Double Lines

After breakfast and paying for our meals, Adele insists on walking into every shop beside the café for the following two blocks.

“Was there anything in particular you were thinking of getting?” I ask Adele as we walk out of the third shop.

“No. I just like to look and see what’s in fashion. I want to see what the latest trends are, so I compare my products to theirs. It makes me feel like I’m on target,” Adele says with a wink.

“Where do you get your ideas from?” I ask as we walk into the next shop.

“Some are from things I see in the environment, things I think people need. Things that I want,” Adele shrugs.

“Have you ever considered asking people what they’re looking for?” I ask.

“Hmm. I have thought about it, but at the moment, I’m riding the wave of my own imagination,” Adele smiles.

“What about you? You haven’t bought anything,” Adele asks.

“No. These shops are a little out of my price range,” I admit.

“You need a wallet, right?” Adele grins as we head to the next shop, Brand Bags. I give her a look, and she giggles.

“Let’s go take a look,” Adele states, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the store.

“I know exactly what you should get,” Adele insists, walking me over to where her product, Five, is displayed.

“These ones are limited edition, although it’s not well known. We only made a thousand of each bag from this collection,” Adele gushes proudly.

I pick up the handbag, a rust-coloured brown leather with a flap and buckle to close. The buckle is the numeral five design, and on the flap is the signature lower-case script font of the word five.

“That’s my handwriting,” Adele whispers, pointing to the word five. She then opens the bag and shows me the inside trim with a number stamped on it, three-seven-four.

“I’m sorry, but this is so cool,” I grin.

“Thank you!” Adele replies happily.

“Hello ladies, I see you’re looking at these handbags?” a frumpy woman in the Brand Bags uniform asks, approaching us.

“Yes. Do you have the wallets that accompany this collection?” Adele asks.

“We do, but unfortunately, we do not have many of them,” the woman tells us.

“See,” Adele grins, nudging my arm. We follow the woman to the counter, where Sofia stands with a customer.

“Oh, is that the new Five Pastel collection?” the woman serving us asks.

“Yes, it is,” Adele replies proudly. I smile and look at Sofia, who I notice is listening.

“It only comes in three colours: pastel blue, yellow and pink,” the woman continues. Adele nods.

“You are so lucky to have one. We’ve been waiting for them to come into stock.”

“Thank you,” Adele replies, giving me a knowing look.

“One moment, I’ll get those bags from our stocks,” the woman says with a smile.

“Hi, Sofia. How are you?” I ask Sofia, who is staring in front of her, trying not to look at us.

“Why did you come here?” she seethes, glaring at me. I smile. I’ve never seen her put on the spot like this before, and I’m enjoying it.

“I needed a new wallet. How long have you been working here?” I ask.

“She’s been here a month, learning the ropes,” our sales assistant tells us, carrying out three different-sized cotton bags with the number five printed on them.

“Do you know each other?” our sales assistant asks.

“Yes. Our children go to playgroup together,” I tell the woman.

“Oh! Well then, I’ll let Sofia ring this up if you decide you want the bags so she can get the commission,” the woman smiles. I nod, looking at Sofia; who knows, my purchasing these bags will affect her sales.

One by one, our sales assistant pulls out the bags. I’ve seen the handbag, but I’m impressed by the matching wallet, which is long and rectangular. The last bag is a small coin purse.

“Uh, I think I’ll get the handbag and wallet,” I say, calculating the cost. The total for both bags is twelve hundred dollars, my fortnightly pay.

“Get all three,” Adele insists.

“But…” I protest.

“Check the money Lincoln gave you,” Adele whispers. I nod and get my wallet out. Shit. They weren’t twenties that Ethan had given me, like I thought, but hundreds. I have enough here to buy three sets of bags. I can’t believe I’ve been walking around with three thousand dollars in my wallet.

“I’ll get the set,” I smile at our sales assistant, gulping.

“Sofia, ring that up for us,” our sales assistant smiles, sliding the bags down to her.

“Where to now?” I ask Adele as we get back into the car. I’m tired, and my feet hurt from walking all day.

“Easy. We deserve some pampering,” Adele grins, reversing her car onto the street. Adele drives to another part of uptown Brunswick, parking beside a building in a large car park.

“Where are we?” I ask, unbuckling my seat belt.

“The best beauty salon in upper Brunswick,” Adele says proudly, walking towards the large glass double doors.

The entrance to the salon is all white, with the staff walking around in a light pink hospital scrub-like uniform.

“Hello, Adele Bird. Do you have availability for a walk-in?” Adele asks, a smile on my face.

“Of course, Miss Bird, we always have spots for you,” the woman at the reception desk replies. I notice she is wearing a name tag, which says Gloria. While they’ve been chatting, I’ve been looking at their brochure of services.

“Seventy dollars for an eyebrow waxing?” I whisper to Adele, giving her a nudge.

“Oh, we give an eyeball massage as well,” Gloria smiles at me.

“Really?” I ask in disbelief.

“One hundred and sixty for a pedicure? What do they do, dip your feet in gold?” I then ask Adele.

“No, of course not,” Adele laughs.

“We provide champagne with our services,” Gloria smiles again.

“Come on, Adele, I have a better idea,” I say, pulling Adele’s hand and leading her out.

“Are you sure?” Adele replies, looking back at Gloria.

“Sorry, that was rude, but let’s go to where I always go,” I state.

“Do they serve champagne?” Adele asks.

“Better, they speak Vietnamese and don’t try to make conversation with you,” I reply.

