"Oh, thank you, Miss Kingsley," he said, grinning at her.
Smiling back, she said, "You're welcome," and then she made her way up to the apartment, more than a little curious to find out what was inside the bag.
She was suspicious, because although she couldn't see through the bag, there was definitely a hanger peeking out the top and it felt like there was fabric inside—it looked kind of like the dry-cleaning that she saw the neighbor lady come in with the one day, only Julie had nothing worth sending to the dry cleaners, so that certainly wasn’t it.
Once she was safely inside the apartment, she tossed her keys on the counter and eagerly walked into the living room, putting the garment bag down on the couch and pulling the plastic up to reveal what was underneath.
Drawing in a breath, Julie was surprised to see a cute little white dress inside the bag. It was an ivory cotton dress with a crocheted bodice and a black bow adorning the neckline, and as she eyed it up she could see that it would hit just a few inches above the knee. The bottom of the dress had a little crocheting too, and it was really cute—simple, but chic, and very much her style.
What was not her style was the Sak's Fifth Avenue price tag that was still attached to it, telling her it had been $195. Her eyes widened a little and her gaze flew to the label—Nanette Lepore.
A really cute designer dress, she amended.
Attached to the hanger she noticed a note.
Julie-
I know you said you had clothes to wear to the party, but I just thought it would be nice if you had something new to wear for the New Year. The lady at the store told me to suggest you wear black tights with it.
-Matt
Of course.
Sighing, she decided she needed to find somewhere to dispose of the evidence before Aaron got home—but she was in no hurry, because she knew he wouldn't be home until at least after the restaurant closed.
Even though she knew she probably shouldn't let Matt keep buying her presents, she really liked the dress, so as soon as she thought about it, she grabbed her phone and sent him a text.
"You shouldn't have, but thank you. It's beautiful."
It took him a little while to respond—she had the note carefully hidden away and she hung the dress in Aaron's closet in the back where he let her put the clothes she had that needed to hang up—but when he did, it said, "Like its owner."
Blushing even though there was no one around, she smiled slightly.
That was nice.
Immediately, she reminded herself where thoughts like that had gotten her, and as if to reinforce the message, her little poppy seed sent a wave of nausea through her body.
Taking the hint, she didn't respond to the message, instead opting to go do a load of laundry to pass the time.
---
Time did go by, and before she knew it, New Year's Eve was upon her.
Julie worked during the day and then she got to go home and get ready for the party. Honestly, she was so excited to wear her new dress—she never got new things, especially not $200 designer dresses, and she had already modeled her new dress in the mirror when she was home alone with a pair of black tights she had and a cute pair of black high heels, and it looked really beautiful.
She sort of wished she could wear the earrings, because they would be a nice splash of sparkle to her outfit, but since she knew Aaron was going to the party and she was hoping he would be friendly, she thought that was probably a terrible idea.
Since the dress was sleeveless, she had to wear a coat, and she didn't have one of those chic black peacoats that she absolutely loved, so she had to make do with her old mismatched coat.
Leigh hadn't said whether or not Aaron knew Julie was coming to the party, and he hadn't said anything to her, so she didn't mention it to him just in case. Julie had been told to go ahead and come over at around 9:30. The café had closed early at 7:30 because it was New Year's Eve, so Julie figured Leigh needed time to set up for the party.
She had also figured that Aaron would come home after the store closed, at least to shower and change clothes, but she waited until 9:35 to leave the apartment and there was still no sign of Aaron.
When Julie got there, she only recognized a couple of the people from work, then there were some other random people drinking and talking.
Although she didn't realize she was doing it, she scanned the crowd for Aaron as soon as she got there, and she spotted him in the corner talking to some guy with a little smile on his face as he was drinking a beer.
It was odd to be so pleased to see someone with alcohol in their hand.