Eleanor stood near the door.
“Excuse me.”
Nobody answered.
She tried again.
“Does somebody here fix dresses?”
Paige turned.
Her eyes went first to Eleanor’s coat.
Then the grocery bag.
Then the shoes.
Her smile vanished.
“A dress?”
Eleanor lifted the bag.
“Old wedding gown. Lace came loose.”
Paige looked toward Brynn.
Brynn covered her mouth.
Paige laughed.
“Honey, this is a bridal salon.”
She looked Eleanor up and down.
“It’s not a donation bin.”
The bridesmaids laughed.
The salon manager, Miss Fenwick, hurried over.
“Ma’am, perhaps I can recommend another—”
Eleanor carefully removed the old gown.
Paige stared.
“Somebody got married in this?”
Brynn stepped closer.
“Look at the color.”
Paige pinched the lace between two fingers.
“It’s the color of old teeth.”
More laughter.
“Don’t let it touch you,” Brynn said.
Eleanor said nothing.
Paige flicked the sleeve.
The gown slipped from Eleanor’s hands and fell onto the floor.
“Oh.”
Paige smiled.
“Oops.”
A young Black seamstress kneeling beside a bridesmaid immediately stood.
She hurried across the room.
“I’ll get it.”
She lifted the dress with both hands, careful not to drag the lace.
Eleanor watched her.
The seamstress was perhaps in her early thirties.
Simple clothes.
Measuring tape around her neck.
Pins attached to a cloth wrist band.
Her name tag read:
DELIA BANKS
Delia examined the torn seam.
“I can fix this for you, ma’am.”
Paige stared.
Delia continued.
“No charge.”
“Baby,” Eleanor said softly, “I don’t want you in trouble.”
“It’s good lace.”
Delia smiled.
“It just needs stitching.”
Then Paige’s voice came across the room.
“Excuse me?”
Delia looked up.
“You’re working for me, pin girl.”
Paige pointed toward the floor beside her dress.
“Get back on your knees.”
The room became quiet.
Delia hesitated.
Then returned to the gown she had been pinning.
Eleanor felt the first hard piece of truth settle inside her.
Five minutes.
Earl had been wrong.
She had needed less.
Then Paige suddenly gasped.
“My ring.”
Everyone stopped.
“Where’s my ring?”
Brynn looked around.
“You had it on a minute ago.”
“I took it off when I tried the gloves.”
Paige’s eyes moved through the room.
Then stopped on Delia.
“That ring is worth more than this whole store.”
Delia slowly stood.
“And nobody’s been near me but the pin girl.”
“I didn’t take it, miss.”
“Then empty your apron.”
Miss Fenwick looked uncomfortable.
“Paige…”
“Make her empty it.”
Delia removed pins.
Thread.
Scissors.
Measuring tape.
No ring.
Paige stepped closer.
“Pockets.”
Eleanor spoke.
“You took it off when you tried the gloves.”
Paige looked at her as if a chair had spoken.
