“You do, too.” He grinned.
She glanced down at her white shirt, which was spattered with paint. So were her arms and chest.
“It’s in your hair, too,” he offered up.
“Great.” She pulled one of her two pairs of jeans from the chest of drawers along with a black T-shirt. She held it up, frowning at how thin the fabric was getting. The seam under the arm looked ready to give at any moment.
“You need clothes,” Shawn offered. “They sell clothes at rummage sales?”
Kylee shrugged. “I’m not really sure what we’ll find. Guess we’ll find out together.”
Twenty minutes later she and Shawn walked across the town square to the community center parking lot. She tried not to get caught up in the panic that the crowd stirred. She tried not to assess who’d be best to bump into in order to steal their wallets or—if Jesse had someone casing the cars—car keys. She’d been pretty good at it, her hands were small and she was fast. Shawn was better. Her chest hurt at the memory of his smile when he brought home a sack full of wallets from walking the Strip. But that was the past.
The parking lot was covered in canopies, the small tents spilling onto two empty adjoining lots. Tables were crammed close together, covered with everything from dishes to linens, shoes to books. Kylee thought about the money in her pocket. Not much, but just enough.
She let Shawn wander, making him promise he’d keep his hands to himself and only tell her if there was something he really needed. He knew the difference between need and want.
Kylee paused by a clothing rack, fingering the lightweight fabric of a filmy blue blouse between her thumb and forefinger. It was soft, silky and completely impractical.
“Hey, Kylee.” Renata peeked over the top of the rack. “Nice day for shopping.”
Kylee nodded. The summer sun was hot, but there was a refreshing breeze that made the temperature bearable. “Hi, Renata.” If Renata was here, maybe some of the other Boones were, too. Namely, Fisher. She’d dreamed about him. Dreams so vivid she’d expected him to be beside her when she opened her eyes. His words replayed when she least expected it.
Was he looking out for her? Because even though she knew it shouldn’t matter, it did.
She glanced around, nervous and excited, searching. If he was here, she’d spot him—head and shoulders above the rest.
“Looking for someone?” Renata asked.
Kylee felt her cheeks go hot. “No...nobody.” Why was she looking for Fisher?
Renata nodded, smiling. “So, what are we shopping for? Anything you buy at our booth goes to help the women’s shelter.” Renata took the shirt Kylee had been admiring and held it up to her. “You’d look nice in this. The blue does awesome things for your eyes. And it’s pretty,” Renata continued. “A girl needs something pretty now and then.”
Kylee couldn’t think of a single thing to say about that. It would be nice to feel pretty. It would be nice for Fisher to think she looked pretty...
She swallowed, firmly shoving aside that train of thought. She didn’t need anything pretty. She needed a couple of shirts and maybe another pair of jeans. Shawn needed that plus some.
“No?” Renata asked.
Kylee shook her head. “It is pretty but I need clothes for work.” She pointed at her shirt. “Practical work clothes.”
Renata cocked her head, nodding. “Follow me,” she said, leading her through a row of racks and into the booth. A tall blonde girl was hanging more shirts on the rack. She smiled at Kylee as Renata made introductions, “Kylee, this is my cousin Tandy. Tandy, this is Kylee.”
“Oh, I know who she is.” Tandy grinned.
“Hi,” Kylee mumbled, catching the grin between the cousins.
“Tandy’s new in town, too, sort of. She’s visited before but now she’s officially a Texan. She’s from Montana—my dad’s sisters all live there.” Renata chatted, flipping through shirts.
“All?” Kylee asked.
“Four,” Tandy answered. “We Boones tend to have large families. I mean, we as in the family. Not we as in me.” Tandy shook her head. “Have yet to find a fella that can keep up with me.”
Renata giggled. “She’s going to be working at the vet hospital with my brothers, in the open vet tech position they’ve had such trouble filling. Now all they need is to find someone to take over the front desk so Donna can retire.” Renata paused, holding up a T-shirt. “This.”
So the job was still open. And her application was still at home. She didn’t have the skills or the experience to be a serious candidate. But...it was still open so maybe she should think about it. The benefits alone made it worth considering. But there were other perks. Like Fisher. Where the hell did that come from? She forced herself to focus, inspecting the black rhinestone-laden T-shirt with an arched brow.
“It’s a T-shirt, but it’s a little something more.” Renata smiled. “Like I said, something pretty now and then. This whole rack is four shirts for five dollars.”