“I don’t think I should be accepting all these gifts from a man I just met. It’s . . .it’s. . . well, unseemly.”
I know that was a word straight out of the Jane Austin books I favored, and it probably didn’t rate an airing in today’s world, but it seemed most appropriate for the moment. Showering a woman with so many gifts for a FIRST date. . . that just wasn’t apropos. (I wondered if that word was also dated, although I was sure I’d seen it on legal documents.)
Neither word seemed to disturb Simone. “When a man takes an interest, lavish it. Lap it up like cream.”
“Why? Because it’s short-lived?”
Simone laughed. “I do so like you, Penelope. You are a rare jewel.”
She made herself comfy on my second-hand powdered blue couch. I felt reassured that the couch was impeccably clean. I’d shampooed it after Cara and Sammy moved away.
“Are you needing to dash into the shower?” Simone asked.
I glanced at the clock, a cutesy one that Cara had given me. It had a clock face made up of a silly cat with eyes that moved round and round while its tail swayed back and forth. Not my style, but presents from friends are always treasured.
“Did you pick out which dress you’ll be wearing?” Simone called out as I headed for my room.
“Yes. The black one with the strip of mesh across the top.”
“I approve. You have good taste, my dear.”
My shower was quick, and when I stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped up in a fat towel, I saw that Simone had set out everything I’d need: underthings in black, shoes, purse, and a matching gold chain and bracelet.
It took me only a few minutes to dress, thanks to her help zipping up the back. I turned to put on my shoes, then stepped out in the living room to find her snuggled up on my couch glancing at one of the books Cara had left behind. Cara had never been my roommate, but she’d flitted in and out, sometimes spending more time at our apartment than at the flat she’d shared with her artist friends, who I think were all males.
When Cara left, her art books remained. They took over the whole coffee table, except for the gorgeous red roses presently occupying the center spot.
“Timothy has incredible taste, doesn’t he?” Simone said, placing the book she’d been looking at in the exact spot as before. “Anything else he gifted you with, besides the clothes and the roses?”