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“It looks like what you usually wear,” Damian said. “Why do you have a problem with that?”
“I don’t know.” That wasn’t entirely true. “Allie made a comment the other night about me wearing my shirt tucked in.”
“Oh!” Leo snapped his fingers. “That’s why it looks weird. You haven’t tucked it in. You should tuck it in.”
He did as instructed. “Allie said I dressed like an architect. She was joking,” he added, sucking his stomach in to push the T-shirt into his waistband. “But she probably wasn’t really joking. Also, she said something about my shirt not fitting well.”
“That looks better,” Damian said when Hugh turned from side to side in front of the mirror. “I’m so used to seeing you tucked in that it’s weird when you’re not.”
Hugh frowned at his reflection. “It doesn’t suit me though, does it?”
“Maybe try a smaller size,” Leo suggested.
“I did, but it felt odd.”
Damian rolled his eyes. “Try it again and show us this time.”
He stepped back into the cubicle to swap T-shirts.
“That looks way better,” Leo said when he walked out again.
Hugh puffed his chest out, then raised his arms a little. “It feels restrictive.”
“Only because you’re not used to it,” Damian told him. “That definitely looks better.”
“It really does,” another voice said.
The young woman standing between a counter and a rack of discarded clothes was staring at him.
“Sorry,” she said when he quirked an eyebrow at her. “But if you’re looking for opinions, that one looks a million times better.”
“Thanks.” He turned to the mirror. “I’m still not sure.”
The woman drew a deep breath and made it look like a great effort to move from her slouched position at the counter to stand behind Hugh.
“I think the problem now,” she said, “is your jeans.”
“What’s wrong with my jeans?” he asked, prickling with annoyance.
“Well …” Moving closer, she took the back of his T-shirt and lifted it above his waistline. While she quite blatantly checked out his arse, Hugh shot a look of mock horror at Leo and Damian. The pair of them grinned widely.
“They could do with being tighter too,” the shop assistant went on. “Everything is a bit loose. Your clothes, I mean. Do you want me to get you some jeans to try?”
He agreed, and after a quick discussion about sizing, she scuttled away.
“Should we leave you and her alone?” Damian joked.
Leo rocked the buggy as Alice stirred. “She’s totally into you.”
“Definitely don’t leave me alone with her,” Hugh said.
Damian relaxed back on the couch. “I can’t decide what’s more bizarre, you giving yourself a makeover or you having the nerve to go to the golf club and ask Allie out.”
“I’m buying a new T-shirt, not having a makeover,” Hugh said.
“Why did you decide to ask her out again?” Leo asked. “I thought the first date went so badly that you’d given up on dating.”
“I had, but then I spoke to Nancy and she annoyed me …” He paused as his friends tilted their heads at the same time and let out near-identical hums of understanding. “Don’t look like that,” he told them. “Why are you looking like that?”
