The Best of Everything

by Kimberla Lawson Roby

  She eased through the cosmetics section, all while turning down a couple of ladies offering the opportunity to test new colognes and then made her way toward the back of the store and over to the sunglass department. She hadn’t purchased a new pair of sunglasses in five to six months, but she really needed a different style for the summer.

  She browsed the case for a few minutes and then saw something she liked. “Can I please see those?”

  The petite, caramel-colored woman pointed inside the glass case. “These? The Versaces?”

  “Yes.”

  The woman held the glasses by their brown, tortoise-shelled frame and passed them over to Alicia.

  She quickly slipped them on and gazed into the mirror sitting on the counter. “I really like these.” She pulled her hair back with her hand, checking to see how they’d look with her hair away from her face. “I really do like these.”

  “They look very nice on you.”

  “I’ll take them. And also, can I see the black Gucci pair right there?”

  “Sure.” The woman pulled them out and gave them to her.

  Alicia tried them on, looked in the mirror, and pulled her hair back again.

  “I really like these, too.”

  “Then get them both.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking. Are they on sale?”

  “No, unfortunately, not these.”

  “Hmmm.” Alicia debated her purchase.

  But not for long. “I need a black pair and a brown pair, so I’ll just take both.”

  “Sounds good. Can I show you anything else?”

  “No, I think that’ll be it.”

  The woman rang up both items. “Your total comes to five hundred twenty-three dollars and eight-four cents. Will this be on your Macy’s?”

  “Yes.” Alicia swiped her card, signed her name, and pressed Enter.

  She watched the woman pull out two cases, one Versace and one Gucci, place the glasses inside them, and then wrap both in white tissue paper and slip them inside a plastic bag. “We really appreciate your business, so thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Next, Alicia took the elevator up to the seventh floor to intimates, and as soon as she laid eyes on the first item, she knew she didn’t have to look any further. The low-cut, black satin negligee displayed right in front of her was perfect. It was so her and something she knew Levi would love. They even had one in royal blue, and it was one of the most beautiful shades of royal blue she’d seen in a while. It was if they’d been made specifically for her and she didn’t even need to try them on because she could already tell they would fit. At eighty dollars each, they were a little pricey, but they were well worth the look she knew Levi would have on his face once he saw her in them.

  She went over to the checkout counter and paid for them. She then browsed through a couple of bra and pantie sets but since nothing really stood out, she headed down to the Michael Kors clothing section. This particular line was a less expensive version of Michael’s original signature line, but still, it always had a lot of cute casual items to choose from.

  She smiled at a woman who was looking at a spring sweater and then moved closer to a rack of skinny jeans. She thumbed through them until she found her size in both black and in a dark blue. She laid them over her forearm and then moved on to a row of sleeveless cotton blouses that had an attached cotton belt tied around the waist. There was no question that she was getting a white one, but she was also loving the emerald green one, too, so she pushed her shoulder bag closer to her neck, switched her sunglass bag to her other hand and then grabbed the hangers the two blouses hung on.

  “Can I start you a room?” a young woman asked.

  “Yes. Please.”

  Alicia handed her everything she’d collected thus far. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. And just let me know if I can help you find something.”

  Alicia scanned the department and checked out a few other items, and by the time she was ready to go into the dressing room, she’d given the sales clerk two pairs of dress pants; a couple of three-quarter, ribbed, button-up sweaters; and a cute little summer dress that draped down to her ankles.

  Inside the fitting room, she removed her clothing and first tried on the black jeans and white cotton blouse. She loved anything sleeveless and she also loved how small the belt made her waist look. Not that her waist wasn’t small on its own, but she still liked the fact that this blouse made it look even smaller. She liked the entire look and even pulled out her Gucci sunglasses and put them on just to try them out. They were just what she needed for this particular outfit and she pulled her hair up in a bun to see how it would look from that perspective as well. She liked that style even better.

  She gave herself another once-over, gazing between both mirrors, and then took everything off. There was no need to try on the blue pair of jeans or the other sleeveless blouse because the sizes were the same as the items she’d just gotten out of. She tried on the rest of the clothing, one piece after another, and was thrilled to see that it all fit nicely.

  Then, once Alicia was dressed, she gathered all that she’d tried on and started out toward the checkout terminal. But she stopped when she saw a table full of T-shirts that had Michael’s first and last name embroidered across the front in rhinestones. So, she snatched up a black and a white one in small and added them to the pile she was now passing over to the salesgirl.

  “You sure did well today.”

  “Yes, I certainly did.”

  “And it doesn’t hurt that everything you chose is on sale.”

  “I know. It’s rare when certain regular-priced items are twenty percent off, so this is really great.”

  “Definitely.”

  The woman rang up everything Alicia had selected and announced that her total was seven hundred thirty dollars and seventeen cents. Alicia hadn’t planned on spending more than fifteen hundred dollars, which, including this purchase, was about the amount she’d spent already, but the thing was, she hadn’t found any dresses or suits for church yet. Although, the more she calculated, even if she did end up spending another thousand, she’d still have nearly twenty-five hundred left open on her credit card, which was fine.