I direct Adele to the nail shop that Melina and I go to.

“Oh wow, are those where you get your pedicures?” Adele asks, pointing to the six chairs alongside one wall.

“Yeah…”

“Why are the chairs attached to the foot spas?” Adele asked.

“Because that’s how they’re designed?” I reply.

“Hello?”

“Hi, do you have space for two walk-ins?” I ask.

“Yes. What you want?” the young Vietnamese woman asks.

“Mani-pedi,” Adele states.

“Me too,” I agree.

“What colour?” the woman asks, pointing to a wall of nail polish.

“Ok, this is cool,” Adele states, walking over to the wall. We choose our colours and walk over to our seats. The woman turns my chair on, and then Adele’s before filling our spa baths.

“Is this a massage chair?”

It’s afternoon by the time Adele drives me home. I know Tyler should be asleep by now, so I’m guessing Ethan and Declan are also home, and when we walk up to the first floor, I see that I am right. Ethan and Declan are sitting in front of the television, watching sports.

“Look at my nails,” Adele gushes, showing Declan the decorations on her fingernails.

“They’re nice,” Daclan states, showing some interest.

“Mikaela took me to the nail salon she goes to. You should have seen it- it was this shoebox-sized store staffed by these Asian girls, and it was so cheap! And they did a perfect job!” Adele gushes.

“We should invest in those Dec, they’re so popular!” Adele continues.

“How did you go?” I ask Ethan as Adele continues talking about the nail salon.

“It was good; Tyler’s getting better,” Ethan smiles, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“And how was the game?” I ask. Ethan scowls.

“We went to the park and had hotdogs and ice cream for lunch,” Ethan replies, making me laugh.

“Did he go down alright?”

“Yeah. He fell asleep in the car.”

“I’m going to check on him,” I smile. I take the stairs two at a time and slowly open the door to Tyler’s room. I missed him today, and I love watching him sleep. He looks so peaceful.

“So what are you thinking?” I ask Melina, sitting at the table, which is covered with Bridal magazines.

“Well, I’ve been with David for three years, and he wants to get married quickly, so I was thinking of a Christmas-themed wedding?” Melina says, looking up from her laptop.

“Yeah. That could be good. Plus, you can reuse the Christmas decorations,” I tell her.

“That’s what I said to David! He just looked at me!” Melina laughs.

“What’s the budget?”

“That’s the thing, David hasn’t given me one. He said I could spend whatever I wanted… but…”

“You’re apprehensive,” I finish. Melina nods. Melina and I are very similar. I still have the money Ethan gave me two weeks ago when I went shopping with Adele. He refused to take it back, so I’ve hidden it in a teapot in my China cabinet for a rainy day.

We spend the afternoon looking for ideas on our laptops, making lists of table decorations, party favours, dresses and food.

“You know we can afford a wedding planner?” David says, walking in with Ethan.

“Yeah, but it’s better this way; we don’t want to get bamboozled by someone who has their own ideas,” Melina says, looking at me over her laptop screen.

“What have you come up with,” Ethan asks, walking over to me and kissing the top of my head.

“We’ve decided on a Winter Wonderland theme with shades of blue. What do you think?” I ask, showing him some pictures I’ve selected.

“I like it. I wonder what you’ll come up with for our wedding,” Ethan says, whispering the last part in my ear.

“Well, you’ll have to ask me first,” I blush. Ethan smiles and then gets on his knees beside me.

“What are you doing?” I ask him in shock. I watch as Ethan pulls out a black velvet box from his pocket.

“Ethan,” I warn.

“I know I haven’t said it to you, but I love you, Mikaela. I’ve loved you ever since you walked into me that day at university. I know we officially met in an unorthodox way, but I don’t regret it, and I don’t regret what came from it. You are all I’ve ever wanted, and I can’t see myself living without you. Mikaela Carter, will you marry me?”

Time seems to go slowly as Ethan tells me he loves me and has loved me for a long time. I watch Ethan’s mouth move as he talks, his eyes warm with love. I’ve been falling in love with Ethan for a while, but I’ve tried hard to keep my feelings in check. I hear Ethan’s last four words, and the world around me disappears.

“I love you too, yes! Yes!” I reply, the sound of clapping bringing me out of the zone I’m in.

Ethan opens the velvet box, revealing a three-stone pear-shaped ring on a silver band. Besides the three pear-shaped diamond stones, the ring is plain, just the way I like it.

“It’s perfect,” I gush as Ethan slides it down my finger. I wrap my arms around his neck, giving him a chaste kiss as I close our bodies together in a hug.

“You’re perfect,” Ethan replies.

“Congratulations!” Melina cries, clapping her hands excitedly while she stands beside David, who is smiling.

“It’s beautiful,” Melina says, walking up to me as I stare at my ring.

“I just… never thought, you know, after everything,” I say, still in shock.

“You deserve love, Kaela. You both do. And Lincoln, he’s never shown interest in anyone since I’ve known him but you,” Melina smiles, handing me a glass of wine.

“I’m… still in shock. It’s so quick. Don’t you think it’s too quick?”

“Do you think so? You do love him, right?”

“I don’t know. I do love him. But… will he get bored of me? Like… Noah?”

“Lincoln is not Noah, Kaela. I think you’re stuck with him,” Melina replies.

“I hope so,” I respond, sipping my wine.

“Girls, dinner is ready,” David announces, sticking his head through the door.

“Come on, let’s have dinner with our men,” Melina says, taking my hand.

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