on a first-name basis and I was to call her Vera. Then she grasped my chin and stared at me, eye to eye (she was also short, so that was easy). “Look at the green she has, Carmen!”

“There’s a little hazel in my eyes,” I agreed.

“Green! And look at your hair.” She grabbed a hunk of it.

“Also brown,” I said, but she shook her head and her grip on my hair shook mine, too.

“It’s chocolate with chestnut highlights,” she informed me and finally let go. “You’re a beautiful girl.”

Two compliments in one day? “Thank you!”

“You’re going to want dusty pinks,” she went on. “Soft navy. Lilac.”

“I’ve never been a purple person,” I murmured.

“But all this brown?” She threw up her hands. “Let’s see what we can do.”

It was clear that there was little to nothing in my existing wardrobe. After we planned for a while, Carmen invited us up to her apartment for a glass of wine and some online shopping. Nothing would come in time for me to wear to the party the following night but we found several future options, and Vera had managed to pull together an outfit from my existing clothes that she thought wasn’t too terrible, as long as I wore her earrings. She was going to give them to me once we finished our wine and then we were also invited over for dinner…