'Size twelve, madam? Certainly, madam,' I said, obediently, metaphorically raising my eyebrows, and wondering whether I should a) try and pass off a 14 as a twelve, or, b) try and squeeze the woman's optimistic frame into the most generous twelve in the store. A common dilemma.
She ended up buying the dress, squeezing herself into a twelve, and enjoying the experience, then, as she collected up her belongings, ready to make the transaction, she suddenly asked, 'How'd you get that black eye?' β an inevitable question I'd been dreading. The words of the Vega song came tumbling into my mind β 'Please don't ask me any more!' β and a tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it angrily away.
I sat in the stockroom after the customer had gone, to compose myself.
'The bastard!' I thought, 'the drunken bastard!' It had been good, the sex, once upon a time. Promising. Yes, that was the word, promising. We had watched a video of 'O' together, been turned on by its elegant sado-masochism, both of us, said we'd give it a try. But Jason wasn't 'Sir Stephen' β not by a long chalk. Long and the short of it, he couldn't hold his drink, and he was insanely jealous of me. He'd come home, like the night before, shit-faced, and I was for it. Next evening, he was all tears and apologies, red roses, the lot β and a good fuck, but it was getting so that I had to simulate my orgasms, and that wouldn't do. Oh no, Sylvia, I thought, that won't do at all.
I stuck my head under the tap, and, when I looked up, in the washroom mirror, I didn't like what I saw. Apart from the shiner, which, in truth, wasn't that bad, and would disappear in a day or two, my hair, normally a long glossy chestnut mane, was straggly and dull. I looked at my watch. It was ten to one, and I didn't think my boss would mind if I shut the door early for once, and went home to sort myself out.
Ten minutes home on my scooter, and I got straight under the shower, where I dallied for fully ten minutes, letting the warm jets bathe my body in their soothing stream. I gave my hair a thorough shampoo and conditioning, then sat naked and went to town on my make-up, doing my very best to conceal the damaged blood-vessels around my eye.
When I slipped back into my bra and panties, I suddenly felt hungry, and heated up a lasagne I found in the fridge. As I sat and ate it, I started to feel better.
Come on, Sylvia, I thought, what are you made of? I chucked the pots in the sink. Jason would be home before me β he could wash up, fuck him!
I went through to the bedroom of our little apartment and started to put on the blouse I had worn that morning, and then had second thoughts. I unclipped my bra, and slipped it off my shoulders, then put on the silk blouse, knowing that the feel of silk next to my naked breasts acted like a tonic. I stepped into my pleated cotton skirt, then decided on a change of footwear as well, discarding the 'sensible' sandals I had worn that morning, in favour of a pair of strappy stilettos I knew made my legs look good. I always felt better when I looked good β didn't everyone?
Back at the boutique, the phone rang, as I was turning the 'Open' sign. It was Susana, the Spanish owner of the store, and quite a lot more like it.
'Sylvia, darling!' she said, 'I was so worried. I called just before lunch, and there was no answer!'
'I'm very sorry, Susana,' I lied, 'I had a dental appointment, and had to close five minutes early.'
'No, darling, it doesn't matter. I wasn't checking up on you, really I wasn't. I just wanted to tell you I'm on the way to see you this afternoon. Just so long as you are alrightβ¦β¦..'
Susana had always been very good to me, and trusted me implicitly. She was a wonderful person to work for, and I looked forward to her visits, but now rushed into the store-room, to check myself in the mirror, and tried again to cover my black eye as best I could, cursing Jason roundly as I worked away with the make-up.
At four o'clock sharp, a taxi pulled up outside, and in walked Susana, bringing with her a cloud of
Guerlain.
She was tallish, probably pushing forty, marginally taller than my 5'7", fashionably slim, with short very dark brown hair, almond-shaped dark brown eyes, and the longest lashes I had ever seen. Her features were classically beautiful, and she knew it, which was always apparent in her bearing. She now wore a soft maroon leather trouser suit, moulding her body like a second skin, and under the jacket of which a white silk blouse could be seen. Her height was accentuated by black patent heels, and the only jewellery she wore were tiny pearl ear-rings.
She embraced me warmly, congratulating me on my sales figures, which, in truth, had been very good lately, then held me by the shoulders, at arms' length.
'But, Sylvia darling, who did that to you? You can't let it happen, you know.'
Tears rose unbidden to my eye-corners, but I didn't reply. The nearness of Susana was having an effect on me that I didn't want to analyse, and I suddenly wanted her to enfold me in her arms. Did I want mothering? No, I didn't! This was something new, an emotion foreign to me, as I looked into Susana's dark eyes. I wanted, quite suddenly, for her to kiss me β would have given a week's salary for her lips to lock onto mine.
'Oh, Sylvia,' she said, her deep voice, with its slightly strange foreign vowels, music in my ears, 'come to dinner with me tonight, at my hotel, please.'
'But my husbandβ¦β¦..' I started.
She raised her eyebrows, and I changed tack, 'I've nothing to wear,' I said, knowing that Susana stayed at the super-posh Imperial, where I couldn't get away with any old rags for dinner.
Susana spread her arms wide, 'We have enough nice things here for you, don't we?'
I just looked at her, not wanting to mention the price-tags all our dresses carried, but she laughed, 'A nice dress will be a part of your bonus, darling. Come, I'll help you choose.'
She walked to the door and casually flipped the sign back to 'Closed' before shepherding me into the big back store where we kept racks of dresses.
Susana knew the ranges intimately, of course, and coursed through the racks of evening gowns until she had found five or six that she thought would suit me. With the store closed, the stock-room had a strange intimacy, and, ridiculous as it seemed, it was all I could do to avoid going into one of the tiny changing cubicles to try on the dresses. I felt Susana's eyes on me as I slipped off my skirt, leaving my blouse until last, now wishing I had put on a bra after all.
But Susana made no comment when I shrugged off my blouse, and reached for the first of the dresses, standing there in just a pair of white silk panties and my stilettos. Nevertheless, I was self-conscious about baring my breasts to her, and saw a faint smile playing on her lips as she realised my embarrassment.