The Project

It was nearly midday. The air conditioning had been fixed and Julia had a productive morning in her office. She put down the report she'd been reading with a sigh of relief. She typed a quick email to Steven.

Hi, are you ready to shop until you drop? She received a reply thirty seconds later.

You didn't warn me about the "drop" part. But I'm ready whenever you are." She met him downstairs a few minutes later. He smiled automatically when he saw her. "So, where are we going?"

"I have a couple of menswear stores in mind. Let's get going, Ken."

He glared at her. "If you're going to call me Ken I get to call you Barbie."

"Fair enough," she laughed. They left the building together and walked the two blocks to the nearest retail area. It was fairly windy outside, typical of Wellington. But the sun was shining and the sidewalks were crowded with office workers on their lunch breaks.

They arrived at the first menswear shop and went inside. Julia scanned the store and zeroed in on the business shirts. She pick out a dark blue shirt with vertical stripes. "How about something like this," she suggested, holding it up to him in front of the mirror.

"I guess," he said hesitantly.

"You don't like stripes?" she asked.

"No, stripes are fine," he stammered.

"Good, why don't you try this on. What's your shirt size?"

"Um…I don't know."

She frowned and examined him with an analytical eye. He was lean, with a flat stomach, but not overly skinny. "Take a forty and a forty-two," she said finally. She passed him the shirts.

A sales assistant approached with a determined glint in his eye, as if he could smell an imminent sale. "Can I help you with anything?" he asked in a condescending tone.

"Yes, he would like to try these on please," she replied. She handed over the shirts. "And can you measure him for pants?"

"What?" Steven asked, startled. She turned to him and raised one eyebrow. "Would you rather I do it?" "Uh, no, that's all right," he said quickly.

The sales assistant led him towards the fitting rooms. "Your girlfriend obviously has good taste," he commented loudly. She didn't hear Steven's reply but it was probably an embarrassed denial about the girlfriend part.

Julia hung around outside the fitting rooms while Steven tried on the clothes. "Let me see when you've got them on," she instructed.