Read Online Coming Home by Mariah Stewart - Free Book Online Page B

your shop looked really cool.”
    “Thank you.” Vanessa looked around at the little world she’d made for herself. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
    The woman walked around the shop for a few more minutes before lingering over a summer party dress of white eyelet.
    “Would you like to try that on?” Vanessa asked.
    “Oh. I …” the woman stammered. “I don’t think …”
    “Do I have your size?” Vanessa came out from around the counter and walked toward the woman, who watched her with some curiosity. “You look as if you’re … what, a size ten?”
    She flipped through the hangers with ease.
    “You’re in luck. One size ten left. Here you go.” She handed the hanger to the woman and pointed off to the right. “The dressing room’s right through that door. If you love it, maybe I could take a little off the price, since it’s your first time in St. Dennis.”
    “That would be really nice,” the woman replied, but made no move toward the dressing room.
    “Did you want to look around a little more first?”
    “Oh, no. No, I’ll just take this in …” The customer backed toward the dressing room.
    “Take your time.”
    Vanessa strolled over to a stack of khaki shorts and straightened out the pile, then refolded some cotton T-shirts.
    “How are you doing?” she called to the dressing room.
    “All right.”
    “Does the dress fit?”
    “Yes. It fits just right.” She hesitated before adding, “It sure is pretty.”
    A few moments passed before the woman emerged from the dressing room with the dress on the hanger.
    “What did you think?” Vanessa asked.
    “Oh, I’m not sure,” the woman told her. “Maybe I’ll come back with my husband and see what he thinks.”
    “That’s perfectly fine,” Vanessa assured her. “Would you like me to put a hold on it for you? Just in case?”
    “Oh, I don’t know …”
    “It’s not a problem. There’s absolutely no obligation. But if you decided you wanted it, I’d hate to see you disappointed if you came back and found it had been sold. What’s your name? I can hold it as long as the weekend. We start to get real busy on Fridays now that the weather is getting warmer. But I’d be happy to hold it until then for you.” Vanessa took the hanger and hung the dress on a stand near the counter. “What’s your first name?”
    “It’s Candy. Candice.”
    “Candice, it is.” Vanessa wrote on a piece of paper, which she then attached to the hanger with a straight pin. “Hold till Friday for Candice,” she read the note aloud.
    “Thank you,” the woman said softly.
    “My pleasure.” Vanessa reached for the little porcelain dish near the cash register that held a stack of business cards. “Take one, in case you need to call.”
    The woman picked up a card and appeared to study it.
    “If you don’t call or stop in by noon on Friday, it’ll go back onto the floor. And if you decide you’d like it, I’ll take off twenty percent.”
    “That’s real nice of you.”
    She appeared about to say something else when the door opened and Steffie came in, grinning and looking like she had a tale to tell.
    “It’ll be in the back room if you come back. If I’m not here, just tell whoever is that Vanessa put a dress in the back for you.”
    “So you’re Vanessa,” the woman said softly.
    “Yes. But anyone can get it for you if I’m not here.” Vanessa smiled as she walked toward the back room, the dress over her arm. “My brother’s getting married this weekend, so I’ll be in and out for the next few days.”
    “Oh. Will the wedding be in St. Dennis?”
    “Will it ever.” Steffie answered for Vanessa, who’d disappeared into the back of the store. “Ness’s brother is the chief of police and he knows everyone in town.”
    “The police chief?” Candice repeated.
    “Yeah, and the woman he’s marrying is a county criminal investigator, and all her brothers and cousins are FBI agents. God forbid anyone should think about