Page 29 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper

Chloe

Just a few minutes before, Chloe had been in Ricky’s black town car.

“Thanks for driving me,” she said.

“No problem,” Ricky said. “The car service’s garage is in Queens, so you weren’t that far out of the way. But I would have been happy to pick you up anyway.”

“Ooh, do you think they need any help at the garage?” Chloe said. “I’m not a mechanic, but I could do other things—answer phones, wash cars… I’m still applying for permanent jobs, but in the meantime, I’m trying to pick up whatever else I can. My rent’s going up.”

“Actually, I think someone in the office quit this week,” Ricky said. “I’ll put in a word for you.”

“I appreciate it, Ricky.”

He smiled at her. “We’re all better when we look out for each other, right?”

As soon as Ricky dropped her off in front of Bergdorf Goodman and drove away, Chloe’s phone rang. It was Zac.

“Chloe… I’m sorry. I have to cancel today.”

“What? But I’m already here. You said you’d meet me.”

“I know,” Zac said. “But an opportunity’s come up—I scooped the Winston family foundation account, and I have to stay at the office to work on it.”

“I can’t go in there alone. I don’t belong in a store like this.”

“Sure you can. And you do belong there. I have a Bergdorf account and you can charge anything you want. So walk in like you own the place. But I have to run, Chloe. Have fun, all right?”

Zac hung up without saying goodbye—why had that become a thing that people did?—and Chloe sighed before she tucked her phone into her purse and looked up at the intimidating Bergdorf Goodman window display.

“Are you okay?” someone asked from behind her.

She whirled around and came face-to-face with the guy from Little Tokyo, the one who’d bought her a caramel cappuccino then rudely ended their brief acquaintance. Chloe eyed him warily.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said. “But… you make this little squeaking sound when you’re upset—”

“I do not.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek. “I’m sorry to inform you, but you do. And you just did.”

Chloe pretended to be outraged, but only to cover the fact that she found it surprisingly endearing that this grump had noticed something about her in the very short time they’d spent with each other.

“This is the third time we’ve run into each other,” she said, “so I think we should at least introduce ourselves. I’m Chloe. And you are?”

He hesitated.

But then he said, “Tolly.” He winced, as if the name pained him.

She let it go without comment, though, because he obviously hadn’t meant for her to see it.

“Well, Tolly, I’m glad you’re here, even though I’m not sure you like me much, based on our last two run-ins.

You may not believe in coincidences, but I do.

And right now, I need someone like you in a dapper suit to make me look respectable, so that I can buy a dress in a place like Bergdorf Goodman.

” She gestured at her current outfit, a satin camisole and a maxi skirt she’d sewn herself from swatches of pastel silk.

“My suit is from a two-for-one sale at Men’s Wearhouse, so I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” Tolly said. “Besides, you don’t need me. You look…” His eyes skimmed her body, and his voice trailed off, lips slightly parted.

She felt his gaze as if he were actually trailing his fingers over her skin, and without meaning to, her mouth parted, too, matching his. Maybe he liked her more than he let on.

But then Tolly swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing, and said brusquely, “They won’t kick you out of the store. You look presentable enough.”

Chloe wilted.

But what had she been expecting? Besides, she’d made it clear over coffee that she was dating someone. She hadn’t clarified, either, that it wasn’t serious, that she’d been seeing him less than two months.

“Earth to Chloe?” Tolly said, waving his hand in front of her face. “Were you planning on actually going into the store today, or were you just going to lurk outside?”

“So that means you’ll do it?” She smiled and, before he could change his mind, she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

The second the door swung shut behind them, Chloe was really glad Tolly was with her, because Bergdorf Goodman was about ten tiers above any store she’d ever stepped foot inside.

The floors were made of marble, and ornate chandeliers—probably handcrafted by an artisan in Italy or something—hung from the ceilings.

The sleek glass displays were like museum exhibitions, and the customers looked like they’d all just robbed Tiffany’s, there were so many diamonds on display.

A salesman in the closest department gave Chloe and Tolly a quick once-over and then angled away, clearly broadcasting that he didn’t think they could afford anything there. Chloe flushed.

Tolly glared at him. “He’d be lucky if he got to wait on you.” There was a hint of a growl in the back of Tolly’s throat, and she could feel the muscles of his arm tensing as if preparing for a fight.

She liked it.

It reminded her of her first love, Oliver. He’d been so protective of Chloe, even if it was something as small as being made fun of during show-and-tell in second grade.

