Sure, you could order fit girl clothing, but why shouldn’t they get the mall experience like everyone else? They had presented their idea to some investors last week and hoped to get an answer soon. If they didn’t see the potential in such a brick and mortar idea, Tori would drain her savings and retirement accounts to fund it if she had to. She believed in it so much that if her accounts and Melanie’s accounts weren’t enough, she would beg Erika, her brother and her parents, even bankrupt herself to see it through. They were going to surprise Erika with a third of the business in exchange for her marketing expertise, Tori was sure she would invest too, if need be.
There is a real market out there since more people, especially women, are trending toward fitness. And not just the step-aerobic type, flat-butted fitness that was all the rage with the hair band generation. Women are lifting now. Building muscles, competing in Spartan-type runs and Crossfit games. Nope, this was most definitely not a flat-butted, skin and bones generation.
Stopping every so often to take another orgasmic bite of Bavarian goodness and peer into whatever store was nearby, Tori was pulled from her business musings by the happy smiles and lilting tones coming from the store she currently paused in front of. Looking up, she realized it was the designer maternity shop. A momentary pang of longing took over her heart at the sight and sounds. A soft lullaby played in the background as couples “oohed” and “aahed” over “just the cutest top” or the “perfect sundress.” Some of the ladies were with their best friends, you could just tell by their interactions.
Tori had longed to be a mother for years. Had even considered using a donor at one time, and was one step away from making it happen, but then she met Richard. She decided to put it off to see where things went with him.
At first, he seemed to want more children. He had two daughters from his marriage and said he dreamed of having a son. Tori thought they would’ve started trying once he declared his love for her and his intention to make their relationship permanent. That still hadn’t happened yet, the permanent part that is. He was reluctant to file the papers for his daughters’ sake and she was reluctant to get pregnant by a man that was still technically married.
So here she stood, half eaten pretzel in hand, mourning a child that she didn’t even have, and for a man that she was afraid would never be hers.
Do I honestly want him to be? she asked herself. He didn’t even tell me his dad died for crying out loud. Besides, I’m not sure I truly love him.
She shut it down the minute that thought formed in her head.
As she stared at a woman twirling this way and that just outside the dressing rooms modeling an adorable denim romper for her unseen husband or BFF in the chairs just out of her view, Tori made a life changing decision. She was going to move forward on the baby front, with or without Richard. She knew this coming month would be pivotal, with the business getting funded, fingers crossed, Richard taking her away on trip to “discuss their future,” and now deciding to move forward with a baby.
Tori decided she would go with a donor after all. The paperwork was already completed and ready to go, had been since before she met him. She would just have to convince him to get on board or she’d reluctantly end the relationship. Tori Reid was tired of waiting. Waiting on him to have a baby, waiting on investors to have her dream business, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yep, big things are coming, and not all good.
A feeling of foreboding encompassed her like a mist as she watched the barely-pregnant woman in the romper run into the disembodied embrace of a man in the dressing room alcove. All she could see were his toned and tanned arms and the latest to-die-for new Breitling. The same one she’d seen in the upscale jewelry store when she first arrived, and was debating getting for Richard, but had decided against it.
When Breitling man embraced romper woman, it was clear how much joy they shared over their impending arrival. Tori wanted that, but if she couldn’t have the whole package, man and baby, she’d settle for baby. One decision down, she turned to leave the store front, with a quick glance back at the strong arms that embraced the woman with such happiness, she made another decision: to buy Richard that damn watch.
Screw investors and proposals and everything. She would buy her boyfriend a gift if she wanted to. Either it would be an engagement gift or a goodbye gift, but either way, her path stretched out before her. She’d have a family and a business, the only question was the size of both families, business and personal. She was finally to a place where either suited her just fine.
After buying out the winter wear department of Outdoor Nation, she stopped by the baby store and bought a cute onesie set. She’d leave that at home but make the appointment before she left.
On her way out of the mall, she swung by the jewelry store for the watch, but it was no longer on display. An inquiry to an underdressed, over endowed blonde resulted in leaving the store empty handed. Their store only received three of that model and had just sold the last one shortly after she left the store apparently.
Tori departed the mall with a spring in her step and a flutter in her heart. Her dreams were finally coming around in her waking hours. She couldn’t wait to take this trip or return from it. But, that sense of doom shadowed her, always just out of reach. As she loaded her bounty in the Jeep, she toggled between the two extremes, not liking the contrast one bit.
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Indelible You (Imagine Ink) Page 24