I was dressed and ready to head off to the home to surprise the kids and Pattie since I hadn't been there in a while.
Before leaving the bedroom, I stood in front of the mirror to fix my hair which was now back in its curly form.
Justin had gone off to work. He'd been very busy all week and I wondered if we'd actually be able to have the engagement party any time soon. I was in no rush, obviously. I was okay with waiting until Justin was stress-free-- until things were calm at work-- and I wasn't exactly anticipating being the center of attention.
I put on some perfume, sent Justin a quick text to inform him that I was going to the home then I picked up my bag and left the room.
Just as I was about to walk out the door, I found Aisha standing there, ready to knock.
I smiled at her.
"Aisha. What are you doing here?" I asked her as politely as I could.
"I'm here to take you out for a day of fun." She smiled. "Where are you off to?"
"I was going to the home."
"Bless your soul." She placed her hand on her chest.
"Do you wanna come with?" I offered.
"Another time maybe. Right now, we need to get you that dress before someone snatches it." She smiled.
"Aisha... can we shop another time?"
"But I already told your driver to go off for tea." She said.
My lips parted.
I didn't know whether to cuss at her or admire her persistence.
"Okay, look Dileah, I don't wanna have to spend another day doing work. I did that yesterday and ended up sitting in a tub with a bottle of wine in the evening because of a client who didn't know what she wanted." Aisha rolled her eyes. "Please... shop with me."
I smiled and shook my head in disbelief.
"Why don't you just get a job in the fashion industry? I'm sure you'd love it."
"Shopping is only therapeutic, sweetie." Aisha linked her arm with me and walked into the house with me. "I love decorating homes and finding people the perfect homes. I just can't stand clients who don't value professional opinions and don't have an eye for class."
"Why are we walking in and not leaving, Aisha?" I looked at her.
"Because I'm not going anywhere with you dressed like that." She said bluntly.
I looked down at my dark jeans, sneakers and sweater.
"Well, I was planning to visit the home." I defended my outfit choice.
"And now you're going to hang out with me. Go get changed. I'm going to make lunch reservations in the meantime." She pushed me towards the stairs.
I rolled my eyes and marched up the stairs.
"You and clothes." I groaned.
"You'll thank me someday." Aisha said.
I got changed into a long sleeved black and gold dress which was knee-length and a pair of dark stockings and black high heel ankle boots. The weather wasn't yet back to being hot and summer-like so I wanted to stay as warm and pretty as possible.
Aisha was happy with my outfit and she basically dragged me out the house and to her chocolate brown Volvo.
We drove to a shopping complex I'd never been to before. It was full of boutiques and designer stores and I knew then that I was in for a ride.
We started off looking through a Valentino store. What did I know about Valentino? All I saw was big numbers on pricetags and I wasn't happy with that. The dresses weren't too bad but I was certain I could find these exact clothes in some rundown store, down town somewhere.
"How about this one?" Aisha held up a short white dress with black sequins along the neckline.
"Who's going to pay $2500 for that?" I asked.
"Me."
"You shop like this all the time?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Sometimes. Do you like the dress or not?"
"No! The price is crazy too."
Aisha closed her eyes for a moment.
"This is going to be a long day." She said.
And I agreed.
Aisha looked through another rack then picked out a white and gold jumpsuit.
"How's this?" She asked.
"I don't like the loose fabric." I said.
"You're right. It's not good for an outdoor party in this weather." She put it back.
'Phew!'
"Let's go look in another store." Aisha linked our arms. "And then we can talk about how you and Justin met."
We went to a Versace store next and I made the mistake of reading the name out loud. Aisha laughed at me hard for pronouncing it 'Versus'.
As we looked for some dresses (Aisha in search of the most extravagant and I in search of the cheapeast), I answered her questions about me and Justin. When she wasn't hung up on designer clothes, Aisha was really nice and... human.
"With a history like that, you really are deserving of luxury now, Dileah." She said to me. "You deserve the fine things in life."
I smiled.
"I get spoiled enough by Justin."
"And now you have me to spoil you too. And when you and Justin have kids, I'll be spoiling them too."
I chuckled.
"Please don't."
"I'm going to be their favourite auntie." She smiled and clasped her hands together.
I shook my head at her and went to look through a rack for something.
"Pattie says you and Justin are looking to adopt?" She joined me at the rack.
"Yeah." I chuckled nervously.
"That's a lovely thing to do for someone. I'd know. I'm still grateful to Dona and John for taking me in. My life is way better than I could've ever imagined because of them." She smiled warmly.
"Was the adoption process long?" I asked.
"Only because they were taking me out of my home country. Passport applications and all of that were involved so..."
I nodded.
"You don't have to worry about a delay though, if you're adopting within the country." She assured me. "Are you excited?"
"More nervous. I don't know what's required of me exactly, even though Pattie's already given me an idea of what to expect."
"You need to be really prepared. You and Justin have some social worker ass to kiss."
"Really?" I asked.
Aisha nodded.
"They can be fussy and want things to be perfect for the children they represent. Dona and John had to relocate because their original home wasn't good enough."
"What?"
"Yeah. I know that they did a lot to accommodate me when they got me but I appreciate it."