  She finished the transaction, thanked the woman who’d helped her, and found her way over to the Ellen Tracy, Anne Klein, and Dana Buchman section. “Oh my God. This is too cute.”

  She was basically talking to herself but this red skirt suit had the most chic stand-up collar and not only did the material look rich, it felt rich. She smiled when she thought about Charlotte and how Charlotte would be beside herself if she saw it. Alicia had a mind to pull out her phone and call her because she knew Charlotte always got just as excited as she did when it came to must-have suits or dresses. She’d certainly want one for herself, but since they attended the same church, they’d agreed a long time ago not to buy the same of anything that could be worn to Deliverance Outreach. They did buy some of the same sportier items, though, but that was pretty much it.

  Alicia rushed into the dressing room and slipped on the firered suit that fit her like a glove, and then she tried on another one that she’d brought in with her, which was white and beautifully trimmed in black. This one looked tailor-made, too, something she was thrilled about because for a long while now, she’d been thinking about having a suit designed with her exact measurements and this was proof that it was well worth checking into.

  Alicia took one last look at the white-and-black suit before taking it off and realized that it would be perfect to wear on Mother’s Day. It was only a couple of weeks away, but as always, she was planning to spend it with her mother and attend her church that Sunday.

  After paying for the suits, Alicia went down a few escalators and then stopped so she could get a better grip of the two large shopping bags she was struggling with, along with the garment bag of suits she was carrying. But when she turned to the side, she spied the shoe department. Of course, she wanted
to check them out, see what they had new, but she stood there debating. Actually, though, the two suits had only come to eight hundred dollars together, so she still had two hundred more dollars to go before she arrived at the twenty-five hundred dollar limit she’d set for herself anyway.

  She debated a bit longer and before she knew it, she’d gone all the way downstairs, out to the parking garage, and placed her bags inside the trunk of her car. She’d decided this was best because with everything locked up, she wouldn’t have to wrestle with any of what she’d already purchased, and she’d be able to look for and try on as many shoes as she wanted in peace.

  Now, she was glad she had because she’d found a sharp pair of red three-and-a-half-inch heels to match her red suit and also a pair of cute metallic sandals to match the summer dress she’d bought earlier. But those were pretty much the only pairs she’d really wanted, and she was finally ready to leave the store. That is, until she made it back to the main floor. She was now officially just over her personal limit for the evening, but didn’t see where it would hurt to simply take a look in the fine jewelry section. So she walked over and for the most part only skimmed a number of glass cases. But then she did a double take and leaned closer when she saw a pair of princess-cut diamond earrings. They weren’t nearly as large as the pair that had been stolen from her by that thug who’d followed her from the mall that day, but they had great clarity and would be cute whenever she wanted to dress very casual. They’d even be nice to wear when she was working out at the health club or maybe when she was volunteering at the church’s clothing bank the way she did from time to time.

  Alicia leaned much closer than she had before and saw the price tag, which was normally turned down on all jewelry pieces, but maybe the salesperson had mistakenly left it right-side up. Actually, they weren’t bad at all, not when the fine jewelry department was offering 50 percent off plus an additional 15 percent for the next few days, so this would mean the final price would only be around nineteen hundred; that was great because Alicia still had nearly twenty-three hundred dollars left open on her Macy’s charge card.

  She sighed and then a woman with grayish-white hair asked if she could show her anything.

  “Right now, I’m just looking.”

  “Well, just let me know.”

  Alicia did want to see the earrings but she wasn’t sure about buying them because if she did, her Macy’s would be almost maxed out. On the other hand, the earrings were much too good a deal to pass up.

  “Okay, yes. Can I see the princess cuts right there?”

  The woman slid open the door to the case. “All right.”

  When she gave them to Alicia, Alicia held them up to her ear.

  “Do you want to try them?”

  “That’s fine. Yes.”

  When she placed both of them in her ears, she glanced inside the mirror and then pulled her hair all the way around to her left shoulder. She liked them with this hairstyle even better. So, she told the woman to ring them up, and then she signed her name for the sixth time tonight and prepared to leave the store for good. Which she would have done had she not spotted one of her favorite colognes. She loved Angel by Thierry Mugler and went ahead and purchased a new bottle of it and also the shower gel, body lotion, and deodorant.

  But that was finally it—this time, really—Alicia thought, now down in the parking garage, walking to her car. Unlike the last time, though, when she’d purchased expensive jewelry, this evening she was a lot more cautious of her surroundings, and thankfully, no one seemed to be following her.

