Chapter 14 - The Last Card
Ten years after the boutique incident, Mara returned to the same fitting room.
The boutique had been renovated.
The marble columns remained.
So did the mirrors.
Everything else looked different.
Sofia was fifteen now.
She stood inside the fitting room trying on a dress for her first formal school dance.
“I hate it.”
Mara sat outside.
“Then take it off.”
“But Celia says everyone is wearing this style.”
“Is Celia wearing your dress?”
“No.”
“Then Celia survives.”
Sofia opened the curtain.
The dress was fashionable.
Expensive.
And clearly uncomfortable.
“What do you think?”
Mara recognized the trap.
Years earlier, she might have said:
It makes you look thinner.
It hides your hips.
The color is flattering.
Instead she asked, “How do you feel?”
“Like I can’t breathe.”
“Excellent reason not to buy it.”
Sofia laughed.
She returned with another dress.
Then another.
Finally she emerged wearing a simple dark-red gown.
Her face changed before Mara said anything.
“I love this.”
“Then I love that you love it.”
Sofia looked in the mirror.
“Do I look okay?”
Mara stood beside her.
“You look like yourself.”
Sofia smiled.
“That was weirdly emotional.”
“I’m your mother. It’s contractual.”
While Sofia changed, Mara walked toward the corner where she had stood crying ten years earlier.
For a moment she could almost see herself.
Hands trembling.
Burgundy gown.
Anonymous card.
Dominic appearing behind the column.
She remembered believing her marriage might collapse because her body had changed.
She remembered believing everyone else knew something about her worth that she didn’t.
Then someone touched her hand.
Dominic.
He had arrived early.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’re staring at the column.”
“It started here.”
He looked around.
“A lot started here.”
Mara smiled.
Then she reached into her purse.
She still carried the original card.
Not every day.
Only today.
She had brought it deliberately.
Know your size.
Dominic stared at it.
“You kept that for ten years?”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
Mara walked toward a small recycling bin.
She tore the card in half.
Then again.
And dropped it inside.
Dominic watched.
“No dramatic fire?”
“Paper recycling is more responsible.”
He laughed.
Sofia emerged carrying the red gown.
“What did I miss?”
“Your mother destroying an ancient enemy.”
“What enemy?”
“A piece of paper.”
Sofia stared at them.
“You two are strange.”
“Genetic risk,” Dominic said.
They purchased the gown.
As they walked outside, Mara glanced back once.
Then she left.
No fear followed her through the door.
The card had finally become exactly what it always should have been.
May you like
Trash.
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