I bit my lip as I thought about where Justin and I stayed. Apart from the fact that we didn't have a garden, it seemed good enough to me.
"How's this dress?" Aisha held up a short white dress which almost looked like an oversized t-shirt.
I shook my head.
"Okay. I believe that Chanel might have something fit for you then. They always have classy stuff." She put the dress back.
"Okay."
I didn't care about finding the right dress anymore. My mind was still on the whole thing about Aisha's parents having to relocate because of Aisha. Could something as small as not having a garden change everything? Could I lose out on being a mother because Justin and I had no grass in our yard?
I didn't see anything I liked in the Chanel store or any other store Aisha dragged me to. Instead, she ended up buying things for herself and told me countless times to stop being a retail troll. She also kept going on about online boutiques that she promised to look at. All of a sudden, we went from going with my opinion to Aisha insisting on handling my engagement party outfit. I didn't know how to feel about that.
We had lunch at a fancy restaurant with a name I couldn't pronounce (and I didn't dare read the name out loud in case I got it wrong). It was a rotating restaurant, according to Aisha. It was pretty weird, actually. All that food moving past you while you ate... I was sure to keep my bag on my lap because I didn't trust any of this rotating stuff. I couldn't afford to lose my belongings in this place. Heaven knew when I'd get it back or if I'd get it back.
Aisha spoke to me about her work and how nice it was to be able to find and decorate homes for clients. Most of her work was done in New York City with fancy apartments but she was in Miami for a rich couple. She wanted to have her own company that sold already decorated homes to people. That was a good idea, I thought, and I admired very much how ambitious and focused she was. I didn't even know where I saw myself in the next two years, career-wise.
Eventually, Aisha took me home and I decided to take it easy and watch some movies until Justin got home. I ended up falling asleep on the couch.
When I woke up, I had a blanket over me and the sun was setting.
"Catherine?" I sat up slowly and yawned.
She wasn't in the kitchen.
Justin must've been home.
I made my way to his study and found him working on his laptop at his desk.
I pushed the door open and quietly walked in, not wanting to disturb my busy lover.
"You're awake." He glanced at me and smiled.
"Yeah. When did you get back?" I walked towards his desk.
He closed his laptop and turned his chair so he was facing me.
"About an hour ago." He motioned me to come closer. "And it still confuses me how you manage to look gorgeous even in your sleep."
I blushed and walked up to him then sat on his lap.
"Thanks for the blanket." I said.
"No problem. First day back at the home and it wore you out?"
"I ended up shopping with Aisha, actually. Her persistence is on 100." I rolled my eyes. "She'd even told Lewis to take a break."
Justin chuckled.
"I won't say I told you so." He said.
"Don't."
"How bad was it?"
"Well, considering the fact that we went to some fancy shopping complex with shops that have names that are spelled one way and pronounced another way..."
"You hated it." Justin smiled.
"It wasn't too bad. I just wish I'd been told to just agree with whatever Aisha said so she wouldn't end up putting herself entirely in charge of my party outfit."
"I'm sure she'll pick out something good."
"I don't doubt that. It's the price of the outfit that I'm nervous about."
"Don't worry about that."
"I'm still not used to it. Hell, I haven't shopped for clothes since moving in here with you."
"But you don't mind when I get you dresses."
"Yeah but that's different." I pouted.
"Ah." Justin smiled.
I ran my fingers through his hair gently.
"Aisha told me that Dona and John had to relocate to accommodate her when they adopted her." I said.
"Sometimes that's necessary."
"Do you think we'll lose points for not having a garden for the baby to play in or something?"
"She's still a baby, Dileah. I don't think they'll care about a garden now. She probably can't walk yet."
I nodded.
"I just want to be sure that everything is perfect, you know?" I said. "I really want her here with us."
"And she will be. Like I said before, baby, we'll do whatever it takes." Justin pecked my cheek three times.
"But we don't have to decide right now, right? I mean, we still have a while. We could move... some other time."
Why did I suddenly feel nervous? All this talk about the baby and relocating was getting to me. This was all happening for real! It wasn't just a thought anymore.
"You scared?" Justin asked me softly.
I nodded and looked down.
"It's okay to be." He assured me. "I'm actually scared too. I've lived here for years. The thought of moving elsewhere scares me a little too but if we really have to, I'd be willing to."
"But you love this place."
"I do. But I love you more and if I want to keep my promises to you-- do what it takes for us to have the baby and give you the life you deserve after we're wed-- I'm going to have to make some big decisions. As much as I hate to admit it, a child couldn't possibly grow up in this house. It's... not exactly child-friendly."
I smiled softly and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"You do a lot for me." I said.
"I love you." He looked into my eyes.
"I love you too. And thank you." I pecked his lips repeatedly.
"So when are we going to look up ideal houses?" Justin asked me.
"What do I know about picking houses?" I smiled.
"I'm guessing you're leaving that up to me."
"Yeah. Just make sure it's cosy and has a garden and real fireplace."
"A 'real' fireplace." He snorted.
"Yes. Not one of them... gassy fireplaces."
"Got you."
I nodded and got up.
"I'll worry about Aisha and the engagement party for now. You worry about... whatever it is you're working on in here."
"Yes, ma'am."