Conflicted Affection by Denean Dawson

Author:Denean Dawson [Dawson, Denean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jace Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight, Dress to Impress

The three arrive at the mall. Jonathan is ready to spend hours in clothing stores with his mother. He couldn’t care less what they did as long as he is spending time with her. “What’s your size?” Elizabeth scans Caroline’s body, a mischievous smile across her face. It could only mean bad things. “I love a good project.” She continues to spin Caroline around slowly, analyzing her body shape.

“You’re getting a makeover,” Jonathan sings in excitement as his mother drags Caroline to the nearest boutique.

“I need a tape measure and an assistant!” Elizabeth orders as she walks through the doors. Caroline quickly learns through the excited whispers of the two boutique workers that Elizabeth Jamyson is the city’s leading fashion icon, famous for extraordinary makeovers and producing some of the best models and fashion lines. A short girl with strawberry blonde hair fights with her coworker to bring the tape over to Elizabeth, who towers over her in her beige high heels.

“Now where’s the mirror… ah.” She pushes Caroline to the corner of the store where three mirrors are aligned to show the three sides of the body. “Up up.” The young store worker and Elizabeth push Caroline onto a small step where she can finally see Elizabeth eye to eye. “Now take off this wooly mess.” Elizabeth looks around the store while she waits.

“I’d really prefer keeping it on.” Caroline smacks the assistant’s hand as she tries to remove the wool sweater.

“Nonsense. Off with it.” Elizabeth disappears in between the clothing racks. “Measure her!” her voice fills the store. The assistants force the wool sweater off Caroline and take her measurements, calling them out to Elizabeth as they write them down.

“Let’s do this.” Elizabeth emerges with a walking pile of clothing besides her. Jonathan’s hair is just visible above the clothing. “Oh, I get it.” Elizabeth looks at the shirt Caroline is wearing. The front is clean and smooth but the back is riddled with small moth-eaten holes. Elizabeth takes a closer look at the girl’s clothing, noticing every little detail. “And you’re anorexic.” Caroline’s face sinks.

“I’m not,” Caroline says quietly. The topic of her weight and past is a very sensitive one for her.

“No worries; some of my best models are,” the older woman replies. It seems as though she almost encourages the idea. “I was and look how I turned out.” Caroline frowns at the comment.

Elizabeth happily orders around the store workers and dresses Caroline in a variety of outfits, making small talk with her as they go. She lays a foundation of questions pertaining to things like her school life and boyfriends before finally reaching the topic of her ex-husband.

“So, are you his plus one to the party?” Elizabeth has dressed both Caroline and her son in red carpet-worthy clothing.

“Nope!” Jonathan answers his mother while the strawberry blonde worker ties a blue bow tie around his collar. “I’m daddy’s plus one this year.” He checks himself out in the mirror.

“Oh, lucky boy,” she responds and forces Caroline into yet another pair of shoes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.