And then when they were teens, she’d liked making her own clothes, and she would drag Oliver with her for hours to the fabric store.

He’d hated it. But he had loved spending time with her more, so he’d come every time.

Besides, he would pay her back by making her quiz him for math competitions.

She’d actually learned trigonometry by osmosis, just by being in the same room as Oliver and all his textbooks.

Tolly had actually reminded Chloe of her childhood best friend, at least his eyes. That is, until their unsuccessful conversation over coffee last time. Tolly was way too tight-laced, nothing like her Oliver, who had been chatty and always easy to smile.

Chloe’s heart dipped at the memories, but she scolded herself. This isn’t your Oliver, silly. He disappeared without a trace, remember? He didn’t contact you once in sixteen years. He didn’t want you.

Stupid, that it still hurt sixteen years later. But isn’t that what first love did to you? Engulfed you whole and shook you senseless, so that even half a lifetime later, you still felt the vibrations of that love beneath your skin?

“Found a store directory,” Tolly said. “Looks like you want the fourth floor.”

Chloe made herself push away the past, relegating it to the dusty corners of her mind again, and she smiled at Tolly as they took the escalator.

As soon as they walked into the evening wear department, Chloe let out a happy (and undignified) shriek.

Tolly laughed. “You sound like my nephews in a candy store.”

She couldn’t speak, so she just nodded. Rows and rows of deep jewel-toned dresses. Fluffy pink confections. Slinky mermaid-tailed gowns.

Chloe walked into their midst as if in a trance, touching all the different fabrics. Red satin. Emerald-green silk. Real peacock feathers.

Tolly walked in the row parallel to hers, plainly amused at how happy this was making her.

“Hello there.” A saleswoman stepped in front of Chloe. Unlike the stuck-up man downstairs, this woman looked approvingly at Chloe and Tolly. “What are we shopping for today?”

“D-dress,” Chloe managed to say.

“She’s going to a party,” Tolly said, since she obviously needed help with speaking right now.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” the woman said. “I’m Greta, and I would be happy to help you today. How formal? A summer garden frock, an evening cocktail dress, or a ball gown for the opera?”

Tolly tilted his head at Chloe. This one he wouldn’t be able to answer for her, because she hadn’t told him. She pulled her brain together.

“Formal-ish,” Chloe said. “Something in between cocktail hour and a ball. I’m thinking something long.”

“But with personality,” Tolly added from over the next row of dresses.

Greta looked at Chloe’s multicolored skirt.

“Absolutely. It would be a shame to hide you in a somber black sheath. Would you like to browse on your own? Or if you’d like, I can take you back to a dressing room and get you some glasses of champagne to enjoy while I pull some gowns off the racks and bring them to you? ”

Chloe’s eyes went wide. Is this what Bergdorf life was like? If so, then yes, please.

Greta led them to a cream-colored suite with elegant white crown molding where the wall met the ceiling.

It was nicer—and bigger—than Chloe and Becca’s living room.

There were two plush chairs and a small carved wooden table, and then in a connected room separated by a door, there was a huge three-panel mirror complete with the fancy kind of raised step that Chloe had only ever seen in movies.

“Looks like you’ve got it from here,” Tolly said, moving back in the direction of the escalators.

“No! Please, stay,” Chloe said.

“I probably shouldn’t—”

“Please?” She might’ve been like a kid in a candy store, but she still felt like a kid—she didn’t quite belong here without someone else by her side. “You can sit in this outside room and enjoy the free champagne and just be moral support. I won’t take too long, I promise.”

Tolly looked skeptically from the suite to the exit behind him.

Chloe squeaked.

He snorted. “Did you do that on purpose to manipulate me?”

She bit back a laugh. “Maybe?”

“You know, that’s not how the real squeak sounds.”

Chloe couldn’t help laughing now. “Well, I tried. So you’ll stay?”

He nodded, the right corner of his mouth lifting, and Chloe’s stomach fluttered, because that’s how her Oliver used to smile at her.

He didn’t have a monopoly on crooked smiles, Clo .

Right.

“Well, cheers,” Tolly said, once Greta had left them with a bottle of champagne in an ice-filled bucket. It was the real stuff, too, from France, not cheap supermarket prosecco.

“Cheers,” Chloe said, taking a long, bubbly sip. “Can you believe this?”

He shook his head. “You implied you’d never been in a store like this. So how are we affording this? And by we, I mean you?”