Run, Girl (If You Can)

The home decoration store was next. Given the small amount of wall space in the living room, Marissa recommended finding one large watercolor painting and basing the accent colors on that. Alice's new couch was a nice shade of cream and many accent colors could look good with it.

The one she eventually chose was a soft, quaint painting of the side of someone's house. A bicycle leaned up against the wall, the gate to the backyard and the awning over the window were turquoise, and various shades of red and pink plants were scattered throughout the painting.

Marissa found some throw pillows that were turquoise and red-violet along with a matching set of curtains for the tiny window in the kitchen. She also found rugs and a few decorations to set on the coffee table that matched the painting's color scheme.

Another watercolor painting, this time depicting a lake scene, was set aside for the bedroom. It would pair well with the light blue bedding set they got.

When they made it to the mattress store, Alice patted a particularly soft memory foam one before flinging herself backward on it in an uncharacteristically childish display. She sunk several inches into it immediately and giggled. Actually giggled!

That wasn't like her at all. Hanging out with Keeley, who could be a pretty silly person, so much lately must have had an influence.

Roger stifled a laugh. "Sorry, I just didn't expect you to do that."

"I'm not quite myself these days," Alice said a bit ruefully. "Even these clothes aren't mine. I wasn't able to bring any with me when I left so Keeley has been generously loaning me some of her things. They feel strange though. Her style isn't me at all; I'm so used to dresses."

"It isn't that the look doesn't suit you, it's that you give off the vibe of being uncomfortable with it. I think you look nice either way."

She cheered up a bit at the compliment. "Thank you!"

"I've never seen you with your hair down before either. It looks good on you," he continued.

She was surprised that a male would even notice her hair. Brock certainly never had. Had Roger always been this chivalrous? She hadn't noticed.

"I don't wear it like this much. It's nice not having to deal with bobby pins though."

"…you lost me at bobby pins."

Alice smiled. Of course he wouldn't know. Men didn't have to worry about such things.

"They help keep updos fixed in place. Sometimes they get stuck in there for days, even after washing your hair!"

"That sounds terrible."

"You have a sister, how do you not know about bobby pins?" she teased.

Roger shrugged. "Marissa and my mom prefer to wear their hair down. If they own bobby pins, I've never seen them."

Alice brushed that off and stared at the ceiling as she continued to sink. She definitely wanted this mattress. She would sleep like a baby on something this comfortable.

She had to wonder who came up with that phrase though. Babies didn't sleep well. She had been woken up more than once by wails coming from the Hale twins around 4 AM. She didn't know how Keeley and Aaron handled it and still managed to function every day.

Marissa came back from the bathroom and saw her lying there. "Did we find a winner?"

"I think so," Alice said as she sat up, a bit embarrassed.

Marissa's phone went off and she groaned once she saw the message. Her expression immediately turned apologetic.

"Alice I'm so sorry, the delivery people got held up and won't be able to make it for another three hours. I don't have any other clients scheduled today so you can come back to my office if you'd like."

Alice hesitated. She had time to go shopping but didn't have her own transportation or know how to shop cost effectively. Marissa probably did but would she even want to waste her time on a stranger?

"This might be a bit forward…but could you possibly help me buy some clothes while we wait? These aren't mine," she said as she gestured to her outfit. "I love what you're wearing. Where did you get it?"

Marissa seemed delighted. "This old thing? I got it for $36 at Kohl's."

Her jaw dropped. $36 for an entire dress?! Alice had never even spent that little on a hair accessory before!

"Can you teach me your ways?" she asked humbly. She desperately needed a budget friendly fashion icon to follow.

The other woman's eyes lit up. "Shopping when I don't have to pay for it is one of my favorite things. I would love to! Roger, you can leave."

He looked oddly betrayed. "I don't have anything better to do either; don't banish me."

She raised an eyebrow at her brother. "You really want to watch us shop?"

"Why not?" Roger asked with a shrug. "I can finally see you in your natural habitat."

Marissa laughed and shook her head before conceding. They paid for the mattress and arranged for it to be delivered later that day before she directed Roger to take them to the nearest retail clothing chain store.

Alice wanted to buy enough dresses for each day of the month, a few sets of slacks and blouses, and a whole lot of high heels. She also, unfortunately, needed jeans and comfortable shoes for work. They provided the uniform shirt.

She was in heaven being back in a store even if it was a very different one than she was used to. Being back among countless rows of clothes felt like coming home.

 Admittedly, there were a lot less things she liked available here. Marissa helped with that. She picked things out that she would wear herself and showed them to Alice to see if she wanted to try them on. Most of the time she did.

They ended up checking the entire store for things to try on. The cart Roger was pushing was piled high with dresses.

Alice tried on dress after dress with a contented smile on her face. Marissa and Roger offered compliments or criticism on potential outfits as she went. Shopping with these two was much more fun than shopping with her mother-in-law's group had ever been.

"Love the pattern, hate the puffy sleeves," Marissa declared about the latest dress Alice tried.

"Yeah, it looks like something straight out of the 80s," Roger agreed.

Alice turned back and forth a bit to get a better view in the mirror. They had a point. That one was scrapped. Out of all the things she tried on, only about half had been deemed worthy of purchasing so far.

The next one she tried on might have been her favorite overall. It reminded her a bit of one of the dresses she left behind. It was a short sleeved maroon collared dress with a matching belt and she felt a bit sad thinking about the pair of Jimmy Choo sandals in her old closet that would go with it perfectly.