  It was now nearly ten o’clock and the only thing she regretted about having driven so far away from Mitchell was that by the time she got home, it would be almost eleven thirty and much too late to go see Levi. She’d called him while she’d been on her way to Chicago and of course he would be happy to see her, regardless of how late she showed up, but just the same, she didn’t want to push her luck with Phillip. This afternoon, Phillip had made it clear that he hadn’t wanted to be bothered with her, and to be honest, she really didn’t want to be bothered with him, either. Nonetheless, as a married woman, who did still care about her husband, she didn’t feel comfortable staying out after midnight or well into the wee hours of the morning. So, like it or not, she would just have to see Levi sometime tomorrow.

  Chapter 24

  Hey, can you call me back in about fifteen minutes?” Shandra asked. “My mom is on the other line.”

  “Of course. Talk to you then.”

  Phillip pressed the End button on his phone and sat it down on the desk in his home office. Bible study had let out two hours ago, and he’d come straight home to relax. From his meeting with the Kings to the strained conversation he’d had earlier with Alicia to all of the other work responsibilities he’d taken care of today, it had all exhausted him completely.

  Now, he’d been chatting with Shandra and though he would rather not admit it, talking to her had already begun helping him wind down. She made him feel special, and he couldn’t deny that the more he conversed with her, the more he was tempted to go see her. He felt comfortable with her and even though he’d told himself that he wouldn’t do it, he’d been sharing more and more details about his and Alicia’s problems. He’d tried his best to avoid doing this, but Alicia was slowly but surely pushing him to do things he didn’t want to do. He knew, especially as a Christian man, that his actions were very wrong, but no matter how diligently he tried to move forward and forget about his and Alicia’s past disagreements, Alicia always did something worse. It was bad enough that she’d purchased that furniture without discussing it with him, but this afternoon, he’d taken it upon himself to call the customer service numbers at Neiman’s and Saks and he’d learned that she’d charged right up to the maximums on both accounts. Needless to say, when he’d listened to each automated response, he’d barely been able to contain himself and had become more incensed than he had been earlier in the day.

  He’d also noticed that none of her bills were coming to their house any longer, but little did she know, he’d written down her account numbers and her Social Security number a few months back, making sure he’d have the ability to check her balances anytime he wanted. He was starting to wonder just how much further she was willing to go and just how long it was going to take before she became desperate and did something crazy like trying to sign his name to loan and credit card applications he didn’t know about. He didn’t want to believe that she would ever stoop to such levels, but based on what he’d already seen her do in the past, he knew he couldn’t deny the possibility.

  The only reason he wasn’t too worried right now was because he’d also checked her Macy’s account and learned that, strangely enough, her balance was barely over a hundred dollars and she still had nearly five thousand dollars open. But he would definitely continue monitoring this account on a regular basis, too, because if she ever did max out the limit, he knew she’d then have no other choice but to figure out a lot more creative ways to support her habit.

  After a few more minutes passed, Phillip picked up the phone and called Shandra back.

  “Are you still on with your mom?”

  “No, I just hung up.”

  “You haven’t told her about us talking, have you?”

  “No. But the only reason I haven’t is because she would never be okay with the fact that you’re a married man.”

  “And she shouldn’t be okay with it, because it’s like I keep telling you, what we’re doing is wrong.”

  “Then, if it’s so wrong, why do you keep calling me?”

  “I’ve asked myself that question a number of times, and I don’t know why.”

  “I think you do.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I know exactly why you keep calling. And if I know, then you know, too.”

  “I guess I call because we’ve always been able to talk and because I do feel a connection with you that I haven’t felt with my wife for a
while.”

  “Exactly. Also, where are you now?”

  “Home.”

  “And she’s not there? This late?”

  Phillip hated answering her questions because the fact that Alicia and he were now coming and going whenever they felt like it and were no longer bothering to give each other any details regarding their whereabouts, well, that really bothered him.

  “Let’s not talk about my wife.”

  “Okay, then, let’s talk about us.”

  Phillip chuckled. “No, let’s talk about you. Like, for example, why aren’t you dating someone? Or are you?”

  “No, I’m not. I was a few months ago, but because it wasn’t working out, we ended it. And then I already told you, I was once married but then got divorced.”

  “But you’ve never told me what happened.”

  “That’s because I don’t like to talk about it. But if you really want to know, it’s as simple as this. My husband was very abusive and very controlling and after five years of living in hell, I finally got out.”

  “No woman should ever have to go through that, and I’m sorry to hear about what happened to you.”

  “We’ve been divorced for two years now, and thankfully, he’s never contacted me since.”

  “That’s good.”

  “So I’m as free as can be and ready to settle down with someone decent. Someone I can love and who will genuinely love me back. I’m ready to settle down with someone like you, Phillip.”

  “I really wish you wouldn’t talk that way because you know that’s not possible.”

  “Why do you keep saying that? Because anything is possible if you want it to be.”

  Phillip switched the phone from one ear to the other, and Shandra continued.

  “Look, I know it’s wrong for me to come after you like this, but I can’t help the way I feel. I knew I still had feelings for you, but the more I talk to you, the more I feel it growing into something a lot deeper.”