“Way to go, Luis,” Lilith said, and high-fived the drummer, but as she started down an aisle overflowing with hats, Cam wondered if he’d heard a hint of envy in her voice. Even Luis had a prom date now.
Cam followed Lilith to a high wall of lime-green shelves, impressed that she’d sought out the most interesting section of the store so quickly. Cam had shopped at, donated to, and even worked in at least a hundred vintage stores over the years. He could step inside any one and know where the shoes and light fixtures were and how to find the really cool old suits.
Lilith seemed to have the same gift. She rose onto her toes to slide a three-piece navy pin-striped suit down from the shelf. She held the pants up to Cam, nodding approval. “Thoughts?”
“Dynamite.” He took the suit, then picked through the rest, pausing at a glen-plaid one that was smaller than the others and looked spotless. Cam knew the jacket would plunge enticingly on Lilith, and that the pants would hug her just right.
“Oh, I love this,” she said as he handed it to her. “Do you think I can pull it off?”
“I don’t know if this town can handle how good you will look in that suit,” he said.
“Really?” She examined it, looking for stains. “I’ll try it on.”
Cam flagged a tall lady wearing a name tag. “Would you mind showing us to your changing rooms?”
“In the back,” the woman said, leading Cam and Lilith to a corner sectioned off by a yellow flannel curtain.
“In you go, kid,” Cam said.
The dressing room was a mess, with old frocks and ponchos and fedoras and pajamas sharing hangers and wall pegs. It looked like anything that had been tried on and discarded in the past decade had just been left there in a heap.
“Come on in,” Lilith said, and tugged the curtain closed behind them both.
Inside, the light was different; the incandescent bulbs mellowed to a softer, almost romantic glow through their dusty shades.
“Turn around while I put this on,” she said.
“You don’t want me to wait outside?” Cam asked.
“I told you what I want,” Lilith said. “Turn around.”
Cam followed her instructions. He listened to the sounds she made when she moved, the soft breaths she took, the plunk of her backpack dropping to the floor, the snap of the elastic band when she threw her hair up in a ponytail. Something brushed his shoulder, and he realized Lilith was undressing. With all the clothes heaped back here, there wasn’t much space to move in the dressing room, so as Lilith shimmied out of her jeans, her bare hip bumped against Cam. His wings burned with the urge to let loose.
“You gonna try on your clothes, or what?” Lilith said.
It was a thrilling feeling, knowing there was something dangerously sexy going on behind him but not being able to see any of it, any of her. Cam felt like he and Lilith had a secret, a moment that was just theirs.
“Right.” He pulled off his jacket.
Soon, they were standing bare back to bare back. The touch of Lilith’s skin in the quiet curtained space was transporting. They could have been right back at the Jordan River. His body could recognize each curve of hers unseen.
Did Lilith recognize his, too? Thanks to Lucifer, Cam’s body was nothing like it had been in Canaan, but still, he longed to know if being close like this jogged her memories.
“Yo!” Jean called from outside. “Opinions are required.”
“Just a minute,” Lilith called as she and Cam hurried into their outfits.
Cam zipped up the pin-striped pants, and a moment later, felt her fingertips on his shoulders, swiveling him to face her.
Only Lilith wasn’t wearing the glen-plaid suit. Instead, she’d slipped into a light blue dress, with clean, simple lines. The neck was low but not plunging. Its hemline danced against the middle of her thigh. She must have just found it in the dressing-room pile, but it looked as if it had been sewn especially for her.
“You look beautiful,” he said.
“Thanks,” Lilith said. She eyed his suit, which felt like it had been made for the old Cam—not his current body. “It looked promising on the rack,” she said politely. “But it’s kind of giving you a used-car-salesman vibe.”
“That’s perfect,” he said, “because you look like a sexpot fifties housewife in the market for a secondhand Cadillac.”
“Ew,” Lilith shrieked, but she was laughing. “Take that off immediately before its seediness rubs off on you permanently.”
“What should I put on instead?” Cam asked, laughing too.
“Anything else!” Lilith grabbed a gray wool poncho with yellow and orange flowers from a peg on the wall at the back of the dressing room. It looked like it had once belonged to a Mexican desperado. “Here!”
Cam reached behind a voluminous green bathrobe and pulled out a pink, satiny Hawaiian hula dress. “Only if you try this on.”
“I accept your challenge,” Lilith said playfully and took the dress. She motioned with her pointer finger for Cam to turn around.