shirt and went to the closet for something clean to change into before I gave my hair a good brushing.
Sliding a black hooded sweater off its hanger, I pulled it over my head. My right shoulder blade prickled as the material grazed it. I stepped in front of the mirror on the back of my door and turned halfway around so I could see my back.
What had begun as a dark smudge at the bottom of my right shoulder blade had spread into long red and orange flames, like fingers crawling across my skin up toward the top of my shoulder and neck. It burned as if my flesh had literally been seared.
A horn sounding from the driveway startled me into action. I rushed to the bathroom, pulled the brush through my hair several times, flipped the pale locks to one side and headed for the door.
As I reached for the doorknob, I met my own sparkling green eyes in the mirror. For just a moment, I wondered what was becoming of the girl I’d seen there last week. Every day it seemed there was less and less of her staring back at me.
“Carson!”
“Coming,” I shouted back to Dad.
With one final look, I turned the knob and walked out to meet Leah.
********
“I like the pink one,” Dina said, watching as Leah turned for the fifth time in front of the mirror. She’d tried on the same sweater in four different colors. She was modeling the red one for the second time.
“But pink makes me look so…” Leah said, struggling for the right word.
“So what? I like it,” she reiterated. “I think the red is just too…”
“Too what?” Leah turned from the mirror, fists on her hips.
“Sexy,” Dina admitted.
“But I want to look sexy, Mom.”
“Leah, this is your first date and I don’t think—”
“Exactly! It’s my first date, Mom, but that doesn’t mean that it has to look like my first date,” she argued.
Feeling uncomfortable just sitting there listening to mother and daughter argue, I walked to a rack of sweaters nearby and casually flipped through the hangers, trying to tune out the conversation that was taking place several feet to my left at the dressing rooms.
A sweater caught my eye so I pulled it off the rack. I held it up to my chest, picturing in my head what it would look like on.
“Carson, you should totally try that on,” Leah called from the area just outside the fitting rooms.
“No. I’d better not.”
“But why not? That’s what makes a shopping trip so much fun.”
“I really couldn’t—“
“Oh, come on, Carson.”
“I shouldn’t—“
“Please, Carson. Pretty please, for me,” Leah cajoled.
“Come on and try it on, Carson. I bet it would look fantastic on you,” Dina chimed in.
Leah marched over to me, grabbed the sweater from my fingers, took my wrist in one hand and pulled me over to the fitting room she’d just left.
“You’re trying it on. Period,” she said, her tone brooking no argument.
At that point I figured I had little choice, so I gave in as graciously as I could. “Fine,” I said with a sigh.
Leah shooed me into the changing room and closed the door snugly behind her, calling through its louvered front, “Come out when you get it on.”
Quickly, I doffed my sweater and pulled the new garment over my head. I tugged at the hem until it fell neatly to my hips then I turned to survey my reflection.
The sweater was cashmere and deep apricot in color. It was fitted, hugging my curves as if it was made to fit them. It flared out at the sleeves and hem into a gentle near-ruffle that made it very girlie and very sexy. The warm color accentuated my creamy skin and the silky material shifted softly against my body as I moved. I loved it instantly.
I looked down at the price tag dangling from under the arm. The price didn’t matter since there was absolutely zero chance I would ever own such an item, but I still couldn’t help but gasp when I saw the triple digits.
“Yow!”
“Does it fit?” Leah was still standing right in front of my door. She must’ve heard me and thought I was referring to the sweater.
“I guess,” I said, trying to sound ambivalent about the most amazing sweater in the world.
“Come out then. Let me see,” she said, her voice fading as she walked away.
I opened the door and made my way to where Leah had been twirling in front of the bank of mirrors.