- 2 -

The temperature dropped fifteen degrees in two hours.

I parallel parked beside the antique store, exhaling heavily and fighting to collect my racing thoughts. Vlad watched me silently, his arms wrapped around the paper bag of toiletries I'd shoveled into a shopping basket ten minutes before. When he commented on the receipt – of course I'd forgotten to hide it before offering him the bag for his inspection – I told him that I'd just broken $5000 in my savings account for the first time and that this was a better use for it than inevitably hoarding stationary and action figures.

"Okay." His expression was neutral when I looked at him once more. "This place has really nice clothes. Not as nice as I'm sure you wear, but it's the closest we have. Um, what size do you wear?"

The man's eyes narrowed. He stared at the dashboard for long seconds as tiny, reflective specks appeared on the windshield.

My anxiety climbed the silence, lifting my heartbeat into my throat. "Suits and formal jackets are measured by shoulder width, aren't they? I'm not…"

He tensed silently when I leaned across the console and rested my hands on his shoulders, thumbs splayed across his chest to try to approximate the distance. Freezing, I looked into his eyes.

"S-sorry." I pulled back, heart thundering in my ears. His icy gaze bored into me as I looked at my lap. My hands were suddenly shaking.

"No. It's … it's all right."

"I, um, I'll get you a few things. A formal jacket or two. And I'll grab something comfortable – anything you don't like is fine; I don't mind returning things. I just imagine you'd like to be in something other than that or, uh, your ghost – outfit." Shame burned through my at my own nervous ramblings, and Vlad's inscrutable stare sent a tremor through my stomach.

His eyes burned into my back even as I hurried under the awning and into the clothing store, shivering from the chill of the rain.