by Dalia Wright
No matter what, there was always talk. Although gossip was frowned upon, that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. The women talked, and if anyone knew what someone had done during their time in the English world, the whole community might end up knowing.
“He’s picking me up for lunch tomorrow.”
“Wow. He sure is moving fast, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know, is he?” Sarah felt her stomach turn. Was he really moving that fast? Was it abnormal? Should she be worried? She honestly had no clue. All she knew was that she had agreed to see him tomorrow.
“And lunch? Doesn’t he work or something? Or is he unemployed?”
“He must work. He took me to this really nice place for dinner. Like, really expensive.”
“Really? Hmm . . .” Hanna bit her lip, mulling things over. Sarah padded over to the couch where her friend sat. In all honesty, the two girls hadn’t really known each other well until they came to the English world together[S7]. Of course, everyone in the community “knew” everyone else, but without really knowing.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just think it’s interesting he took you somewhere so nice. Did you two—”
“What? No! Of course not!” She didn’t need Hanna to finish her sentence to know what she was getting at. Sarah and Brad had not been intimate. “But there was something off.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we went to the restaurant, the girl who was our waitress was really weird about him. Like, she couldn’t take her eyes off him, but it was almost like she knew him from somewhere.”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“Yea,” Sarah sighed, “he just said that he had no clue who she was.”
“You don’t believe him?”
“I don’t know what to believe, honestly.” Sarah had a wonderful time with him, and she wanted to see him again, but the thought that he was hiding something from her was really scary. But it’s not like he would have brought me to a restaurant his girlfriend worked at or something, she thought.
“I just want everything to work out okay.”
“But you’re still going back in a week and a half, right?”
“Yes,” Sarah nodded. She was sure that whatever was going on with her and Brad would be done by then. It wasn’t that she wanted it to be done; she had just been warned by several of the girls about what English men were like. She wasn’t going to put much hope in him. She knew better than that.
When noon came around, Sarah made her way outside, wearing a simple black skirt with flowers on it and a white tank top.
“You look gorgeous,” he said, as he stepped out of his car.
No. That was not the car he drove her home in. This one was black. She stared at it. There was something about the curves of the car that left it looking sleek. She wasn’t the type of girl that was impressed by things like cars, but once again, even she had to admit it was a nice car.
He circled around to her side of the car and pulled the door open.
“Thank you,” she said, as she slipped into the sports car and he closed the door behind her.
Sarah watched as he circled around the car and slid into the driver’s side. [S8] Last night he had been wearing a suit. Today he just wore jeans and a muscle shirt. Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t that she had never seen a man’s arms or anything like that. There was just something about the fact that they were his arms. She felt silly just thinking it, but it was the truth.
Sarah watched as he gunned the engine. She still wanted to ask him about the waitress, but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up. It’s not like I’m his girlfriend. It shouldn’t even matter to me who she was. But it did matter. And it mattered that he had lied to her about it. Whatever his reasons were for lying, he had done it.
“I hope you don’t mind, I thought we could go to the lake for lunch.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Sarah had to admit, he had a great way of planning dates, despite whatever other issues he had.
“So what do you do for fun?”
Sarah bit her lip. She sewed, but she wasn’t going to say that. “I read,” she said carefully. She bit her lip, thinking about her answer. She didn’t want to sound totally lame. “And I like shopping.”
Okay, maybe that made her sound a little lame, but it was better than admitting she liked to knit or sew new dresses.
“Shopping? Well, obviously, who doesn’t like buying themselves new things?” A soft grin touched his face.
“I normally window shop,” Sarah admitted, her cheeks flushing. “It’s about all I can afford, honestly.” She laughed softly.
“Hm.” He nodded, as if he found it interesting that she was broke.
The car slowed down as they made their way toward the waterfront. He pulled into a parking spot right by some food vendors. Sarah looked around. There was almost no one there.
“This is nice,” she said. Was it just a random fate that no one was around? Or had he thought this through?
“I’m glad you think so. I know cheap food and a walk along the beach isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought—”
“I think it’s a nice idea. Simple. Simple is nice.”
A smile touched his lips. “I’m glad you think so.”
His eyes sparkled as they stopped in front of the food cart and ordered them each a hot dog. After they put their toppings on their hotdogs, they headed toward the waterfront.
Sarah took a deep breath of the fresh air. They had always gone to the lake as kids during the summer. It had been one of the best things about the community. They owned a lake there.
Even as a little kid, she had loved the feel of the sand against her toes, but today she decided to keep her shoes on for fear of totally freaking out Brad.
“Do you have family around here?” he asked.
“No, not really. I have a couple friends, though.”
She glanced over at him. He kind of asked personal questions, which made it hard for Sarah to make sure he didn’t catch on to her.
“Where is your family?”
Brad just wanted to know more about her. He wanted to get a better feel for her.
Was she worth it? Or was she just pretending? Had she been pretending about her first kiss too? No. It had been clear she had no clue what she was doing. Not that she was a bad kisser. She would just need more practice. A soft grin touched his lips before he took a bite of his meal. The idea of helping her practice kissing thrilled him.
