“Yeah, trust him,” Kevin piped in, hugging the treasure to his narrow chest.
“That way he can text us tomorrow night if he needs to get ahold of you,” Max said, playing a card he knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Fine, but you have to be extra careful with it,” I told him, closing the vehicle door.
We both waved at Max as he backed out of the driveway.
“Make sure you hide that from mom,” I told him before we headed inside. The last thing we needed was for Lucinda to see it and decide to pawn it for a carton of cigarettes or something.
“I will,” he said, stowing it in his backpack.
I checked on Lucinda before heading to my room to get my homework out of the way so it wouldn’t be hanging over my head. I found her holed up in her room, busily writing on a notebook.
“Do you need anything?” I asked, poking my head in the room.
“Just a computer,” she mumbled, turning the page in her notebook.
“I’m sure you'll find one tomorrow,” I said, reminding her of her promise to take me shopping for a dress.
“Yeah yeah,” she said, shooing me off like an annoying fly.
I just let the issue drop rather than push any further. When Lucinda got a wild hair to try something new, she would leap in full-force, forgetting about everything else. Through the years, she had attended every trade school imaginable, always getting right on the verge of completion before deciding the venture wasn’t for her. It was the same story with each new place we lived or every guy she hooked up with. She must have found her soul mate at least a dozen times by now. Eventually though, the novelty would wear off, Prince Charming would be toast, and we were hitting the road to another new state that would be the answer to all our dreams—Lucinda’s dreams was more like it. All I could hope was that the writing obsession would last and maybe we would stay here for a while.
***
Dress shopping the next day went surprisingly well when I found the perfect dress right off the bat at the thrift store. With the help of Kevin, I was completely buttoned up in a deep rust-colored velvet dress that seemed to accentuate my pale skin rather than wash me out further. It was longer than any dress I had ever worn, sweeping down to the tops of my toes, making me feel like I was in the Victorian era. Long delicate sleeves trimmed in old-fashioned lace slimmed down my arms to end at a point just beyond my wrist. Kevin applauded as I swirled around to show off. Flushing with happiness, I left the dress on and headed toward the shoe section.
I absolutely detested buying used shoes, but knew that my sneakers wouldn’t cut it with the dress.
“Katelyn, you look great,” Jim said, offering out rare praise when he saw me in the shoe department.
“Thanks,” I said.
I critically scanned the size sevens with no real idea what color shoes to get. Seeing multiple pairs that might work, I pulled them off the shelf and lined them up on the floor. I separated any that looked too beat-up or worn, dwindling my stack down to a forth of it where I started.
After twenty minutes of indecision, I was near despair, stressing over which pair to select.
“Get the delicate black ballet slipper ones,” Lucinda said, coming up behind me.
“These ones?” I asked, bending down to pick them up and slipping them on my feet.
“Yes, those are perfect,” she said, looking satisfied.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her.
She returned my smile and looked at me affectionately for the first time in months.
“Did you find a computer?” I asked, sensing where the good mood was coming from.
“Yep, an HP desktop. It looks almost brand-new,” she crowed.
“Wow, that’s great. How much?” I asked casually as I returned the discarded shoes back to the rack.
The price she quoted was definitely going to stretch our budget.
“I need ten to cover the difference from the voucher. Is that okay?” I asked, keeping my fingers crossed.
“Sure,” she said, still smiling happily.