Impact (Iron Orchids Book 3)

by Danielle Norman

  “I don’t have much to spend, okay?”

  “Got it. See you in a bit.” Sophie disconnected, and I turned my focus on Damon, who looked like the cat that had just caught the canary.

  He was too proud of himself for me to burst his bubble. By that look, he and Sophie had already planned this. I got changed and was ready when Sophie pulled up outside and honked her horn. I climbed into the backseat, surprised to see Stella and Ariel going along with us.

  Sophie parked at the end of the mall. They wanted to go to Neiman Marcus and then Bloomingdales, but I vetoed each place they had suggested finally giving in on Macy’s. To me, Macy’s sounded expensive and posh, but in all reality, I did realize that it was at the bottom of the totem pole of upscale department stores. I scanned my phone, searching for a coupon.

  “Found it.” I nearly dropped my phone in my excitement. “Friends and family discount, thirty percent off.” The girls were probably exhausted with me. I had my first week’s bonus check money and was confident that I could find a stunning outfit that wouldn’t embarrass Damon or me for under a hundred, the rest was going in savings. Within a month, I should have enough to get a small apartment. Sure, we’d be camping for the next few weeks, and maybe, just maybe I’d be able to come clean and tell him the truth. The secrets were killing me. Damon was the sweetest, nicest, sexiest man I’d ever met, and I was keeping secrets. God, I was a horrid person.

  I turned around and stared at the rack of clothes behind me. I just needed a minute to regain some control. But I should have known, these women were like sharks in a tampon test facility and could smell weakness or blood.

  “You okay, Katy?” Sophie wrapped an arm around me.

  “Why the long face, Mr. Ed?” Stella laughed at her own comment. “Get it? Long face, Mr. Ed was a horse.” I rolled my eyes, but she had a way of breaking the tension. “Come on, girl, let’s get you ready for your hot date.” Stella pulled my arm and headed toward a different area of the store.

  “How about this?” Sophie held up a vibrant blue wrap dress.

  Pursing my lips, I thought of the best way to tell her no.

  “Okay, I can see it on your face.”

  “I like this.” Stella held up a stunning red body-hugging dress that rested about mid-thigh.

  I let out a loud laugh. “Not happening. You like it because you are tall and have the body of Jessica Rabbit. I, on the other hand, have the body of Porky the Pig.”

  “Oh shut up, you do not. So, he’s taking you to dinner for your birthday?” Stella’s question held a hint of secrecy.

  “Yep, how’d you know?”

  “There are no secrets in this group.” She winked and then pointed to Ariel.

  “Katy, come here.” I walked over to Ariel and she had several different items out on the counter. “Don’t look at the items. I just want to see what looks best on your skin tone.” Ariel held up scarves, shirts, skirts, piece by piece under my chin. “Got it. You’re an autumn. We need to find you earth tones, yellows, oranges, greens.”

  “I think that sage green looks good on me.”

  “Let’s go.” We followed Ariel upstairs to the more dressy clothes, and the four of us divided, each going a different way.

  “Here! I’ve got it.” I hung the brown skirt back on the rack as I headed to find Stella, who was still shouting over some discovery. “Katy, this is perfect. You have to try it on. What size shoe do you wear?”

  “An eight, why?”

  “I’ll have the sales clerk get some shoes just to try on for us to get an idea of height.” Stella walked off, and I had still yet to see the outfit. All I saw was olive green.

  “Come on.” Stella waved for me to follow. I headed to the counter where the sales clerk stood and waited while Stella asked for some shoes. “Go take this and try it on.” She shoved the hanger into my hands and scooted me off to the dressing room. Still in a daze, I did as instructed.

  In the dressing room, I finally got a look at the outfit. A one-piece jumpsuit. The pants were more like palazzo pants with a huge slit up the front of one leg. Slipping it on, I already knew this would be a no. Staring in the mirror all I saw was a poor girl trying to play dress up.

