On her way home, Rose stopped in at the cosmetics store on Belle Drive: Heights Belles. She wandered through a sea of red lipsticks before she found the right one—exciting, rich, deep red. When she saw the name, she had to laugh. It was called Rose Red; clearly, meant for her. She stood before the Mirror-Mirror and typed in the code of the lipstick, and it showed her how perfectly this shade fit her haircut. But something about seeing herself on a computer screen bothered Rose. In her mind she saw herself on another screen, but wider than this one. She figured maybe she’d accidentally stepped in front of a security camera and seen a reflection of herself, which could be a little disconcerting when you didn’t expect it.
Outside, she got caught in a gentle tornado of fallen leaves; they swirled lightly around her legs and settled at her feet. You are at the center of your life, not the edge, she told herself, but the words seemed to be coming from the same lady she remembered speaking to somewhere—someone with a sort of funny, flat, generic voice.
Rose found herself staring at the Belle Heights Animal Hospital two doors down, in the basement of a building, with windows near the ceiling and apartments up above. She’d told Evelyn she was thinking about getting a job; what a great idea, to work there! After all, she loved animals. Now this was a perfect project, too.
She stopped in and met Stacey, the very pretty twenty-something receptionist, with cropped reddish-brown hair and large brown eyes, and the owner, Dr. Lola, who was tall, though not as tall as Rose, and had dark-blond hair tied back in a scarf that couldn’t hold it all.
“Your timing is uncanny! Somebody just quit,” Dr. Lola said. “Do you have any experience working with animals?”
“Not a whole lot.” Other than taking a couple of Dobermans to the dog run in Belle Heights Park two days ago.
“Why do you want to work here?”
Rose had to think. After a moment she said, “I don’t think people can be happy unless their animals are happy.”
Dr. Lola grinned. “That’s the best answer I ever heard. How old are you? You’ll have to get working papers if you’re under sixteen.”
“I’m fifteen.”
“I can give you temporary papers right away. I can’t pay much. The hours would be Saturday all day and one weekday afternoon, as needed. Can you manage that?”
Rose had to work with Mr. Slocum this week, so she said, “Starting this Saturday.”
“Rouge, come meet Rose! Rose is going to work here.”
Rouge turned out to be a Doberman, too. Rouge meant red—first the lipstick, now the dog, as if the pieces of Rose’s life were magically connected.
Dr. Lola explained that Rouge lived there and gave blood when animals needed transfusions. The brown patches in her coat were a beautiful tawny color.
Rose scratched Rouge under the chin, and the dog leaned her sleek, muscular body against Rose. See? I love animals, she thought, as if someone had walked in on this cozy scene and claimed otherwise.
CHAPTER 5
Rose spent Tuesday evening rummaging through Evelyn’s closet. Evelyn didn’t have a ton of clothes but more of a simple, careful selection, only a few new items but mostly things that had been well cared for over the years. There were basics, like pressed black pants and tailored blouses, and lots of colors, nothing too loud or gaudy, soft purples and browns and blues and pale reds, and a bunch of different textures, mohair sweaters, corduroy shirts, silky skirts, knit shawls that draped Rose’s shoulders, a velvet jacket that felt wonderfully soft, and tweed wool blazers that fit Evelyn at the hips and hit Rose at the waist. She tried on nearly everything (except the kimonos, which Evelyn wore at home, relaxing), even the low-heeled, plain leather shoes with straps at the ankles, which didn’t fit, but there were some old cowboy boots Rose slid right on. Amazing, how good these clothes looked on her, considering that Rose was a few inches taller than Evelyn.
Too bad Evelyn didn’t have that perfect jean jacket.
“I always wanted to share my things with you,” Evelyn said, adjusting the waistband of a silky navy-blue skirt on Rose. “I had a feeling you would look great in them.”
“I guess I got stuck on those old, drab clothes for a while,” Rose said.
“I tried to get you to come shopping in Spruce Hills—”
“I was stubborn, wasn’t I?” Rose laughed, that strange laugh that felt like someone else’s.
“That you were,” Evelyn said.
Before first period the next day, Rose walked over to Astrid and Selena, enjoying the lively swish of a silky skirt, and a light-gray blouse, and cowboy boots. A second skin that fit like the first one. It made her feel better; she’d had a bad moment that morning. The red light had lasted longer instead of immediately fading. But now it felt as if it had never existed.
“I’m seriously dying to go to a Halloween party,” Selena was saying. “I’ve got my costume and everything—a leather jumpsuit and love beads, like the girl singer in the Cadaver Dogs.”
“You’re not gonna wear anything if you don’t have anywhere to go,” Astrid said gloomily.
Selena glanced at Rose. “What do you want?”
“Just saying hi,” Rose said, and got a great idea. “I heard you guys talking about Halloween. Why don’t you come to a party at my house? You know, you and a bunch of other kids.”
Astrid raised an eyebrow.
“I could have a party,” Rose repeated. “I mean, if you can’t have a party at your own houses—”