“Okay, I understand. What kind of clothing is you?”
She shrugged and looked around the store filled exclusively with clothes for kids her age.
“I don’t know. I haven’t picked my style aesthetic yet.”
I blinked at the words that came from my niece’s mouth, as I often did, she had a manner of speaking that was far beyond her age.
“Your what?”
Keri looked at me like I was the idiot. “Weren’t you a hot shot fashion model, and you don’t know what a style aesthetic is?” She shrugged off the question and carried on. “Mrs. Berryman said I have to find my design aesthetic, my fashion sense, and I’m still trying to figure that part out.”
“But you didn’t give this any thought before telling me we needed to go shopping for clothes?” She was years away from being a woman, but in that moment, she had the frustration and confounding part down perfectly.
“I gave it some thought, but now that I’m here nothing feels right.”
“That’s because you haven’t tried anything on. Yet.”
Keri nodded her acceptance, and turned to me with a wistful expression. “Don’t you think Mrs. B dresses so pretty? She’s always so colorful and flowing like waves on the water. Isn’t it awesome?”
I hadn’t thought about it before, but Keri was right. In addition to being a stone cold fox, Valona had a calming effect that was only heightened by her clothing. “It is pretty awesome.” Her clothes were colorful but not garish, flowing but not baggy.
“It really is,” Keri said absently as she fingered a bright purple ankle length skirt.
“Try it on,” I told her and plucked the skirt from the rack.
“But Uncle Trey, I don’t know if it’s me or not.”
“And you won’t know until you try it on. Trust me, when you find the thing that suits you, you’ll know it.” And in a rare flash of parenting genius, I grabbed a bunch of different items, dresses, legging, t-shirts, flannels and jeans. “Try them all on and keep what you like. It’ll be the first step to figuring out your style aesthetic.”
She blinked, seemingly confused as she looked down at the pile of clothes in her arms and the bigger pile in mine. “It’s a lot of clothes, Uncle Trey. What if I like all of them?”
“If you really like it all, we’ll get it all. You need new clothes anyway, and you’ll probably outgrow these in a year. All right?”
“But, Uncle Trey…”
“For the love of god, little girl, go and try on these clothes.”
She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Fine, if you insist.”
“I do.”
Keri shook her head. “You may be sorry you said that. This is a lot of clothes.”
“I can afford it, and if it makes you happy, that’s what I care about.” She hadn’t asked for much of anything since I picked her up from the social worker, and I realized now that her clothes were an oversight that was totally on me. Maybe with a new wardrobe she might have felt better in Los Angeles.
Too late now.
“Thank you, Uncle Trey. Momma always said that underneath the abs you were a big ol’ softie.”
I frowned and Keri giggled. “That’s because she’s my baby sister and I spoiled her rotten.”
“And me,” she said with a smile. “You sent so many pink dresses I thought I was a princess until I was seven.”
That made me smile. “My little cowgirl princess.”
“That’s not funny,” she growled and yanked the fitting room curtain closed.
I paced back and forth while Keri tried on items, hoping that none of the clothes gave her the body image issues I’d seen regularly as a model. Women were never happy with their boobs or thighs, noses, mouths or whatever. It was always something that wasn’t perfect, that needed to be fixed, or changed or hidden.
“Uncle Trey stop pacing before you wear a hole in the store and have to pay to get it fixed.”
I laughed and walked away, giving her some breathing room. She was already too damn grown and I had no idea how to handle it, but when I spotted the hot pink cowboy boots and feminine Stetson, I knew how to keep her a little girl for just a bit longer. When Keri exited the fitting room, I stood just outside and held my breath.
“Well?”
“They all fit, but this is the pile I’m keeping.”
“Excellent.” I noticed she gravitated towards the jeans and leggings and a variety of tops. No dresses. “You want to keep looking today?”
“Heck no, I’m exhausted. I don’t know how people shop for fun. I’m starved though, think we can get a burger on the way home?”
“I have a better idea, how about we grab enough food to feed the Berryman girls as a thank you for reminding us that you needed new clothes?”
Keri’s face lit up and she looked so much like Martina that my heart clenched for a moment. “That’s a great idea! How about Mexican?”