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“I’ll be back before you know it.” he said abruptly. “If you need me, call me, I’ll make sure I answer.” He grabbed his briefcase and headed out of the door. I hated to see him go but I was just being melodramatic.
*
An hour later I was shopping. Vince was right, I was enjoying the shopping scene. I had to remind myself that I was shopping for a cute dress and not for purses and shoes. He’d left me $3000 in the envelope. There was no way I was going to spend that amount of money on a dress. It just seemed really excessive.
I went into a store that looked particularly high end and I walked along the racks. I was impressed by the quality of the cuts and fabrics. There was an emerald green dress that I instantly fell in love with. It’s a little under a thousand. I cringed on the inside but I had to try it on. If it fit the way that I thought it would, it was going to leave the store with me. I looked around for the saleswoman and she was standing behind the counter.
“Excuse me ma’am, I’m interested in trying this on.” The saleswoman looked right through me as if I didn’t say anything to her. “Hello, can you hear me?” She checked her nails and went to help another customer. No surprise the women she helped was white. ‘Am I invisible?” I thought to myself.
I looked around the store and none of the three attendants looked my way. I’m soft spoken but I’m sure that they heard me. I know they did because the other customers were looking at me with a mixture of pity and disdain. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks. Those bitches weren’t helping me because they figured that I wasn’t worth their time. They probably were assuming I was broke.
I snapped, I walked over to the snobby brunette that ignored me and interrupted her. I pulled out my envelope and flashed some hundred dollar bills like I was a rapper, “Well I guess I will be spending my money across the street then! No commission for you bitches!”
I stormed out of the store; my heart was pounding. Behavior like that was so out of character for me. I almost turned around and apologized. My mom didn’t raise me that way, and did I really have to call her a bitch? I just hated it when people looked down on me. It wasn’t right for them to refuse me customer service, even if I couldn’t afford it.
I went to another store and they treated me well from the moment that I walked into the door. I found a dress that I loved just as much as the other. I was even able to get my hair styled from a local shop. The stylist was so great that I wished I could have put her in my pocket and taken her home with me.
As promised by Vince, the time flew by and he was back. We had an amazing dinner and headed back to Chicago the following morning.
*
The driver met us at the airport and I was sad. I had the weekend of my dreams. It was nice to be away from my job, not worry about homework, and to spend time with a man that I truly liked. We held hands the entire way to my house. When the driver pulled up to my apartment, Vince walked me to my door.
He leaned in and kissed me. It was soft and sweet, I wanted more.
“Thank you so much for coming on this trip with me. It was far beyond what I could have ever imagined. We’ll have to do it again.”
“Thank you for inviting me. You sure know how to show a woman a good time. You’ve outdone yourself.”
“That was my goal. Unfortunately, I have a meeting in about an hour that I have to prep for.”
“Oh, okay, I guess I’ll talk to you later. Thank you again.”
He kissed my temple and walked away. Before he got a few feet away he stopped, “Damn, I almost forgot again.” He reached into his pocket for money and I had a mo
ment of panic.
“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that.”
He shook his head, “It’s no big deal.” He placed a stack of hundreds into my hand.
“I don’t want your money.”
“Don’t be silly. I thought about what you said before and this is what it’s all about, right?”
His phone rang before I could answer him. He looked at the phone and picked up. Before he started speaking to the person on the end he said, “I have to take this call. I’ll call you later.” He walked off and I slowly entered my apartment. I felt like I was back at square one.
I wondered if we had a genuine connection or if all of it was an arrangement to him. I thought that we had something special and I wasn’t so sure anymore.
*
“So let me get this right, you tried to give him his money back?” Jaime asked.
“Yes, I did! I tried to give him all of his money back, but he wouldn’t let me. I tried to give him the money that was left over from shopping and I tried to give him the money back that he had given to me before he left. He wouldn’t take any of it. Am I stupid for feeling bad about it?”
“It’s not stupid to feel bad but it’s kind of pointless.”
“I hate it because he now just sees me as a gold digger and that’s how he’s going to treat me.”
