Paper Wishes novel Chapter 10

"We have a lot of great options. Did you want to wear a dress or are you planning on wearing pants or jeans? We have some cute tops available." I walked around the counter, awaiting her answer.

"A top, please," she said.

She followed me as I walked around the shop selecting tops for her to try on, which made me more nervous than I logically should have been.

"I didn't know you worked here," she said almost too suddenly.

I turned back to look at her over my shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, I really like it here. My boss is the best."

"It was nice sort-of meeting you earlier today. Kai was a little standoffish, though, wasn't he?"

"I suppose so," I said, not sure what to say and worried that I'd say too much.

"It was rude of him to not introduce us. I'm Ann, Kai and I go to school together. We've been dating for a few months now."

"Oh... okay... I'm Vilvian," I said somewhat stupidly as I held out a small stack of tops for her to try on. "Go on ahead and try these on in the fitting room over there." I gestured toward the small fitting room that I'd used to try on dresses just the day before. "I took a guess at your size, so if something doesn't fit right let me know, and I'll grab another size for you."

Ann checked the size of the blouse at the top of the pile. "No, this is right. I'm a medium. These should fit perfectly," she said as she headed toward the fitting room.

Uncertain about whether I should stand around waiting for her to come out, I decided to make an effort to look busy. I went back to the register to organize the credit card receipt printouts from earlier in the day and arranged them numerically. As I organized the printouts I thought about what Kai and I had talked about earlier in the day, and then about how Ann had basically introduced herself to me as his girlfriend. What could I have said about that without potentially causing her to go nuclear on me or even Kai?

After about ten minutes, Ann approached me with one of the tops-a light blue chiffon thing-in her hand. "I absolutely adore this. There's no way I could leave without buying it."

I extended my hand and delicately took it from her, making it a point not touch her as I grabbed it so that I could ring her up. Part of me felt that I was being silly, but I couldn't help feeling really creeped out by her presence.

"It's great- it complements the color of your eyes," I said lamely after a moment, attempting to be friendly and treat her the way I would any other customer.

"It does. I'm absolutely breathtaking in it."

Well, as far as I knew, no one had ever accused Ann of being modest. She's definitely not the type of girl I'd want Kai to end up with. I'm glad he saw through her, I thought as I rang her up.

"That will be fifty-five dollars, please." I smiled warily at her as I wrapped the top in tissue paper and bagged it in Heartful's branded reusable shopping bag.

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