1 Dead Girl's Guide to Style (10 page)

It was the next day at work and I was going through my mail when movement caught my attention. I looked toward the door and saw that Caitlin was coming through. She wasn’t alone though. She had a blonde woman with her who looked to be twenty-five. Well, that was unless the woman was a vampire and then I didn’t know how old she was. She could have been thirty or two hundred and thirty years old for all I knew.

There was something vaguely familiar about her.
“What’s going on?” I asked as Caitlin practically dragged the woman across the shop toward me.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and I knew that she wasn
’t happy with the situation.

“This is Carrie Conrad,” Caitlin said with a tilt of her head. “I found her w
andering up and down the sidewalk in front of your shop. When I asked her what was wrong she said that she wanted to come in here, but that she was too afraid.”

I frowned. “Why would you be afraid?”

Carrie looked away. “I don’t know.”

I exchanged a look with Caitlin. She shrugged. “I told her you would be happy to help her. That
’s what you’re here for, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, of course I’d be happy to help you.”

“See, I told you,” Caitlin said.

The woman didn’t respond. She looked as if she was on stage with a bad case of stage fright.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Carrie. My name is Hadley. I am a stylist and personal life coach for newly turned vampires. Is that what happened to you?” I asked.

She nodded, but still avoided my stare.

This was going to be a difficult conversation. “Okay, well, how long have you been back?”

“A couple days,” she said
, still looking at her plain black shoes.

I stared at the ugly shoes and then frowned. “Well, I
’m glad you decided to come by today. I can get a form for you to fill out so that I can know a little more about you.”

She looked at me with horror.

“I promise the information is just so I can help you,” I added.

After
I gave her the papers, she stood at the counter with a confused look, then finally started writing.

I pulled Caitlin to the side. “So where did you find her again?”

“She was pacing back and forth in front of your door. I’m surprised you didn’t notice her.”

I glanced back at Carrie. “Yeah, me too. She’s a bit strange, huh? I wonder what her story is.”

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” Caitlin said with a smile.

“If there’s any way possible, you know I will.”

“She definitely needs your help.” Caitlin scrunched her face as she looked at Carrie’s outfit.

“Yes, the color doesn’t really work for her, huh?”

“No, you can say that again.”

“I wonder how long she had been out
there?” I asked.

Caitlin shrugged. “Probably not too long. It would have attracted attention.”

“Yeah, I wonder how she found me,” I said.

“I don’t know. Something tells me she didn’t Google you. It’s a confusing time when you return, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s harder on some than others. I was lucky that it wasn’t that difficult for me.”

“I heard you were wild when you came back,” she said.

I waved my hand. “Oh, don’t believe those silly stories you hear. Just people making up things,” I said.

Caitlin snorted. “Yeah
, sure, whatever you say.”

“I don’t care if you believe me, but it’s the truth.”

Carrie looked up from her paper. “I was too afraid to come in.”

Caitlin and I moved closer. I hadn’t thought she could hear our conversation, but obviously I had been wrong. I had no idea why she would have been so terrified of coming into my shop. But I guess
ed it could be overwhelming for some people to pick out their clothing and navigate all the other aspects of being a vampire. There was a lot of stuff to learn. Heck, I was still trying to figure it out myself.

I took the paper from her outstretched hand. “Thank you so much,” I said as I looked down at her answers.

“I need help,” Carrie said.

“Well, never fear, I can help you. That’s my job. I have helped a lot of vampires.” I attempted my best cheerful attitude, hoping it would reassure her.

Caitlin nodded. “She has helped a lot. She even helped that one vampire who stars in that soap opera. What’s her name?”

“Sandra Dixon,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Caitlin wiggled her finger. “The tabloids have even taken photos of her in outfits that Hadley picked out.”

Carrie nodded. “Thank you.”

I could tell that Carrie had no idea who the actress was. She wasn’t much of a talker, but we could work on that. I walked around her and looked her up and down. She wrapped her arms across her chest as if she could hide that way.

Carrie was a beautiful woman. All I needed to do was help her pick out the clothing that made her happy. Happiness was the most important part about fashion.

Without saying another word, Carrie marched over to the sofa and plopped down. She held her hand up to her forehead like she had a case of the vapors.

“I just don’t know what to do,” she said with a dramatic drawl.

“I know it can be difficult to go from one style of clothing and then have to figure out the new style when you return. That’s why I’m here so that you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll make it much easier for you.” I smiled.

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the sofa. “Well, I certainly hope you can help.”

I sat down on the chair across from her. “So what do you need help with the most? Do you want help with clothing? Or with style in general? Maybe with any type of shopping problems you might have.”

She rubbed her temples. “It’s all so overwhelming.”

Yeah, she’d already said that part. I wished she’d tell me what was wrong. While I waited for her to look at me again, I glanced down at the paper again and read over her answers. Her favorite color was black and for style she’d written the word ‘boring’. That didn’t give me much to go on.

She sat up and stared at me. “To be honest, I need help with being a vampire. I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know what to do when I want blood. What do I do with my fangs when they pop out? What other vampire stuff do I not know about? I didn’t get instructions.”

“Well, there isn’t a manual,” I said with a wave of my hand.

