“You don’t have to do that either. I have money.”
“You never would’ve been in this situation if it wasn’t for me.”
Lily couldn’t forget it. It was omnipresent in her brain. It would be interesting to see where exactly the idea resided once she was back from the Hannafort wedding and all was back to normal.
Noah walked Lily out to the car and opened the door before the driver had the chance. “Tell you what. I’ll send my driver to Saks after he drops me at the office. Then you won’t need to worry about getting back.”
Again, he was being so sweet. “That would be great. I’ll try to be quick.”
“As much as Charlotte likes shopping, she does not dawdle. I predict you’ll be done pretty fast.”
“Good to know.” Lily was about to head up Fifth Avenue when Noah grasped her elbow and pulled her closer. Her heart sprang into action, beating double time.
“I need to kiss you goodbye,” he whispered. “Or else it will seem strange.”
She nodded, her brain as fuzzy as could be. His words were saying one thing, while his lips were telling her yet another. The kiss was soft and sensuous. Much hotter than the first acquaintance kiss in the car or even the one at Tiffany. Had that really been that morning? So much had happened today and it was only two o’clock.
“Bye.” She wished the tone of her voice didn’t contain such longing.
“Bye, honey.” Noah cocked an eyebrow and climbed into the back seat of the car.
Lily stood on the sidewalk for a moment, processing. She’d kissed Noah four times today. Not bad for a day’s work.
She began her short trek up to Saks, winding her way through the continuous stream of pedestrians. The air was crisp and cool, but the promise of spring was in the air. It filled Lily with sunny optimism. Despite her strange arrangement with Noah, things weren’t bad.
She approached Saks Fifth Avenue, with its stony facade and procession of American flags flapping high above the famous windows. The displays, like the weather, were harkening the start of spring with flashes of pretty pastels and flowers. Lily marched through the door and nearly walked straight into Charlotte. “You’re here already.”
“I don’t like to be late.”
Lily pulled back the sleeve of her coat to consult her watch. She was still five minutes early. “Where to first?”
“Follow me.” Through the sprawling cosmetics department, avoiding salespeople threatening spritzes of expensive perfume, up the escalators they went.
Lily had never even been in this store before, although she had been to the outlet a block or two away. It wasn’t that Lily was averse to spending a lot of money on clothes. It was more the product of growing up in a very middle-class family. It wasn’t something that was done. And she’d always acted accordingly.
Lily followed as Charlotte got off on one floor and started tooling around like this was a time trial. Even more than five months pregnant, Charlotte was hell on wheels. “For the record, we should not be doing this on such short notice. We leave in three days.”
Lily hadn’t thought of it in those terms, but Charlotte was right. They’d be leaving for the Florida Keys Friday morning, flying on the Locke private jet, no less. Talk about being plucked from one world and landing in another.
Lily trailed along as garments flew off the racks in the department of every classic high-end designer you could imagine. Escada. Chanel. Louis Vuitton. Each item was handed to a salesclerk named Delia, whom they’d acquired along the way. Delia smiled, but she was definitely struggling to keep up. It would’ve been hard for most people to stay on pace with Charlotte, even without being loaded down with an armful of clothes. Lily herself was testimony to that fact, shuffling along as Charlotte explained her thinking behind each wardrobe choice she made. A dress for this, a skirt and blouse for that.
“Are you sure you don’t want to pick anything out?” Charlotte asked. “I don’t want to take over your fashion life.”
“I’ll let you know if I see anything I love. I trust that you know what you’re doing.”
“I’ve been to weddings like this before, and you will end up needing several outfits each day. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I feel better when I travel if I have a lot to choose from.”
Lily nodded. She’d had a modest upbringing, but her parents had loved to schlep her and her brother on weekend trips when she was growing up. “Yeah. I get that. It seems like a lot of clothes. I don’t want to go overboard when I’m not paying.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows popped up into high peaks. “For what you’re doing, you deserve to be compensated well. Noah backed us into this corner in the first place.”