  A knock at the door was followed by, “I have some shoes for you to try on.” Slowly cracking it open, I took the box without letting anyone get a peek. Slipping the shoes on, I let out a soft sigh as I took in the entire picture. Stella was right. The outfit was perfect. But I didn’t have heels this high. Reaching under my arm, I pulled the tags to check the price and that organ in my chest stopped working. There was no price listed, which meant one thing, it was out of my price range—one of those situations where if you had to ask then you couldn’t afford it.

  “Katy, let’s see.” Stella banged on the door.

  “This outfit has no price. That means I can’t afford it.”

  “Katy get out here and let us see. It was on the sale’s rack, so it can’t be that much.”

  Easing the door open, I stepped out. Gasps from the girls had me standing a little taller.

  “It’s perfect.” Sophie held her hands up to her face like she was going to cry.

  Ariel walked around me, checking out all sides. “It’s a beautiful fit.” I took that as a compliment since Ariel was a seamstress.

  “You need some fucking accessories. Gold. I think you need gold.” Stella was off on her next mission.

  “Hey, Soph.” She stopped while Ariel left the small mirror fitting area to join the accessories mission. “There’s no price. Can you see if you can find what rack Stella found this on? I have a very strict budget.”

  “Sure. Why don’t you take it off and hand it to me and I’ll ask the associate for some help? No worries.”

  “Thanks.”

  I quickly but carefully removed the most elegant outfit I had owned since I left home and passed it over the door to Sophie. I dressed back in my normal, Goodwill clothes that seemed so boring and plain in comparison.

  Sophie was at the counter paying, and Ariel and Stella were long gone.

  “What’d you get? Did you find out how much?”

  “Oh my God, Stella got it from the forty percent rack, and with your coupon, the outfit was only forty dollars.”

  I felt tears pool in my eyes. I could buy something nice for a nice date with a nice man.

  “Where is it?”

  The associate handed Sophie her bag. “Happy Birthday, it’s from me.”

  “Soph. You can’t.”

  “I can, and I did. I wanted to get you something, and it just worked out so perfect. Let’s go downstairs and see what we can spend your money on.” She smiled brightly, and I was still on the verge of crying.

  I was so fucking scared. I was getting too close to these women. I wondered what I was going to have to do to keep their friendship after Damon decided to cut our strings.

  “Come here, look at these,” Stella hollered when she saw us at the bottom of the escalator. She was standing in the shoe area. “These are what you need for your outfit.”

  “They’re beautiful. Size eight?”

  “Size eight,” Stella assured me and held out one gold cage heel as I took a seat to try them on. “Ariel is looking for some gold jewelry.”

  I walked around in them, and they didn’t pinch, and I didn’t wobble, which was a good thing. Taking them off, I handed them back to Stella to put in the box, but she just handed them over to the clerk.

  I wanted to do the math in my head, even though I hadn’t ended up buying my outfit, and I still had the coupon, I needed to watch my budget. “Excuse me, not to sound rude, but I didn’t get a chance to look at the price of those. Would you mind telling me before you ring them up?”

  The clerk’s eyes jumped to Stella, who shifted as if to block me from grabbing the shoes. “Oh, I’m sorry, these aren’t for you. These are hers. She’s already purchased them.” He pointed to Stella.

  “Stella.”

  “Happy birthday.” Stell
a grabbed the bag from the clerk and handed it to me.

  “You guys, this is too much. I can’t.”

  “You can, and you will. Let’s go find Ariel.” Sophie wrapped an arm around me and steered me toward the center of the store.

  I felt a little guilty for not having spent any money and a bit like a damn charity case, and both feelings had acid filling my stomach.

  “What else did you buy?” I pointed to the other two bags in Stella’s hand, only because I needed to distract myself before I burst into tears.

  “I picked up something for Christine and Leo.”

  Ariel was also carrying two bags in her hands as she neared us. “Got it. I found you some costume jewelry. Simple, yet elegant.”

  “How much?”

  “It’s from Kayson and me for your birthday.”

