Of Mountains and Men: A Why Choose Romance

Chapter 7

In the blink of an eye playing with all the kids, somehow time skips forward and its already noon. I say goodbye to all the kids letting them know I'll be back tomorrow. Charley is confused after lunch that we're leaving.

"We're going shopping. We need to find swimsuits for this weekend and nice clothes for tonight." I know he's ignoring me already drawing shapes into the frosty windows of Rhonda. I shake my head with a smile, silly boy.

The roads have been plowed since this morning. The snow is piled in mounds on the side of the road. The piles look taller than me. We pull into the little parking lot next to the Thrift Store.

"Let's go shopping!" I tell Charley.

"Yay! Toys!"

I laugh, "We'll see." Pull my hat back on, grab my purse then get Charley out, and we hustle to the store. A burst of warm air hits us, and I take my hat back off. Along with Charley's. "Stay with me for a moment while we look for clothes then you can play, okay?"

He nods smiling his little toothy grin, "Okay."

We search a few sections before I find a couple of swimsuits that are tucked away in the back obviously forgotten. I find a black and white polka dot one piece that should fit me. It takes me a lot longer to find a pair of toddler size swim trunks. I decide to let Charley play for being so good while having to wait. Then we'll start looking for something decent to wear tonight. Or I may have to really check through my clothes and some of my mom's that I kept.

Charley dives into the toy pile pulling out the trucks first, then the animals as he starts setting up, for what, no clue. I snag a book from the stack and read while he plays, both of us happy and content for a while.

Stella, the kind woman who runs the store comes over to check on us. "Charlotte, Charley! I haven't seen you two in a while everything alright?' She sits down on a chair next to me, and gives my arm a squeeze.

I put the book down smiling over at her. "Yes, just managed to get off work early and we need a few clothes for a date tonight."

She arches a penciled brow, "A date you can take Charley on?"

"There's these three men in town with their daughters we're all going to the lake house for dinner tonight."

Stella's eyes widen excitedly. "Are you still a size four?" She gets up puttering around in the dresses.

"Yes, what are you thinking?" I smirk.

She holds a up a finger, "Someone dropped off a little number just last week." She waves her hand, "something about it being out of the current fashion."

I check on Charley, he's still content playing then start looking in the children's section for pants that aren't jeans and a button up shirt. I pull out a pair of khakis when Stella cries out.

"I've found it, come here!"

I spin around, she's holding a golden beaded evening gown, low cut, and ankle length. "This paired with one of your mothers old peacoats should do the trick."

My eyes bug out of my head, "It's perfect!" I withdraw my hand before I touch it. "How much is it?" I could easily see her asking a hundred dollars for such a stunning dress.

Her hazel eyes sparkle, "Five dollars since it's over fifteen years old."

I give her a sidelong glance. "That doesn't matter it's stunning."

She waves me off handing over the dress and plucking a few items out of the kid's section. "Here we go, anything else you need?"

I grab the swimsuits and tell Charley to take his favorite truck to the register. While I clean up the rest of the toys quickly. My stomach drops while she rings everything up.

"That will be ten dollars, sweety." She smiles when I hand over my debit card. That wasn't nearly as much as it should have been. She's so sweet to lower the prices, but I wish I didn't need her to.

We take our spoils heading to Rhonda, then back to the house. Much to Charley's dismay I made him take a bath right away before he can get back to playing with his new dump truck. Only another hour before we need to leave. It will take me that long to get ready myself. My stomach is in knots, and I'm sweating. I really need to chill out, it's just a date.

I get Charley his snack, zip through a shower, and startsearching for my mom's red peacoat I remember seeing her wear and hope it'sstill in good shape.