The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts

Author:Sheila Roberts
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

“Shopping tomorrow? Absolutely. I’ll take an extended lunch break and we’ll power shop,” said Merilee’s older sister, Gloria, when Merilee called her. “It’s about time you started listening to me.”

“I’ve got the week off. I’m there,” said her little sister, Liz. “And right before Christmas, we are for sure going to find bargains. This is will be sooo much fun.”

Merilee wasn’t sure how much fun it would be staring at herself in the dressing room mirror. But it sure wasn’t fun living in the shadows. It was time to take a lesson from Zach’s grandma and start living life to the fullest.

Just remember you can’t afford to live too fully, she reminded herself. Not with her current job situation. Still, a few new clothes would be an investment in her future. She couldn’t live indefinitely on what she was making at the shelter. She’d need a new outfit for job hunting. And … other things.

She’d take a whopping fifty dollars out of savings and see what she could get with that. Probably not much, but you never knew. She could stumble on some fabulous holiday sales. ’Tis the season, after all.

Her sisters were already waiting at a table in the Angel Falls Mall food court, indulging in hot chocolate from Chocolate Heaven, when Merilee arrived. Gloria was tall and willowy, with long chestnut-colored hair and perfect features. She was wearing a crisply tailored white blouse with a black skirt that showed off her legs. She’d topped them with a red leather jacket accessorized with silver jewelry, proving that she deserved her nickname Glorious. Everything she wore demanded Pay attention to me, unlike Merilee’s wardrobe, which said Maybe you’d rather not look. Liz was just as big an attention grabber as Gloria. She was petite and blond—eye candy in a small package. She wore jeans coupled with a pale pink sweater, her winter jacket draped over a nearby chair. Gold bangles dangled from her wrist and the fat diamond in her engagement ring winked hello as Merilee walked over.

As often happened in the presence of her glamorous sisters, the Ghost of Ugly Past hovered over Merilee, whispering in her ear that she would never be as pretty as her siblings. Why are you bothering? it taunted.

Good question. Because she wanted to be better, to become more than what she’d been. On fifty dollars. Oh, boy.

At the sight of Merilee, Liz jumped up to hug her. “All right! She’s here. Let the games begin. Have you lost more weight? You look great.”

“Correction,” said Gloria, waiting her turn to hug Merilee. “She will look great when we’re done with her.”

Liz grinned and relinquished her hold on Merilee. “We’ve already been making a list of what you need.”

“Which is practically everything,” added Gloria.

Uneasiness crept over Merilee. She had a vision of her fifty dollars sprouting wings and flying away within the first five minutes of their shopping expedition. “I can’t go too crazy now that my paycheck has shrunk to next to nothing.”

Gloria linked an arm through hers and began to stroll her toward Macy’s.

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