Page 14 of Dancing With Lies
“I’ll wear this one,” Roxie said with absolutely no guilt about the fact that the dresses were from Wendy’s parents’ dry-cleaning clients. It was something she and Wendy had done often; ‘borrow’ dresses to wear before giving them back to the owners.
“There’s a gorgeous Dior dress but the staff are busy working on a stain the owner got on it.” Wendy rolled her eyes, like getting a stain on such an expensive dress was careless. Considering how much those dresses cost, Roxie knew it was silly, but if you had enough money to buy one then you probably didn’t care about replacing it if you messed it up.
“I’ll take this one and be extra careful as always.” Roxie leaned over to peck Wendy’s cheek with a light kiss and gave her a grin. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”
“What am I going to do with all those rich ladies? I’d give them the vapors or something.” Wendy laughed her huge laugh, the last thing you’d call delicate, but it was real and Roxie loved it.
“I love Emily, but I hate these teas she gives.” Roxie groaned as she took a seat on the couch, the dress folded in her lap.
“She’s a good friend to you, but I’d hate going to those silly parties too.” Wendy sat down beside Roxie and relaxed while she could. She’d have to go back down to the shop soon.
Roxie looked down at the dress, feeling a little spark of shame that she had to borrow a dress to wear to Emily’s. She had bought her own clothes over the years and Emily was always gifting her dresses from these little tea parties, but these were the kind of events where you didn’t wear the same dress twice. Not if you didn’t want the other women there to look down on you.
“Emily isn’t a bad person, and you know she likes you too,” Roxie said suddenly, the words Wendy had spoken finally sinking in. “She’s not afraid of people from other cultures or anything.”
“Oh, I know she isn’t,” Wendy replied quickly, her brows together in a frown. “I probably shouldn’t joke about that kind of thing, but it’s hard not to do sometimes.”
Wendy had told Roxie about the passive racism she’d endured over the years, the snide comments customers made, things that had happened in stores, even her school years had been hard. There wasn’t anything delicate about Wendy but she was loveable, loyal, and always eager to make people around her laugh. It was her coping mechanism and Roxie knew it.
“I know.” Roxie sighed, looked at the dress, and hated it for a moment. Instead of a treat, the dress now felt like a prison.
“I’ve got to get back downstairs; I have a few hours left before mom and dad take over for me.” Wendy stood up, picked up the floral dress Roxie hadn’t even looked at, and smiled down at her friend. “You’ll be alright?”
“I’ll be fine, Wendy.”
“Well, I’ll call if you want me to, claim there’s an emergency of some kind if you need me to.” Wendy offered, not for the first time.
“I should be fine.” Roxie laughed and brushed off Wendy’s offer. “I’m learning my way around Emily’s mom and the other women just stare at me most of the time. It’s not a big deal.”
“See ya later, then.” Wendy waved and left the apartment.
Roxie got up, showered since she’d gone out on her bike again that morning, and armored herself for battle. She did her makeup perfectly, slid on her lingerie, strapped her stockings in place, put her hair up in a chic bun, and then put the dress on. It fit her perfectly.
The dress ended just below her knees with sleeves that came down to her elbows. Paired with some black heels, the kind with red soles, Roxie looked perfect for an afternoon of looking over dresses that cost more than some people’s cars. The last time it was Chanel, today Dior wanted to show off their latest designs to Emily and her friends.
When Roxie walked into Emily’s house there were several voices filling the air and the representatives from Dior already had three racks full of clothes out. Roxie looked the clothes over with an interested eye but turned to face Emily.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was late.” She leaned over to peck Emily’s cheek and Emily did the same.
“Oh, you aren’t late, they got here early,” Emily replied and kissed the cheek Roxie offered. “Have a seat.”
As usual, there were no price tags on any of the clothes displayed to them one by one, Roxie noted as she took a cup of tea from the woman who brought it over to her. Roxie looked around as she took a sip of the tea, knowing the women didn’t care about price tags.
Roxie saw Emily’s mother, some of the mother’s friends, and a couple of Emily’s sisters-in-law. It was the mother’s friends that always looked down at Roxie, even when they were sitting down, and she was standing up. It wasn’t a look Roxie was unfamiliar with, she’d seen her own mother’s friends do the same things sometimes.
The memory made Roxie’s lips twitch in a smile.
“Remind me, Roxie, what was it your parents do? You seem so at home at these parties, but, well, you know, I’m sure you aren’t used to them in your line of work.” The mother’s croaky voice needled at Roxie, but she just gave the woman a bland smile before she replied.
“Well, I’m no longer in touch with my parents, Mrs. Thompson, so I couldn’t say what they do now,” Roxie replied with a guileless look, as if completely unaware that she’d just implied the woman knew better and should mind her own business. She could have been snotty and glared at the older woman, but she was Emily’s mother. Roxie didn’t want to be too hateful to her.
Mrs. Thompson’s thin, dry lips pursed and she looked away quickly, her perfectly bobbed silver hair moving with her head like a helmet against the world’s assaults. Roxie had got the best of her then and they both knew it.
“Oh, Roxie that’s perfect for you!” Emily declared as one of the representatives, a stressed-looking woman in a black suit with quite a few frown lines around her eyes, took out a blue and white dress with palm motifs.
Roxie immediately shook her head, an answer already forming on her lips. “You know I don’t like…”
“Don’t be silly, it’ll look perfect on you with your curves. We’ll take that one.” Emily said and gave the woman Roxie’s size.
