Oh. “Okay.”
“Why do I get the feeling that this is a first for you?”
Because it is. When I was a kid, I always had to look a certain part, play the role of the heiress for the Blast Dynasty. You can’t escape being the daughter of one of the world’s biggest developers. And when I was in beauty pageants, it was the same. A certain way to look, a certain way to be, a certain way to act. Even when I was with Martin, he always requested certain looks. Demanded more than requested most of the time, and it didn’t matter. He left me anyway. Though I try not to think about him. “It’s just… unexpected,” I say. “That’s all.”
“You’re not telling me everything are you?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not.”
Daniel kisses my forehead. “That’s fine. I hope you’ll tell me some time. But buy what you like. I wanted to take you ring shopping tomorrow, and there will probably be cameras—there usually are when I’m out in public. It’s just something to be aware of, but I want you to wear whatever makes you happy.”
What makes me happy? I wonder as he lets me go and sits back at his desk. I definitely have a lot of things to look through in order to decide. When I get to the door he calls my name. “Monica?”
I turned around to face him.
“I really do mean it. What makes you happy, not what you think will make me happy.”
I nod before leaving the office. I didn’t realize such a simple question would give me so much to think about. I hadn’t realized how many restrictions had been placed on me in that way. What do I like to wear? I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life when I’ve been free to choose without anyone else’s opinion involved. And in the last two years, that hasn’t been a matter of opinion, but a matter of survival. Beggars can’t be choosers when you’re shopping at thrift stores. So what do I want?
I have no fucking idea. But I am very excited to figure it out.
Later that afternoon, I’m surrounded by racks of clothing in the suite’s living room. I had chosen a few things that I thought I liked, and I showed Daniel. Instead of congratulating me, he immediately picked up the phone and asked one of the boutiques to send over a selection and some assistance for me. I told him that he didn’t have to do that, but he shook his head. “I think you need it. Plus, Alex is a fantastic designer. She instinctually gets style, and if you don’t find anything you like in her current collection, she will happily design it for you. Hell, she might just design it for you because she wants to. She’s been begging me to get married for years so that she can dress someone close to me.”
That makes me laugh. “Why?”
Daniel smirks. “Because she says that no one who looks this good in a suit should be single.”
“She designs all of your suits?”
“Every single one. I’ve never met another person who was able to take the feeling that I wanted from my clothes and interpret it so well. Once I discovered her, I never looked back.”
So now the living room has been transformed into a makeshift salon. It’s still a little mortifying to be in Daniel’s sweats and T-shirt, but Alex just shakes her head and waves a hand when I mention it. “Don’t even worry about it, honey. When I’m through with you, you’ll have the best damn wardrobe anybody has ever had in their life. I’ve been hounding Daniel for years for this.”
“He said as much.”
Alex is shorter, with cropped red hair and chunky jewelry. She’s wearing a flowing, flowery dress which might look juvenile on somebody else, but on her it looks like she’s part hippie, part healer, part goddess. She has a sketchbook tucked under her arm and a pencil behind her ear, and she’s already looking at me like she knows me. When she notices me watching, she smiles. “Sorry,” she says. “Hazard of the job. I’m always thinking about how clothes are going to look on somebody. How do you see your style?”
One of the girls she brought with her hands me a flute of champagne and I take a sip, it helps soothe the nerves. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. Most of my life my style has been dictated for me, and I don’t know where to start.”
“That’s okay,” she says. “We can start with the basics. Will go through the clothes we have here, and you tell me yes or no about whether you like it, if it’s a mix you tell me what you like. I’ll get a good idea for what you’re drawn to.”