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Chapter 15
“Ireally appreciateyou coming with me,” Eleanor said to Sunday as she waited in line to pay for the dress they had found in Chicago.
The snowstorm had stopped, the roads were clear, and Eleanor decided that she wasn’t going to wait.
She should talk to Sally, give her a hard time, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to do that.
So, she settled the cat in her home, asked her sister Clara to make sure she got fed overnight and the next day, and then she and Sunday took off for Chicago.
They made it to this boutique in plenty of time for her to try on a few things. The price tags had made her feel faint, but they found a nice dark green, almost black, velvet dress on the clearance rack, which, when coupled with a cute jacket, would look very nice. She had her black high-heeled boots that were dressy enough to wear with it, and Sunday had told her that she had the perfect necklace to go along with it.
Even the clearance price had been more than Eleanor had ever thought she would pay for a dress. It was enough to pay for the snow tires for her car.
Because she’d been saving for the tires, she had the money in her account, and she only cringed a little as the clerk rang up her purchase and charged her card.
“Like I would miss a shopping trip to Chicago,” Sunday said. She put her arm around Eleanor as the clerk smiled and handed her card back. “Plus, you were awesome in my wedding. Not only did you help me, but you made Hope look beautiful as well. How could I turn you down?”
“Easily. You just got married, we just had a snowstorm, and Chicago is the last place that either one of us wants to be.”
That might not be entirely true. Eleanor would be a lot more excited about being in Chicago if she thought that Franklin was there too. But he said he was going to stay at the hotel and do a little work, and then drive up tomorrow morning in time to be at the convention center to oversee the final preparations for the gala.
“Oh my goodness. I didn’t see that!” Sunday said, hurrying over to a rack where they had their spring collection out already.
Eleanor knew those clothes would be way out of her price range, and she walked over slower, the dress that she just purchased in one hand, while she slipped her card back in her wallet with the other.
Her phone rang.
She shoved her wallet under her arm and pulled her phone out of her pocket, swiping and sticking it to her ear without glancing at the id.
“Hello?”
“Eleanor. Hey.”
“Franklin. I... It’s only been a couple of hours. Do you miss me already?” She was just goofing with him. Maybe trying to cover the surprise that he called her so soon.
Maybe he thought of something he needed to tell her about the gala.
“Do you have some last-minute instructions for me?”
“No. Not really.”
“All right. I just finished buying my dress. It was on clearance, so I’m committed since I can’t take it back, although I just paid more for it than I would have paid for my snow tires. But Sunday assures me that I look amazing in it, so it was worth the money.”
“You just bought the dress? And you can’t take it back?” He didn’t sound overly thrilled about it.
“Yes.” She tried not to let his odd tone discourage her. He was probably swamped with things to do now that they weren’t trapped anymore. “And a little jacket to go with it. It’s really cute.”
She closed her mouth. Her brothers were never interested in what her clothes looked like. She assumed Franklin probably wasn’t either, even though she wanted to talk about it. After all, he didn’t sound excited, and she was hoping that she hadn’t gone and done something wrong. She said that she got it off the clearance rack. Surely it was okay to wear a dress to the gala that a person had bought on clearance? Most of the Christmas dresses were on clearance.
