Since we didn’t really have anything planned for the holiday weekend, Rachel suggested we have a shopping day together today. She and guy are taking a vacation to San Francisco next month so she wanted to buy some new outfits for that. Also, her law school graduation is next weekend, so she wanted a nice dress for that. For me, I just needed a new swimsuit as summer is approaching.
We left the husbands on baby sitting duty and stopped first for breakfast at the Southend Buttery. I used to really like the coffee there back when I drank coffee, but was happy with OJ today. As we were eating breakfast, we talked about what stores on Newbury Street we were going to visit. They are mostly expensive stores, but Rachel has expensive tastes these days now that she has a good paying job.
On the other hand, I have been saving up what little I could so I could afford to buy my swimsuit. I’m grateful for the money that I get from Susan or there’s no way I could be shopping like this. I’d be buying all my clothes at Target.
Over breakfast Rachel told me that she had been looking at jobs in other parts of the country again and wanted me to to prepared for the idea that she and Guy might move. It makes me sad to think about losing her in my life, but I guess I want what’s best for her.
The first store we went to was called something unpronounceable. Bcbgmaxazria. She tried on a bunch of dresses and picked out her favorite. It looked like a bathrobe to be, and I told her so. She thought about it and decided not to get it, and we left.
Next was another place I’d never heard of called LK Bennett. She tried on a bunch of dresses and didn’t like any of them. She found a handbag she really liked, but I reminded her that she really should get the dress first to make sure the bag matched the dress. Even though I hadn’t found anything yet that I wanted (or could afford), I was happy I was giving good advice.
Then we went to Tory Burch, and they had some great swimwear. I spent some time browsing and trying things on while Rachel looked at dresses. It took a long time, but I finally settled on a bikini. The top was $115 and the bottom was $95. I didn’t want to spend that much, but I REALLY liked it. Rachel was liking the store as much as I was, and when I met her in the fitting room she had a stack of dresses. Three she called “definites” and a few more were “maybes.” She modeled every one for me and they were all great. There was one short summer dress that I liked so much that I went back looking for a different color one for me. In the end, she picked one for her graduation dress, and four other more casual ones for her trip. I got a dress and the swimsuit and we went to the counter to pay. The dress was $180 and I was feeling ashamed that I was about to spend all that money on clothes. I really couldn’t afford it, but I wanted to keep up with Rachel.
She put her clothes down first and I waited behind her. Then she motioned for me to add mine to hers. I told her I would pay separately and she shook her head and said it was on her. I felt a weird combination of happy and embarrassed. I wanted her to pay, but I also didn’t want her to pay. She saw my reluctance and came over and whispered, “I’m really happy you took time today to come shopping with me, the least I can do is pay for this.” I had tears in my eyes as we left the store. I asked her if I could give her money for the swimsuit and she could just pay for the dress, but she suggested I just pay for us to go to lunch somewhere nice, and I decided I was OK with that.
When we were paying, Rachel mentioned to the woman working there that the dress didn’t allow for a bra because of the way it was cut, and she asked about support. The woman said that Givenchy made a body suit that she thought would work perfectly, but that they didn’t sell it there. She directed us to a place called Gretta Luxe where Rachel immediately found it. She held up a $1500 price tag, which was ridiculous of course, but then tried it on and bought it.
I commented that it was stupid to spend that much just to hold her boobs in place, but she laughed and said it really did go perfectly with the dress.
I guess she makes really good money doing what she’s doing, but still. It seems like she lives in a different world than I do when it comes to shopping.
We had dinner at Aquitaine. I love it there and was happy to pay.
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