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‘I’ll just look around,’ Naomi said, declining the offer of refreshments and looking at the stunning outfits that were completely beyond her reach, though it was heaven to gaze. Still, she did wonder how long it took to be measured when, half an hour later, she was still looking around.
‘It shouldn’t be too much longer,’ Felicia said.
As it turned out, Mr Devereux wasn’t just selecting a tux for the ball. There were swatches and buttons and collars and cuffs for suits that would see him to summer.
‘How long have you worked for the Devereuxes?’ Felicia asked as they chatted.
‘Oh, I don’t work for them,’ Naomi corrected her. ‘We’re just...’ she didn’t really know what to say, so possibly she took a slight leap in her description ‘...friends.’
Well, they were acquaintances perhaps.
Two people who had one person, Merida, who connected them. Still, she wasn’t about to explain all that to Felicia.
But in that momenteverythingchanged.
The slightly casual air to their conversation disappeared and suddenly, now she was no longer mere staff, Felicia was on higher alert. ‘You like the wrap?’ she asked, when Naomi’s hands lingered on a length of fabric so soft it felt like mercury running through her hand.
‘I love it,’ Naomi said.
‘There’s a dress,’ Felicia said. ‘It would go with your colouring.’
‘Oh, I doubt that it comes in my size.’
Felicia was actually very skilled at her job. So much so that twenty minutes later Naomi stood in high heels with the gorgeous floor-length dress on, and, lo, it did come in her size.
‘You look,’ Felicia said, ‘stunning.’
‘Ah, but you’re paid to say that.’
‘No.’ Felicia shook her head. ‘I don’t want anyone wearing something from our range if they don’t suit it and absolutely you do.’
Did she?
It was nice to dream. It was just dress-up and fun, and, no, not for Abe’s eyes, but she came out of the dressing room smiling.
In contrast, Abe was scowling.
‘I didn’t think it would take that long.’ He rolled his eyes as they headed out. ‘Just how many shades of black are there?’
Naomi laughed.
Her happiness remained, even heightened as the sun sank lower and Naomi found out that, yes, there were still squirrels in winter in Central Park.
At first there was just one that she could see as Abe headed off and bought some nuts.
‘They’re for the squirrels,’ Abe reminded her, when Naomi had a taste.
‘There aren’t any.’
Except then she saw one, sitting upright in the snow.
She tossed him a nut and very boldly he came and took it and then scuttled off.
‘There’s one,’ Abe said, and he took some nuts and threw them, and then there was another.
And another.
They came very close, right up onto the benches, and Naomi laughed as she fed them nuts and some even took them from her fingers.