Although now that she mentioned it that wasn’t such a bad idea. I’d have to write that down in my book of ideas.

“How do I behave around other vampires?” She paused. “Men vampires,” she whispered.

Well, I wasn’t much on dating advice. I wasn’t sure I could help her in that department. I
’d told her I could help her with anything, but that was the one thing I didn’t want to help with.

“Was there someone specific that you had in mind?” I asked reluctantly.

She looked down, avoiding my stare again. That let me know that there was a certain someone.

“I’m looking for him. He’s just recently back too. He’s very handsome and nice too. I think he likes me, but I’m not sure.”

I glanced down at her paper again. “Well, I bet some new clothes would give you the confidence you need to tell him how you feel.”

She waved her hands. “Oh, I don’t know that I could ever tell him how I feel if that’s what you mean.”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I think you’d be surprised.”

I gathered a couple pieces of clothing that looked like they would fit her. “Why don’t you try on this outfit and see how you feel. I bet it’ll make you feel better right away. He’ll notice your confidence too,” I said with a smile.

She looked down again and then finally clutched the clothing in her arms. She tossed the items on the sofa and made her way toward the door quickly. Caitlin ran after her, grabbing her just as she was about to make it out the door.

“Not so fast,” Caitlin said.

Carrie released a heavy sigh as Caitlin brought her back over. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said.

I picked up the clothing and pushed her toward the dressing room. I would have to force her in there she was like a scared cat. “It’s just a couple of outfits. If you don’t like them then you don’t have to wear them,” I said.

After pushing her in the dressing room, I leaned against the closed door in case she tried to run again. “You’ll be fine. Just try on the first outfit and then let us take a look at it on you.”

“Oh, I don’t think I can do that,” she said.

Caitlin shook her head. “Don’t make me come in there.”

I waved my hand. “You have to be gentle with her.”

“Yeah, right,” Caitlin said with a ton of sarcasm.

There was a lot of bumping around from the other side of the door.

“Are you okay in there?” I asked. I hoped she wasn’t trying to crawl over the top and escape.

After a few more seconds, Carrie stepped out of the room wearing the blue dress.

“It looks great on you,” I said.

Caitlin nodded. “I wish I could wear that color.”

Carrie brushed off our comments with a wave of her hand. Turning around, she disappeared into the dressing room again. After a couple minutes, she stepped out from the room again. This time she had on the same outfit she had stumbled in the shop wearing. The one thing missing though was her shoes. She’d left them in the room.

“What happened to the other outfit?” I asked.

“I don’t think I’d like that one,” she said.

All of a sudden her fangs popped out. She slapped her hand over her mouth.

“See,” she mumbled. “I don’t know why that happened.”

Caitlin and I exchanged a look. I wasn’t sure why it had happened either. There had to be someone who could give her answer
s, but it wasn’t me.

Carrie raced over to the window and I followed her. She still held her hand up to her mouth
, covering her fangs.

“Did you see something?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, but I felt something strange. It was like someone was looking in the window at us.”

I instantly felt my fangs appear. That was strange. I’d never had that happen before.
The only way I could explain that my fangs had that reaction was that I’d felt threatened. Usually I knew this before it happened though. This time it did it involuntarily.

“I need help with my fangs,” Carrie said.

I didn’t think I could help her with that situation. Finding the right outfit, yes, but dealing with faulty fangs wasn’t my thing.

“I don
’t know what to say.” I touched her arm.

She whipped around. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to help.”

Her comment made me feel bad. Nowhere in my advertising had I stated that I could help people with that kind of problem. It wasn’t really fair for her to think that I could either.

Carrie grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” I called out.

She glanced back. “I have to go. I’m sorry for wasting your time. I have to find him.”

Carrie threw the door open and I called out. “Who do you have to find?”

My question didn’t stop her because this time she didn’t look back.

I looked at Caitlin. “She had the blue dress.”

Caitlin shook her head. “Do you want to go after her?”

I frowned. “No, maybe she’ll return it.”

“Well, she did leave her shoes behind.”

I scowled. “Not much good, are they? I will save them and maybe she’ll come back for them.”

“I have a feeling we’ll see her again,” Caitlin said.

“That certainly was a strange situation. What do you think happened?”

“It looked as if she saw someone or something when she looked out the window,” Caitlin said.

I peered out the window again. Carrie was nowhere in sight. “Well, I don’t see her or anything unusual now. I don’t know what she could have seen.”

“There’s no telling. She might act that way all the time.”

For a moment, I was lost in thought as I stared out the window. Something on the sidewalk caught my attention, so I stepped out the door. I reached down and picked up the photo from the sidewalk.

“What is it?” Caitlin asked from over my shoulder.

I stared at the photo in disbelief. The faces looking back at me from the picture were Max and Carrie. They were dressed from the time period and looked just as they did today. I knew that it had to have been taken a short time before they were turned. Obviously they had known each other. Carrie was looking for someone and I figured the person she was looking for was Max. How did they know each other? That was when I remembered she mentioned that she had feelings for someone. No doubt that person had to be Max. At that moment my stomach turned.

“It’s a photo of Max and Carrie,” I said, handing the photo to Caitlin.