Caffery (The Drug Lord's Wife #1)

Thank God for Mississippi

Chapter 15

As I walked into the shop, I was immediately greeted by a woman who was tall, slim with a pixie cut haircut. There were only three other employees in the boutique.

"Welcome, Mrs. Caffery. We've been expecting you", said the woman. She also had a tray of chocolates and glasses of wine. I said no thank you and tried to get Thomas to take some; he refused. "Please come in, we have picked out a couple of items we think you may like".

The shop was modern, with a sleek steel design. The woman whose name tag read Vanessa, lead me to a row of mannequins. Vanessa started to describe every item in full detail. I just couldn't get passed the fact everything looked like something a crazy cat lady would wear. As we moved from mannequin to mannequin after the fourth ridiculous outfit I told her, "I just want to look around".

Vanessa said "That's completely fine", and returned back to her checkout counter. Thomas stayed close to me as we walked to passed the mannequins only

I looked around for tennis shoes, jeans, t-shirts and hoodies with no luck. This shop really wasn't me; there were maybe 15 mannequins and a few items on the wall. I understood it was high fashion but really you can't wear these things in public without looking like you just got off of a twelve day drug binge.

I turned back around to Thomas he was eyeing a design confused. It looked like someone shot Big Bird and used his skin for a dress. I said, "My thoughts exactly. How can anyone wear these things?"

"I didn't mean any disrespect ma'am. I'm sure any of these items would look lovely on you." Thomas said in a southern accent.

Smiling I said," Which part of the South are you from?"

It made me uncontrollably happy hearing a southern dialect. It took me back to summers as a kid when my mom had the whole family fly to Laurel, Mississippi for the summer. My mom's family was from the south so it reminded me of home. Even though my mom left Mississippi she always carried her southern roots and accent with her.

"Peachville, Mississippi born and raised ma'am"

I know where that's at; it's a little town that's not even on a map.

"Small world you were about 40 minutes from Laurel, Mississippi".

Confusion ran across his face. "You're thinking why don't I have an accent? Well, I'm Missouri born and raised. My mom was hail state ". Feeling like I just made a new friend I walked over to the tray with the wine glasses and brought him one.

"Ma'am, I really shouldn't on the clock and all"

"I won't tell if you won't"

He took the glass and we quickly tinged the glasses before we drank I said, "Thank God, for Mississippi". Both Smiling we chugged the wine; I returned our empty glasses to the tray.

A bell went off and I heard Michaels voice, "Vvvvvvaasanessaaaass I have arrived" Vanessa all but ran to Michael like two friends who hadn't seen each other in years. They hooked arms and walked towards me.

"How is our girl? Did she try on the dress yet?"

Looking directly at me Michael said," What's taking so long? You haven't picked out anything. We didn't close down the store for nothing."

And then it hit me we were the only people in the store.

Not wanting to hurt Vanessa's feelings I said, "There are so many wonderful items but I'm really looking for normal everyday clothes like jeans and a t-shirt. I get this is Versace but I'm really looking for that Target/Ross feel and look".