Free All About Charming Alice by J. Arlene Culiner Page A

talking about!”
    Rose forced herself to stay calm. “Jace and I talked about it last night. At your very own front door. He said he wanted to invite you out for dinner, to a really nice place, and he wanted me to find the perfect dress for you. Okay?” Seeing Alice’s horrified expression, Rose lost a little of her breezy self-confidence. She sighed. “I told him this wasn’t going to be easy … ”
    “Oh you did, did you?” Had everyone on the North American continent betrayed her?
    “Yes, I did,” snapped Rose defiantly.
    “He told you I would go out with him before he even asked me?”
    “I guess that’s the way things look,” retorted Rose. “And Jace also said that if you argued about the price, I was to explain it was a present. From him. For taking in Killer.”
    “I never heard anything like this in my whole life!” Alice wanted to scream with rage. “What do you both think you’re doing, plotting behind my back like this?”
    “Plotting? Who’s plotting?” Rose’s voice rose on a high note. “Someone wants to give you a gift and that’s called plotting? You’re plain nuts, Alice Treemont, and I give up! This is a present, right? Jace wanted to give you a present. And you refuse to accept, like always. Okay, go out to dinner in rags, if that’s what you want. Slip into something that looks just about right for washing the floor.” Rose stopped, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. “I’m willing to bet you even argued with Jace about going out to dinner!”
    “How do you know?” Alice felt her fury ebbing away. She’d never seen good-natured Rose angry before
. I manage to ruffle everyone’s fur
, she thought miserably.
    “How do I know? Because that’s what you’re like. You’re always ready to give. You cook for everyone, take care of helpless animals — you’re the first one in this whole state who rushes in when anyone needs help. But you never learned how to take and that’s unfair. Other people like to give too, you know. But you don’t care about that. It’s only
your
pride that counts!”
    Alice was silent for a long moment. Why was everyone ganging up on her? Or perhaps they weren’t? What if Rose was right and she was wrong? Why was life so confusing? Why had her own life become so complicated since Jace had appeared in it? She took a deep breath.
    “Okay,” she said slowly. “Point taken. I guess I’m going to have to work on this.” But, right now, all she wanted to do was get out of this shop.
    “Hey, kid,” Rose looked at her soberly. “I care about you. And maybe Jace does too.”
    “Jace care about me? Nonsense. Rose, you’re dreaming up a love story the way you always do. Jace doesn’t even know me. I don’t know him.”
    “So when you go out to dinner with him tonight, ask questions. Tell him things.”
    “And I can’t accept the dress.”
    “If you refuse, I lose a sale.”
    “This makes me feel like a kept woman.”
    “In that case, you shouldn’t even accept a coffee from me, or dinner from Jace. And what about Pa Handy’s fixing your boiler for free? Does he make you feel like a kept woman too?”
    Alice’s chin jutted out stubbornly. “Pa said he’s going to send me a bill.”
    “He won’t. You know that. Give up, Alice. Try the dress on. I even have a wonderful pair of pointy-toed silver high heels to go with it. Accept what Jace is offering — even if it’s just this once. He’s gorgeous, he’s sexy and he’s nice. And he’s not trying to buy you. He just wants to please you. So … be happy.”
    Alice felt herself relenting. “What if I look awful in it?”
    “It’s not the only dress in the shop, you know,” Rose answered dryly. “And, uh, just one little question, okay?”
    “You’ve got nothing to lose.”
    Rose’s mouth twisted. “It’s about the braids. I mean, you aren’t thinking of wearing your hair in braids tonight, are you? I’m not saying they don’t suit you. They do. And in Blake’s Folly,