“They are a few hours away.”
She sure did have a habit for deflecting questions.
“So I don’t think you really told me—what do you do for a living?”
He took another bite of his hotdog, giving himself time to think. “Nothing overly interesting,” he shrugged. I guess we are both good at deflecting questions.
Chapter Four
Sarah’s brow furrowed. Why were they at a mall? Did he need to buy something? Why couldn’t he just do that when she wasn’t there? Going into a mall wasn’t a good idea for Sarah. She always came out with at least one bag in her hand, and her money was running low. She hadn’t been able to get a job while she was in the English world, which meant she was running off what her family had given her. Thankfully, they had had more than enough to help support her and let her have a little fun.
Brad pulled the car into a parking spot and shut off the engine.
Sarah opened her mouth, trying to decide if she should say that she was just going to stay in the car. No, that would be rude. She slipped out of the car and followed him through the parking lot.
“So what’s your favorite store here?”
“Um, I don’t know, why?”
His eyes sparkled. “I just wondered. It’s fine, we’ll just go to a couple different ones.”
“Wh—”
Brad cut in front of her so he could pull the mall doors open for her. She nodded her thanks as they entered the mall. He reached out, holding his hand out for her.
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. She had never held hands with a man before. She had held hands plenty of times with her female friends, but somehow Brad was different. I’ve never kissed my female friends either, Sarah reminded herself. She reached out and took his hand in hers, her heart skipping a beat as his warm fingers closed over hers.
They made their way into a shop, but Sarah wasn’t paying much attention to it. She was too caught up in the fact that she was holding a man’s hand right now! She wanted to scream with joy. She couldn’t wait to tell Hanna all about her day, despite the fact that lunch had been pretty normal. He actually wants to hold my hand, she thought. Maybe this is a good sign. Maybe it means he does actually like me. But even if he did like her, she would be leaving soon, so was it really a big deal?
“Well, what do you like?”
His voice snapped her back to reality. His eyes were on her.
“What?”
“Clothing.” He motioned around the room with his free hand. “Start picking stuff out.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” If she started finding cute stuff, she was going to have a hard time saying no to it. Almost everything in the English world wasn’t important to her, but for some reason she did really like buying clothes. Well, it wasn’t so much the buying of them, because even back home she loved creating a new dress for herself. She felt good about herself when she looked in a mirror and saw a dress she had sewn. Over the years, her sewing had gotten very good.
“How about this? You should at least try it on!” He held up a short black dress. Sarah’s cheeks flushed. It was much shorter than anything she had worn before. Even the skirt she had on now was longer than the dress he was holding.
“Hi, are you finding everything all right?” an elderly woman asked, as she approached the two of them.
“Yes, we are, thank you!” Brad answered, before Sarah had a chance to. “Would it be possible to get a change room started?”
“Of course.” The elderly woman sounded far too happy about the idea of getting a change room started.
“I . . . I really shouldn’t try anything on. I’ll just be tempted to buy it all.” Sarah gave a forced laughed.
Brad’s eyes sparkled. “That’s what I was hoping you would say. Come on, humor me. Just a couple things.”
Sarah gave in quickly, because she had already seen a handful of things she wanted to try on. “All right. But just a couple things. And when I try to buy them all, you have to promise to stop me.”
That made Brad laugh softly, though he didn’t make the promise. Maybe that was just because Sarah walked away before he actually had a chance to respond. She quickly found half a dozen things she liked and made her way toward the dressing room where that little black dress hung.
She stared at herself, her heart doing a backflip. She had never worn something so short, and she never thought she would in her entire life. Now, here she stood in front of a dress that she was about to try on.
She hadn’t seen Brad before she made it back to the change room. It didn’t take long for Sarah to slip out of her clothing and start reaching for the new clothing. She slipped into a red dress, but it was too much like the one she had worn the night before. She didn’t even do the zipper up before removing it. Instead, she tried on a black button-up top and a pair of skinny pants. They looked good together, though she wasn’t sure if she would ever wear those skinny pants. She already had a few pairs, and she’d be going home soon. It didn’t make sense to buy more, right? She did like the shirt a lot, so she tried it on with a long black skirt that looked like it would be perfect for going to the beach. It was beautiful. Sarah hated admitting, even to herself, that she loved it.
She bit her lip, tilting her head to the left before she slipped out of the skirt and shirt. She pulled on a fuzzy wool sweater. She might even be able to wear it back home. It was simple, but she still liked it a lot. Along with the sweater, Sarah took a risk. She had grabbed a pair of jean shorts. Her heart raced as she slipped into them and stared at herself in the mirror.
Wow.
She stood there feeling almost naked. Although she had to admit that she did look good in them, she still felt naked. She felt like she would need to cover up before anyone saw her. I wonder how girls wear these in public, she thought. Hanna did. She had no clue how, and truth be told, she was a little jealous that Hanna was confident enough to be able to wear shorts like these, let alone in public. She wanted to be confident like that, although she was sure her family would be happy that she hadn’t been showing too much skin while she was here.
