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“Are you sure you can’t take it back?”
“No. That’s okay. I mean, I’ve never spent that much on a dress in my life before, but it’s for a good cause, right?”
Maybe she should stop talking about money. Maybe that’s what was so awful. Maybe Franklin was from the kind of family who didn’t discuss finances.
She’d grown up in a family that talked about them pretty much every day. Mostly because her mom was a single mom, and the kids were all very aware that they all needed to pitch in so that they could stay on the farm and survive.
Her mom had never tried to hide any of that from them, which Eleanor had thought was a good thing. It helped them all want to do their best to help make money, and it made them proud of themselves when they made the mortgage payment every month.
But she knew that not all families were like hers, and some really cringed at the mention of anything having to do with finances or money.
And maybe it was too personal, even though she felt like she and Franklin really were friends, since they’d been stuck together, and that had a tendency to bond people, but maybe she didn’t know as much about him as what she thought.
“Yeah. I guess you can spend as much money as you want to on a dress...” He sounded depressed.
“Is everything okay?” She stopped, staring at the rack and her sister’s back but not really seeing them. There was something wrong. She might not know him very well, but she could tell that for sure.
“Actually, there is a problem.”
“What’s up?”
“Remember I told you about Maisie?”
“Yes. Her sister had malaria—did she pass away?” Eleanor’s hand went to her throat. “Oh, that’s terrible! Do you need to help her? Do you need to go to Africa?” She couldn’t imagine that he actually did, but maybe he and Maisie were great friends, and he wanted to be there for her during this difficult time. “If you do, that’s fine. I can...put the dress away and maybe wear it some other time.” She couldn’t take it back. Even though she hadn’t even set foot out of the store, the clearance sign clearly said that all clearance sales were final.
“No. Nothing like that. She’s... She’s actually better. It was a...false alarm. The... Her fever wasn’t as bad as what they thought it was, and it turned out that she just had a little bit of dehydration, I guess.”
“That’s awesome. I’m so glad. My goodness, I’m sure Maisie is relieved.”
“Yeah. She is. And...she’s not going to Africa anymore.”
Eleanor froze. Oh. That was what this call was about. He didn’t need her anymore. He had Maisie again.
“Okay. Well, I see. So Maisie is able to go to the gala with you?” She tried to infuse her typical cheerfulness back into her voice. And really, this made sense. Maisie had been the one to be his dependable date for years. He hadn’t said for how long, but they had an understanding. He wouldn’t want to turn her down and mess that up. He would want to take her if he could. Of course.
“I was just a stand-in, now you don’t need me anymore. That’s fine.”
“It’s not like that.” He said that quickly, which just made Eleanor’s eyes draw down.
“It’s not like that?” she asked. “So you aren’t calling to tell me that you don’t need me to go to the gala with you anymore?” Did she totally misunderstand something?
“No. That’s what I wanted to say.” His voice still sounded like he didn’t want to say what he was saying, but he had to. “I just wanted to let you know about Maisie. I wasn’t going to go with her if it was going to upset you. I mean, she’s expecting to go with me and everything, but...it’s business.”
Upset her? He’d told her he was going with her and now just...wanted to let her know about Maisie? Why else would he tell her about Maisie unless he wanted her to tell him it was okay for him to go with her? Her chest felt tight and hot, but she tried to ignore it and be kind, to make this as easy as possible for him. After all, wasn’t that what she was supposed to do? Think of others over herself? Here was an opportunity to try to put Franklin first and herself last, as much as she wanted to be short or unkind.
“You don’t need to call it anything other than what it is. It’s okay. I’m a big girl, and I can understand that. You definitely want to keep the good thing going that you have with Maisie. She’s been faithful and dependable for years. It would be wrong of you to have to tell her that you’re going with someone else. Plus, she knows everything she needs to do to help you.”
“I didn’t think you’d have a dress already.”
Of course she was going to have a dress. That was the first thing she thought of when he asked her to go. The gala was the next day. She wasn’t going to go any longer than what she had to without purchasing something.
Except now of course, she wished she would have waited.
She wished she would have bought the snow tires.
She laughed a little. Always practical. Maisie probably was not practical. Or maybe she was. It didn’t matter. She had a dress she didn’t need instead of snow tires which she did.
Maybe she could find a place to wear it.
