Retail therapy

She can’t believe that she allowed herself to be talked into this; this is not what she wanted to do with her Saturday, and she is really not sure how this turned into the event that it has. It was bad enough that she had to go shopping for work outfits and she really wanted it to be a quick in and out affair, well at least as quick as possible but she had been out of the workforce for a while and so far she feels that her new work colleagues are judging everything about her as being too out of touch so she thought she could benefit from a second opinion about what she should be buying and was worried enough about it that she made the colossal mistake of mentioning this to Gabrielle. It was meant to be a throw away comment and she really did have every intention of this being a solo outing, she would have asked Bree but wasn’t sure that it would be appropriate, she is not really familiar with the rules of this whole mourning period but if anyone is, it would be Bree and that just increases the chances of offending her, something that is she feels uncomfortable about nowadays. Somehow Gabby took her musing to mean that she should organize a mammoth shopping expedition and has invited everyone that she has ever met, well that could be a slight exaggeration but come it think of it, she has no idea exactly how many people Gabby asked, she is just aware that far too many of them said yes.

By the time they get to the car park Lynette’s more than ready to turn around and go home but she is actually the one that needs to go shopping and she might as well get it done. She spent the drive here trying to tune out the conversation in the car and becoming increasingly irritated with herself for not having put the kibosh on this from the start, rather than let it reach the point where she is driving four other women to the mall for a shopping trip that, while in name is about her, she seems to be the only one not interested in attending. For the last few miles she has been praying to become invisible or at least deaf but sadly neither of these things have happened and by the time she manages to find a car park, an act that required a Mexican standoff and then a game of chicken with another car - sometimes there are perks to having an SUV – she had moved on to praying for death.

Everybody else seems infinitely more excited about the day than she does, Gabby practically bounds out of the car and is bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waits for the others to exit the vehicle. Lynette tries to force her sunglasses further back on her nose and while this diminishes the glare it doesn’t actually stop her from being able to see spectacle in front of her. Gabrielle is apparently determined to turn this into some sort of pseudo-sorority activity, complete with rules and challenges, “So guys, seeing as how Lynette has to buy clothes that aren’t really her,” she resents this implication but really can’t be bothered to point out to Gabby that she didn’t actually hatch from an egg as a frazzled mother of four who lives in casual wear, “I thought we should all try on things that aren’t really us, things that we don’t normally wear.”

Edie seems suddenly interested in the conversation, “So you mean that Susan would have to show some form of style because I am not sure that that is even possible. But I can’t wait to force Bree to wear underwear that isn’t coordinated, spending today with the four of you may not be so bad after all.”

She watches as Bree’s mouth hardens but Bree doesn’t respond and so she does it for her, “You didn’t have to come and if we are going to go with Gabby’s mandate it would mean that you would have to wear underwear for once in your life, do you think you can cope with that?”

Edie doesn’t seem in any way offended, in fact she flashes a large grin in response and adds, “Well I guess I could try it just this once but I don’t see it becoming a habit,” before flouncing off towards the mall entrance.

The others follow suit and Bree falls into step beside her and hisses, “You don’t have to defend me, I can fight my own battles, I lost my husband, not my ability to think or speak, if I had wanted to say something I would have.”

It hadn’t really occurred to her that what she said would have upset Bree, “I just say these things. How do you know I was defending you and not Susan?” Bree flashes her a spectacular look of incredulity that screams ‘come on now’ and she feels compelled to acknowledge that Bree is right, “Fine, it was about defending you but that’s not because I think your widowhood renders you incapable of it, you have always been far to polite to respond to things like that and what is the point in having a friend like me if you can’t use me to say the things that you want to but don’t? I could have said so many other things, I could have told Gabby that she could only try on things that were on sale because she has to learn to be frugal now, that they couldn’t be designer label and couldn’t show cleavage and that this wouldn’t kill her. I could have told Susan that instead of trying on clothes may be she could eat something, that we all know that she can’t cook but she really needs to eat because she is starving her brain and it needs all the help it can get and that Mike isn’t going to leave her if she has a cookie. I could have had an absolute field day with the things I said to Edie, let’s face it, what I said was mild but if you want I can go and tell them everything,” she is almost excited at the prospect, so much so that she is all but skipping along, Bree just shakes her head and smiles enigmatically as she links her arms through Lynette’s. Lynette resumes her normal walking pace but her heart continues to skip out of control.

