As we exited the arcade Sam still held on to my hand. “Which direction is the costume store?” Sam asked excitedly.
Instead of responding to her question I just fixed my gaze on our intertwined hands. “Seriously which...” Sam cut herself off when she realized what I was staring at. She quickly yanked her hand away from mine as her face went red with embarrassment. “Shut up!” She said trying to sound tough.
“I didn’t say anything.” I said with a grin. “Anyways the costume shop is down that way.” I said pointing to the end of the mall where the shop was located. “I can hold your hand on the way there if you are worried about getting lost.” I said in a teasing tone.
“Ha Ha. Very funny.” Sam said rolling her eyes.
On our way to the costume store my phone dinged with a text. It was a text from Ali at the coffee shop. She wanted to know if I was still up for bikini shopping with her and Sandy tonight. With as crazy as the day had been, I almost forgot about those two. I sent her a text back saying that I would meet up with them at 5pm, which was only a few hours from now. Luckily the place they wanted to meet at was here in the mall so I could just hang out with Sam until it was time to meet them. “Maybe I should bring Sam along.” I thought as I saw Ali’s smiley face response pop up on my phone.
“Wait.” I said stopping before heading into the costume shop. “How is this going to work?” I asked Sam.
“What do you mean? I get to pick a costume to try on. How is this that complicated?” Sam said.
“Well I don’t want any accidental changes happening if I am shopping with you. We don’t know how this all works, so who knows what could happen....” My phone started ringing. Not recognizing the number I quickly silenced it. “Anyways, who knows what could happen in there.” My phone dinged signaling that I had a voicemail. “Ugh. Let me check this real quick.” I said as I pulled up the voicemail.
The voicemail was from the old woman who had given me the ring. I listened as she explained how she showed up at my office, but I wasn’t there. Apparently my co-workers had explained the last minute day off, and she wanted to meet tomorrow. She ended the message by saying to call her back....
“Sam, I have an idea. I need to call this person back ASAP. So why don’t you go in and find a costume to try on while I make his phone call. I’ll come in and find you once I’m done. Then you can try on your costume for me.” Before I finished speaking Sam was already heading into the store. “Sounds good!” Sam said as she hurried inside.
I called the old woman back and after a bit of chatting we decided to meet up tomorrow morning for a Saturday brunch. As the call ended I was surprised to see that we had talked 15 minutes. “I bet Sam has a costume by now.” I thought as I dropped my phone into my pocket and headed in to see what Sam had found.