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“Whoa.” I hold up a hand and shake my head. “We’re barely dating, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“He took you to Paris and remodeled your house,” she reminds me as she admires a purple dress that is all wrong for her. “I’d say it goes past barely anything, but I will say that Ryan’s mom, Joy, and I had lunch last week, and the two of us couldn’t be happier.”
“Did you two already plan the wedding?” Mom’s head whips around, her eyes full of joyful hope, and I roll my eyes. “I’m being sarcastic, Mom. He didn’t pop the question or anything.”
“Well, what’s he waiting for? That’s what I want to know. Anyway, I really need a dress for this book club party we’re having next weekend.”
“I think I have just the thing.”
For thirty minutes, I help Mom pick out some things to try on, and when she’s tucked in the dressing room, I open my computer to order my new phone. Ryan’s right. I need to take care of it right away, and I’m impressed that no one has shown up to magically hand one over since he left.
After placing my order, I check my email and frown. There’s a new message from Unknown Sender, no actual name, and when I open it, it simply says:
I warned you.
“Darling, I think I found the one!”
“I’ll be right there!”
Something tells me not to delete this. Instead, I just close the computer and go see which one Mom has decided on.
She does a quick twirl in the rust-colored dress, making the fabric swirl around her legs, and I grin. That’s the one I would have chosen, too.
“I love it,” I tell her. “You’ll be the best dressed one there.”
“I think so, too. I’ll take it.”
While she changes back into her other clothes, I take a minute to call Grace and see if she’d be willing to come back to work.
“Hello?” Grace says.
“Hi, Grace, it’s Polly.”
“Hi, Polly,” she replies softly.
“Hey, I hear that things went really sideways while I was gone, and I wanted to reach out to you and apologize. I didn’t know that Melissa would behave the way she did while I was gone, and I’m sorry that she made you feel so uncomfortable that you felt that you had to quit.”
Grace sighs on the other end of the line. “It’s not your fault?—”
“Yes, it is my fault. I own this place, and it’s up to me to make sure that everyone feels safe while they’re at work. I’m sorry that you didn’t feel that. I want you to know that Melissa was fired this morning, and I sincerely hope that you’ll consider coming back to work for me. I’ll pay you your regular salary for the week you lost.”
She’s silent for a moment. “Gosh, Polly, I would, but I already accepted another job, and I started yesterday.”
I close my eyes in disappointment. Damn you, Melissa!
“I understand,” I reply. “I’ll still be sending you a check for the hours you lost last week, and I hope you accept my apology.”
“Of course, I do,” she says. “I appreciate it, Polly. Take care.”
“You, too. Good luck with the new job.”
I hang up and blow out a long, gusty breath, just as my mom comes out of the dressing room. I ring her up, giving her the deep family discount, and once she’s paid, we decide to walk down to Bitterroot Valley Coffee Co. to get a latte.
“I’ll just flip the sign,” I tell her, flipping it to closed, and lock the door. “I think it’s going to be slow today, so this is great.”
“What a treat,” Mom agrees, lacing her arm through mine, and we walk arm-in-arm down the block. “In all seriousness, I hope you had a good trip. I haven’t even heard about it yet.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been slammed, but yes, we had a really good time. I’ll show you my new goodies soon. And you have to swing by to see the kitchen.”
