The champagne was expensive so it should be delicious. “Are you the kind to be fine with actually being cut off or are you going to get belligerent with me? How serious are you about this? Because I can be the heavy if you want.”
She eyed me. “Oh, I know you can.”
I gave her a smile.
“And yes, I’m serious. I’d be mortified if I was drunk at any of these stores. Though I don’t think two glasses will cause me to be sloppy, you just never know.”
“Then maybe start with setting the glass down instead of clutching it like a baby with a bottle.” She was holding it like it was the ring from The Hobbit. The flute was even pressed against her chest.
Leah laughed. “Fair enough. But it’s very smooth.” She set the glass down on the coffee table.
Vivian returned and ushered Leah into a dressing room. They came back out five minutes later and I sat up straight. Leah looked classy, but very cool in a basic, but perfectly tailored houndstooth pants and sweater. “You look perfect,” I told her.
She made a face. “I feel like Diane Keaton is Something’s Gotta Give. Which she is amazing, don’t get me wrong, and I mean she was banging Keanu Reeves. But it’s not really me.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “Okay. Something more you. That’s fine. And thanks, now I have the horrible image of you in bed with Keanu Reeves and I want to punch him.”
Leah laughed. “Relax. I don’t even know Keanu Reeves. Plus, he’s too old for me. Isn’t he fifty now?”
“How reassuring,” I said dryly.
Vivian gestured to the dressing room. “Shall we try something else? I suggest monochromatic with an emphasis on texture, not pattern.”
“Absolutely,” Leah said smoothly. Then, when Vivian went into the dressing room, Leah turned and gave me an exaggerated thumbs-up.
Oh God. I rubbed my beard and hoped she would like the next outfit or we were going to be there for hours.
Leah returned to the main sitting area wearing winter white from head to toe. It contrasted perfectly with her dark hair. I waited to hear her thoughts on it, but I thought she looked stunning. I did nod approvingly because I couldn’t stop myself.
“I feel very angelic,” she said looking in the mirror.
Was that good or bad? “Not a word I generally associate with you, but I totally agree.”
Leah stood facing herself and locked her fingers together, arms out. Then she stunned me by opening her mouth and letting loose with the first notes of “Ava Maria.”
I’d heard her sing before at the diner, but that was noisy and chaotic and she tended to move around while she was doing it. This was her entirely still, in the quiet hush of Chanel, the clothes on her body feminine and matching the beauty of the song. She both looked and sounded ethereal as she continued to sing acapella. I sat there and listened, the sensation she was evoking in me one of tranquility. I was a man who liked action and multitasking from morning to the last second before I closed my eyes.
Yet Leah’s voice was so serene it felt like the entire world had stopped to listen to her sing.
It was a hymn that I had first heard sung at Rose’s son’s wedding when I was ten years old. My parents didn’t attend the wedding but they sent me with a driver and I sat there in the back of the church with him, dressed in my designer suit, and listening with awe to what seemed like the most beautiful song in the world to me.
With Leah singing it, it was the most beautiful song in the world.
All my thoughts just seemed to flick off, my body relaxed, and I was right there, with her, in the moment.
The last note trailed off and hung there for a second while no one spoke.
I realized Vivian was recording Leah on her phone.
Leah’s shoulders dropped and she lowered her hands. She turned to us. “Sorry. I got inspired.”
“That was amazing,” Vivian said. “Do you mind if I put it on Instagram?”
Leah looked a little taken aback. But then she said, “Sure. Can you tag me?”
“We’ll take this outfit, Vivian,” I said. I wanted to think about this moment of calm when she wore it at my parents’. “Leah, that was beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
She waved me off. “False flattery will get you everywhere.”