  “You guys. Really, you need to stop.”

  “You’re the one that needs to stop. Birthdays are a big deal around here. By the way, when’s Bee’s birthday?” Sophie still had an arm around me.

  “End of the month. We’re both June babies.”

  “We will plan something huge for her.” I could practically see the wheels in Ariel’s mind working as we headed to a makeup counter. “Have a seat. Stella, do your best,” Ariel directed.

  I looked around, having not purchased much makeup over the last eight years and knowing that the odds of me maintaining this quality was not very high.

  Stella rubbed, smudged, and patted. Sophie and Ariel waved paper wands in front of my nose as they tried to find what scent I liked best.

  “Close your eyes.” Stella traced my eyelids. “Okay, now blink.”

  Feeling like a puppet, I did as I was ordered. Sophie and Ariel each came back with a small bag of several sample bottles of perfume.

  “Wear these, there are two of each of the ones you liked. Then decide which you like best. Perfume needs to be on your skin for a few hours before you know whether it suits you or not,” Sophie said as she handed over the bag.

  “Voila.” Stella dropped the disposable cosmetic sponges into the garbage before grabbing the mirror and handing it to me.

  I stared at myself, shocked. That was me. Sure, I still had some dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep—or rather quality of sleep—but every day I was looking healthier.

  “How much for those pieces?”

  Stella called the lady over and asked about each item. “Mascara and eyeliner we can get anywhere. You need brown, and brown is brown. I’m more worried about getting the right foundation shade, and your colors.”

  “My colors?”

  “Blush, lipstick, eyeshadow, things with color.”

  “Oh.”

  “Right now, if you purchase these items, you can get this gift set, which has the mascara, eyeliner, blush, and that shade of lipstick,” the beauty counter rep explained.

  “So, what would my total be?”

  She pulled out her calculator, and I felt so self-conscious. I was sure she was going to roll her eyes at me.

  “It will be right at seventy.”

  “Seventy dollars for just makeup?” I swallowed and thought this through in my head. I didn't have to buy anything else. I’d have this makeup for a while. While I thought about it, the beauty rep moved around and gathered things.

  “Okay.” I pulled out my wallet and grabbed my debit card.

  She rang me up, and I entered my pin, then she wrapped my items and bagged them. “I included several samples, and we had a pack of brushes that were a giveaway at Mother’s Day left over, so I threw those in as well.”

  I smiled at her, and something in her eyes made me think that she’d seen her own times of trouble.

  The four of us left and headed to Sophie’s Land Rover. I felt this renewed energy. My parents’ love had come with strings. My friends and their friendship had come with strings. But maybe, just maybe it was only them. Maybe that wasn’t true of everyone. I prayed that Damon and the girls were different.

  Sophie turned onto our road . . . well, her road, Damon’s road. It wasn’t really my road. Shit, I needed to stop thinking about this as mine. I would have enough money to leave and Damon would return to his bachelor lifestyle and women, tall thin women.

  “I can’t believe that we got this all done and it is just now lunchtime. It’s amazing what four women can get done, isn’t it?” Sophie smiled and turned into Christine and George’s driveway. “Let’s show Christine what you got and see if she has any lunch.”

  “She’ll love seeing what you’re wearing on your date.” Ariel opened the front passenger door but didn’t get out.

  “Katy—” Sophie turned and placed a hand on my knee before I got out of the backseat.

  But I spoke first. “Thank you so much for a great day. I can’t thank you enough.” I looked at each of the women who had made today the best birthday, even though it was a day early, that I could ever remember.

  “Well, don’t thank us yet.” Sophie looked at Ariel.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that Christine discovered it was your birthday, and I was ordered to bring you here.” Sophie leaned back like a coward.

  I let out a groan. “Did she, like, just find out and not have time to do anything? Please say yes.”

  “Yes. But I’m only saying that because you asked so nicely. But she found out last week when the rest of us found out.”

  “She’s been planning this?”