The day is as punishing as she expected it to be, by the time they sit down for lunch she is caffeine deficient and her feet ache but there have been moments that weren’t so terrible. She doesn’t get to be silly and girly often and it feels kind of good, trying on ridiculously over priced hats and outlandish sunglasses shouldn’t be any where near as fun as it is. Still, she would rather spend the rest of the afternoon sitting down mainlining coffee than return to the stores and Susan has to drag her to her feet before she is willing to relinquish her chair.

Attraction is a strange, strange thing. She is shopping with four women, none of whom are unattractive, in fact Gabby used to be a model and yet she has no desire to smooth down Gabby’s outfits, just as excuse to be near her, the way she does with Bree. Their little shopping challenge has resulted in the girls being able to talk Bree into a few skin tight and revealing outfits and it has been difficult to resist her urge to touch her. Bree hasn’t made it any easier, at times she has asked her to zip or button her up and she is almost certain that Bree is doing this on purpose in order to punish her.

She stands outside the change rooms, waiting for the others to emerge in the swimwear that there are currently trying on. There was pressure for her to join them but she managed to argue her way out of this successfully and expertly, she’s knows her figure isn’t bad but she is not up for that kind of comparison today. Bree emerges first and looks jaw-droppingly spectacular, literally. She is dangerously close to drooling as her eyes roam over Bree’s body. Suddenly Bree grabs her arm and yanks her into the cubicle and locks the door behind them. She is pleased that the dressing room has a real door and a lock, rather than a curtain, because she doesn’t really want to explain to the others why she is unable to stop herself from running her fingers over the planes of Bree’s stomach.

Bree grabs her hands and steps back, “Lynette you really need to get yourself under control, what if one of the others had of come out of their dressing room and saw you standing there looking at me like that?”

The words seem like an admonishment but there is a spark in Bree’s eyes that Lynette hasn’t seen for some time and she can’t help but flirt with her, “I would have told them that I wanted to eat you up with a spoon, which would be the truth.”

“So you like what you see?”

“Of course I do and I would kind of like to get back to touching you,” she is not sure how far Bree will let this go but she will take it as far as Bree lets her.

“I want to get back to that too but now is not really the time.”

“You have spent all day encouraging me to touch you and now you are going to tell me that I can’t, I……….” her words disappear into the kiss that Bree initiates and the only sound she is capable of is the moan that is now resonating loudly due to their small confines.

Bree pulls away and place a finger over Lynette’s lips, “Shhhhh they’ll hear you.”

“Then you shouldn’t have kissed me like that.”

“So now it’s my fault?”

“Absolutely.” Bree laughs and places a kiss on her nose. “It’s good to hear you laugh, I’ve missed that sound, you haven’t done it for a while.”

“There are a few things that I haven’t done for a while,” she responds pulling Lynette closer to her. “I think I am ready to rectify that.”

“So the moratorium on sex is over?”

“I think so. I am sorry if this has been hard for you, I didn’t want you to feel I was pushing you aside but I needed to grieve and I don’t think it would have been appropriate to be sleeping with you while I was doing that.”

“So you’ve completed all the grieving now? It’s not really been that long Bree.”

“I am always going to miss him and I am always going to feel bad about the way things happened but I don’t feel so raw and I don’t feel like it’s such a crime to feel happy anymore.”

“And I make you happy?”

“Very.”

“Good,” she makes her approval evident by pushing the bikini straps off Bree’s shoulders.

“Slow down Casanova, when I said I was ready, I didn’t mean right this second, you need to go outside because you have been in here far too long as it is.”

“You expect me to just walk outside, obviously you have no idea just how hot you look right now.”

“If it helps, I’ll buy it and model it for you when we are alone but you have to go right now,” she unlocks the door, “and try to think of a decent excuse when the girls ask you what you have been doing in here?”

Susan and Gabby are not in sight but Edie watches her emerge and greats her with a bemused look, “So Lynette I take it shopping wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.”

She knows that her skin is flushed and she silently curses Bree for whispering in her ear before pushing her out the door but Edie can draw whatever conclusions that she wishes, no-one is likely to believe her and even if they did, right now the thought of being with Bree is worth whatever repercussions that it might bring, “You know what, it really wasn’t, in fact I think I could grow to like this whole shopping thing.”