Free All About Charming Alice by J. Arlene Culiner

“No!”
    “What? This is incredible. Now what have I done? Asked you to have dinner with me? Not to go cook Killer.”
    “I don’t go out for dinner.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because if anyone sees us, they’ll all start talking. They’ll link us together and I hate — absolutely
hate
— being a topic of gossip. You don’t know what you’re up against. This is Blake’s Folly and here … ”
    He didn’t let her finish. “Too bad. Tonight we’re going out. Together. And not to the local diner either. I’m taking you to Lucy’s. I heard it’s the best restaurant in the desert.”
    “Lucy’s? You can’t do this, Jace!”
    “Have a nice day, Alice.”
    “Jace … ” Her voice, almost plaintive now, followed him down the corridor. “I don’t have anything to wear to a place like Lucy’s.”
    “I’ve got a great idea,” he called back. “Go see Rose.” He wondered what Alice’s tall, thin figure would look like in elegant clothes, in anything but those faded, shapeless print dresses; she seemed to possess an endless collection of them. Thin? No, she wasn’t thin. Those long legs and long arms only gave you that impression. Slender. And lanky. He smiled.
    It was only when he was finally driving down the main road in the direction of the Winterback Mine that he remembered the warm blueberry muffins, and realized how hungry he was. He’d forgotten to eat breakfast.

Chapter Six
    “Look, Alice. Just look at this dress. It’s the one I told you about.” Rose’s eyes were shinning as she held out the long sleek tube of burgundy silk.
    “I can’t wear something like that,” Alice moaned.
    “Why? Why can’t you?” said Rose. She was feeling more and more exasperated by the minute. No matter what she suggested, Alice quashed all with a wall of negatives.
    “Because … because … Oh, I don’t know. Because it’s not me!”
    “Of course you don’t think it’s you,” Rose said earnestly. “You’ve been so busy wallowing in the swamp of unadulterated frumpiness for so many years now, you can’t imagine, even for a minute, that you could do something else!”
    “And I thought we were friends.”
    “We are. If I were your enemy, I’d keep you in those awful frocks you hide yourself in. I don’t need competition.”
    “What competition?” Alice gaped at Rose. “What kind of a joke is that?”
    “Alice, sweetie, just stop arguing. Okay?”
    “Look Rose, I can’t pay for a silk dress. Not even a secondhand one. And I bet, even secondhand, this one costs a fortune. It’s pure nineteen-forties chic.”
    “We haven’t talked money. And I never imagined you were a wealthy woman.” Rose smiled.
    “You’re not giving it to me!” Alice was vehement. “Because I won’t accept.”
    “If I gave away the things in this shop, I’d die of starvation.”
    “You’re lending it?” Her eyes searched Rose’s face, and she wondered if she imagined seeing a certain embarrassment.
    “I’m not a lending library either,” Rose answered.
    “Well then, you just tell me the price, please.” There was almost a pleading note in Alice’s voice. A dress like this wouldn’t come cheap. It was beautiful, and she’d love to wear it. But she had such a hard time making ends meet. Why didn’t Rose show more sympathy?
    Jace too, for that matter! He was impossible, didn’t have the faintest idea how things worked out here. Soon enough, everyone in the state of Nevada would be linking his name to hers, making them into a permanent couple. Then Jace would go zooming back to his fancy Chicago world, leaving her behind, and everyone would pity her as the rejected woman. The one who’d been dumped by that handsome and very famous writer who’d stayed just long enough for a quick adventure.
    “Alice, just try the dress on, okay? I told Jace I thought you’d look great in it.”
    Alice stared at her friend, open-mouthed. Then she exploded. “Jace? What does Jace have to do with this! What are you