Sarah slipped out of the shorts quickly, and next came the sweater. I do really like that one, she thought. She folded it carefully and placed it on the bench in a separate pile from the rest of the stuff.
Finally, she reached for the little black dress. It couldn’t be any worse than the shorts, right? Still, her hands shook as she slipped the dress from the hanger and slipped into it. She didn’t dare look at herself in the mirror until she got the zipper up. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face the mirror. Her jaw dropped as she stared at herself.
There was so much skin. Her chest was barely covered, and her legs weren’t much more covered. But she looked good in the dress. No, I can’t. This dress is so small. Sarah sucked in a deep breath. As she reached for the zipper, her hands still shook. It’s a shame I could never wear it anywhere, she thought, as the dress dropped around her ankles and she bent over to pick it up. She changed back into her clothes quickly and grabbed the sweater. She stared at the dress for a couple more seconds as she opened the door.
Her jaw dropped as she saw him sitting there.
“Are you all done already?”
“Y-yea, I didn’t realize you were out here.”
A smile touched his lips. “That’s all right. Did the dress fit?”
“Yes. It’s—”
“Excellent.” He stood, grinning widely. He stared at the sweater, then glanced into the change room. “But you’re not getting it?”
“Oh, I don’t normally wear dresses. I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it.”
“How about dinner?”
Sarah stared, confused. Then it hit her. Was he trying to ask her out to dinner again? “A-are you asking me to dinner?”
“Yes, I am.”
Her heart did a double backflip. She loved that he was so honest with her. A lot of the guys back at the community weren’t so honest. Sarah wasn’t sure why. Maybe they just didn’t want to get turned down.
“Well, in that case, I guess I would need a new dress.” A smile touched her lips. I’ve got a reason to buy it! she thought with joy. She turned around and grabbed the dress before heading for the counter.
A girl smiled widely as she greeted them and rang up the total. Sarah bit her lip as she reached for her wallet. She was sure she had enough money for the dress and the sweater, but that didn’t really make her feel any better. She was still a little nervous about her card getting declined.
“That will be $43.98.”
“Credit,” Brad said, before Sarah could pull her card out of her wallet. Her head snapped up towards him. He already had a card out and stepped in front of the machine, slipping his card into the reader.
Sarah’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and swallowed dryly, trying to get a hold of herself. She sucked in a deep breath and tried again, opening her mouth. Still, nothing came out.
Brad took the bag and turned to her, a wide grin over his face. “Also, while you were shopping, I slipped out and went to a hair salon. You have an appointment with them. I didn’t know what you’d want, so I told them maybe a cut and maybe a color. I hope that is okay.”
Sarah’s jaw dropped. She had never thought about changing her hair, but the truth was, she liked the idea a lot.
Chapter Five
“Holy . . . Sarah, is that you?”
Sarah couldn’t help the wide grin that spread over her face.
“Do you li
ke it?” She did a little twirl to show off her new hair. It was still the same length—almost. The stylist had taken a little off, but more than anything she had just cut it so it actually framed her face and was more than just hanging there. Not to mention the color. She had some purple added to her hair—just a little at the ends. It was supposed to wash out easily, so she shouldn’t have to cut it. At least she was hoping she wouldn’t have to.
“You look amazing. You look so different, but it doesn’t look bad. I just never expected it, that’s all.”
Sarah felt herself blush. “I’m glad you like it. Do you think it’s too much? Do you think Meamm and Deatt will—”
“I think they will just be happy to see you.”
Knock. Knock.
Sarah’s brow furrowed. She’d agreed to meet Brad later, but he’d just dropped her off. Maybe he’s trying to be playful, she thought, though she was sure it was unlikely. Sarah crossed over to the door and reached for the handle.
When she opened the door and stared at the people on the other side, her mouth fell open.
“Meamm, Deatt—what are you doing here?”
They both stared at her with wide eyes. Her mother opened her mouth. “Your hair is—”
Sarah’s cheeks went bright pink. Brad had thought it was very cool. So had the girl who did the coloring. “Jah, I um, just wanted to try something else.” She looked away, stepping out of the doorway and motioning for her parents to come in.
“You’re not busy?” her father asked, looking around the room.
“No. What are you guys doing here?”
“We wanted to get a hold of you, but your deatt lost the number.” Her mother didn’t sound pleased. Sarah saw her father open his mouth to defend himself, but he closed it. He gave Sarah a soft smile.
“What is it? Is everything all right?”
“Your sister is getting married next week. We want you home before the wedding. I know we were talking about picking you up in about a week and a half, but I was thinking three or four days at most. We had to pick up a couple things for the wedding today, so we decided to stop in and let you know. I’m sure we will have to pick up a few other things before the big day, so we can come get you before then. I want to get some nice fabric today for the dress.”