A Risky Business #SYTYCW15 #CarinaPress

Chapter Sixteen

Monday morning – a girlie day while Damien holds the fort – dramatic dress shopping ...

*Kate*

After all the drama of last week I had decided that Kim and I deserved a treat, so I was taking her shopping for the day. Just the two of us. A nice girlie day. Kim had wanted to go at the weekend, but that would have been far too busy and traumatic, especially this close to Christmas, but come Monday morning, while Damien was holding the fort at the office, and after the rush hour traffic had diminished, we took an easy drive to the shopping centre, had our pick of parking spaces and walked into a very festive, but relatively peaceful, shopping paradise. Despite the fact that we had only just had breakfast we decided to head straight to a coffee shop to plan our course of action.

Kim had selected a table by the window so we could people watch, and I carried over two large, frothy hot chocolates with cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, the works.

"So," I said to Kim, "what are we looking for?"

"Do you think we go to some shoe shops?" she said. "I really love those long boots. Everyone's wearing them with skinny jeans in the magazines."

"Of course!" I said. "I love shoe shopping! I'm looking for a dress. I've got a friend's wedding to go to in February and I need something to wear. I know I'm a bit in advance, but I thought with all the party dresses in the shops I might find something suitable. Maybe something long and slinky, with a big hat ..."

"Ooh, lovely," said Kim taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "I'd like to look for a present for Uncle Jack as well if that's alright?"

I looked at her enquiringly.

"It's his birthday next month," she said.

"Of course it is," I said. "I can't believe where this year's gone! Shall we club together and get him something really special?"

Her eyes lit up, "Yeah, that would be great, thanks Kate. What shall we get him?"

I laughed,

"That, Kim, is the question that has haunted women for years – what to buy the men in their lives. Honestly, they are so difficult to buy for. Well, we'll rack our brains and have a look round and see what we can find. After we've looked at shoes and dresses of course ...!"

"Of course," she agreed, beaming.

So a few minutes later, we pushed back our chairs, linked arms and headed out towards the shops laughing and joking.

*

After a couple of hours of shopping like women on a mission we were ready for a sit down. I had treated Kim to a pair of boots that she had tried on and liked. They were not too high heeled, I didn't want Jack to come back to find her with a broken ankle, and were a lovely soft brown leather that would go well with anything. Very grown up. She was thrilled.

I must have looked at a hundred dresses of all styles, colours and prices. There were still a couple of shops that I wanted to try, but they would have to wait until after lunch. Then I would, inevitably, go back and buy the first one we looked at.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" I asked Kim.

"Can we go to McDonalds?"

"McDonalds?" I repeated, "That's where you would choose to go out of all of the places to eat?"

"Yes," she said, looking a bit sheepish. "Would that be ok?"

"Sure," I agreed reluctantly. "If that's what you'd like, that's fine. Let's go."