  “This is Christine we’re talking about,” Stella said, cutting into our conversation. “I think the appropriate word you’re looking for is plot. She’s been plotting this.”

  Ariel let out a small laugh. “No sense fighting it. Y’all know she’s inside watching us. Let’s go.”

  Ariel was the first out of the car, and the rest of us followed. We headed for the door with bags in our hands. I trailed a few steps behind the rest of them. My makeup looked great, but my outfit was plain. I tugged on the hem of my shirt, straightening any wrinkles.

  For the past few weeks, I’d been around the Christakos clan every single day, but it still was amazing to realize that these people, all of them, had gathered for me.

  “Happy Birthday.” Shouts rang out as I entered the house.

  “Mommy bug.” Bee threw herself into my arms. I stepped back and took her in.

  “What are you wearing?” She was in an adorable outfit of shorts and matching shirt with a unicorn. “Damon bought it for me yesterday. Oh, you look so pretty. I like your makeup.”

  “Thank you. Stella did it.”

  Bee headed back to the living room to play, right at home in this house. I was greeted, hugged, kissed on the cheek by Damon’s brothers and Sophie’s family, and the rest of the Iron Orchids.

  “Wow, full house today.”

  “It’s a special occasion.” Damon bumped my shoulder. “When was the last time you celebrated your birthday? Truthfully?”

  “It would be my seventeenth.”

  “Then I think it’s long overdue. I’ll give you your gift later.”

  I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and my panties get wet.

  “From the pink on your cheeks, I can already tell that I like the way you think. But I was actually referring to an actual gift. Though, I supposed I can give you both.”

  “What are you two talking about that has Katy red as a beet?” George hollered from across the room, causing everyone to stop and stare. “Either tell us or come eat.”

  We all fixed our plates and then found a seat around the pool where several tables were set up.

  “Eat up, eat up.” Christine went around, making sure everyone had a full serving of everything on their plates.

  “Someone say the blessing so we can eat.” Christine pointed at Damon, letting him know that wasn’t a request.

  “What’s the blessing?” Bee looked around curiously.

  I ducked my head. God, my mothering skills were horrid.

  “It’s where we thank
God for our family and friends,” Christine explained to her.

  “Mom, you should do it.”

  I gave Bee a weird look. I’ve never said the blessing. Okay, I wasn’t a heathen, but I wasn’t exactly religious either. I preferred to say my prayers quietly. God and I had an understanding. I didn’t hold him responsible for who he gave me as parents and in exchange, he didn’t take it personally when I lashed out.

  “Oh no. Someone else should do it.”

  “Mommy. You do it. You were calling God’s name last night when I came downstairs.”

  Chapter 27

  Damon

  One . . . two . . . three . . . I held my breath, I couldn’t move. If I did, I was going to lose it. Holy shit. If this had been one of my brothers, I’d have found this moment so much funnier, but it wasn’t—it was Katy and me.

  “Well, now, that answers that question.” My mother’s words seemed to be the catalyst to break the moment.

  “Holy shit. I mean shoot.” Stella tried to cover up her cussing since the kids were around as she clapped her hands over her mouth.

  Unfortunately, my brothers and Carter were doubled over laughing and couldn’t sit up straight, and my father was as bad as they were. Sophie, Ariel, and the rest of them were fighting to hold back their laughs because from the look on Katy’s face she was utterly destroyed.

  “Sweetie, you must have heard wrong.” Katy’s voice was extremely controlled.

  I shook my head, already knowing this wasn’t going to be pretty.

  “No, Mom. You were in Damon’s room, and you said, ‘Oh God. Oh God.’ So you should do the blessing.”

  “Yeah, Katy, it sounds like you were really thankful,” Ian said as he fought to get the words out.

  “I didn’t think Damon was that blessed,” Kayson added.

  Reaching under the table, I grabbed Katy’s hand and squeezed, but she jerked it away. Fuck. She slid her chair out and dashed off. When she was out of the area, I turned on my family.