Dancing With Velvet by Judy Nickles Read Free Book Online

to cover for her, I’ll pay you.”
    “Oh, that’s awful. I’m really sorry. I’ll be glad to cover for her, Mr. Thomas. It’ll be nice to have something to do, and maybe you could give Sara a half-day’s pay. I’m sure she could use it, especially with Christmas coming up.”
    The manager looked at Celeste for a long moment. “You’re sure about that?”
    “Yes, sir. It’ll be fun being back on the floor again.”
    “All right, then. I’ll make sure Miss Bennett knows what you did for her.”
    “You don’t have to.”
    “I wouldn’t think of anything else.”
    ****
    The store teemed with shoppers all afternoon. Celeste enjoyed waiting on customers again. Just before closing, she tallied her sales and closed out the register, then went with the other girls to take their canvas cash bags upstairs, where Mr. Thomas counted the day’s receipts and made out a deposit slip so that he could put the money in the night depository at the bank.
    “I think you sell on your smile,” he told Celeste as he counted her money.
    She blushed. “It was fun being downstairs again.”
    “Thank you for helping out.”
    “It’s okay, really.”
    Veda and Paula were waiting for her at the back door. “We usually catch the bus to the Triple Gables for supper, because our landlady doesn’t cook Saturday nights and Sundays. She’s a good cook, but eating out is a nice break.”
    Celeste thought of the extra money in her purse now that the layaway was paid for. “I’m starving after working the counter this afternoon.”
    Reveling in Paula’s and Veda’s cheerful company, Celeste realized she’d almost forgotten the fun of being part of a group of girls. “I’m going to design school in Dallas someday,” Paula offered, studying another customer’s stylish dress while they waited for dessert.
    “She draws all the time,” Veda said, removing the meringue from her chocolate pie. “She’s good, too. Me, I want to go to the business college. Didn’t you go there, Celeste?”
    “No, I took business classes at the junior college. I thought I might go on somewhere else, but I couldn’t afford it.”
    “Money’s always the problem, isn’t it?” Paula said. “But at least we have jobs. I can remember when they were hard to come by.”
    Veda nodded. “My dad was out of work for over a year. We barely got by. I always said I was going to marry money.”
    “I just want someone to love me.” The words slipped out of Celeste’s mouth before she realized she’d spoken her thoughts aloud.
    “Don’t we all?” Paula leaned back in the booth. “But rich wouldn’t hurt.”
    ****
    The room the girls shared in the boarding house, once the fine home of one of San Angelo’s first residents, was neat and clean but small, as Veda had warned. “Bathroom’s down the hall,” she told Celeste. “And there’s a shortage of hot water sometimes. Why don’t you go first?”
    Paula eyed the dress box. “I’m dying to see what you have.”
    When Celeste untied the string and lifted out the blue velvet dress, the other girls gasped.
    “Oh, my stars!” Paula said. “It’s gorgeous! It’s the one in Cox’s window, right?”
    “I’ve been paying on it since the first of November, and I wouldn’t have it out now except I worked for a lady from my church when she gave a party, and then she recommended me to someone else for the same thing. That’s how I got enough to finish paying for it last week.”
    “Oh, it’s fabulous.” Veda stroked the fabric. “Honey, you’re going to take the eye of every man there. Paula and I might as well stay home.”
    Celeste turned her face away so they wouldn’t see her tears, even though they were tears of happiness at being with friends. In school, even though she couldn’t invite the other girls to her own home, she’d never lacked invitations to sleepovers. Over the last couple of years she had missed the camaraderie and chatter and the inevitable experiments with hairstyles