Thrift Shop Shoes

/ roughwighting

music bars, romance, bloggingThe classical music wakes me slowly. Mozart’s Piano Concerto “Romanze,” I muse drowsily as I stretch my limbs.

Mozart’s music changes to Beethoven, and I consider stretching more heartily during my soft music alarm.

My toe reaches out under the sheets, leg muscles tight but loosening. Ahhhh.

 ACK! What did my toe just hit?

I jump out of bed, heart hammering along with Beethoven’s 5th, clutching my nightgown to my chest.

Except, I ‘m wearing no nightgown. I peer down at my peachy skin and groan. I’m as naked as a plucked chicken. Melissa K. Myers, I hiss to myself, what did you do last night?

My mind races backwards. I spent a lazy early evening volunteering at the Thrift Shop until an astoundingly beautiful woman rushed in, plunked down a bag of clothes, grabbed a charity tax form, and raced out. Joe, the other helper (and truth be told the only reason I volunteer there) gave a low wolf whistle.

“Melissa, who is she?” he panted. I hated the woman immediately, since my crush for Joe had been unrequited for almost two years.sexy shoes, romantic suspense, romance

“She’s trouble,” I grumbled, grabbing the woman’s bag, hastily hanging the used dresses that had been folded inside carelessly.  Unsurprisingly, the clothes were sleek and sexy and two sizes too small for most women. But at the bottom of the pile sat a pair of size 8 shoes – as red as cherries with high heels as wicked as the devil.

Then I remembered another woman who had arrived earlier in the evening. She’d caught my attention with her wavy gray hair, intense green eyes, and colorful long peasant skirt. She’d picked up a pair of men’s loafers and mumbled loudly enough for me to hear:

“The magic is here. Whosoever walks in the shoes of another, shall follow the same road.”

She paid $10 for the well-used shoes and left.

So later, while Joe helped an elderly gent look for an overcoat, I replaced my boring black flats with the red hot heels.

cosmopolitan, drinking, datingThat’s all I remember. Except, oh yes. Sitting at Borders, the local bar, and ordering a pink raspberry Cosmopolitan. I’ve never had a Cosmo before in my life.

I enjoyed that one, I now recall. And the next one. And the next. Then…

I slap my hand over my mouth.

No . . . I didn’t.

I tiptoe over to the bathroom and grab my robe. Stare at my pale face and wide blue eyes. Shit Shit SHIT.

I tiptoe back to my bed, lumpy with sheets, blanket, four pillows, and…

I gasp.one-night stand, shoes, romance

Men’s sneakers by the other side of the bed. Next to my – well, not my – sexy red heels.

I creep to the living room, where I spy a jacket and a wallet.

No no NO!

I grab the wallet and pull out the driver’s license.

No! I want Joe on my own terms, not another’s.

But then I return to the bedroom and sneak back under the sheets.

Perhaps I’ll keep these Thrift Shop shoes, after all.

sexy shoes, romantic suspense, romance

Prompt: “You find out you have an ability where walking a mile in someone else’s shoes gives you one of their skills. You work in a thrift store so you can try on all the shoes that come through the door.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Pixabay for images.

133 thoughts on “Thrift Shop Shoes”

    • Wow, thanks! Sometimes I worry I’m having too much fun with these stories, but as a famous author once said, “if you’re having fun as the writer, the reader is having a great time too.” (I’m paraphrasing enormously, but you get the gist…) 🙂

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  25. An amazingly enjoyable story! If I were a few decades younger, and didn’t love my husband dearly, I’d try to buy those red shoes from you. Appreciated the imagery, the self-denial, and the change of heart at the end.

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    • Ohhh, Norah. Would either you or I be brave enough to wear someone else’s shoes (knowing we’d acquire some of that person’s personality)? Perhaps it’s like being hypnotized – if you wore the shoes, you’d only do what you truly felt comfortable doing. ;-0 🙂

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      • Hmm. Maybe. That’s an interesting comment about being hypnotised. Have you ever been? I was once by a hypnotist entertainer. I was sceptical before (just wanted to try and see what it was like) and all the way through the ‘performance’, believing I was choosing to join in. Until he planted a suggestion for me to perform when I got back to my seat. I was convinced I wouldn’t all the way back. I’d show him. Until I got there and showed them all exactly what he’d told me to do. 🙂 At least it was only a bit of fun.

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    • I have absolutely no doubt, Annika, that if I ever met you face-to-face, I would LOVE your giggles. So I’m honored that you giggled as you read my red high-heeled (rather shocking) story. I think I (as the author) was more shocked than most of the readers here. I’m such a prude. 🙂

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    • Oh, wow, thank you. Phew. The good thing (I think) is that when a story takes off underneath my keyboard or pen, I don’t stop to think about it. I just let it go – zooooom. Sometimes I’m rather shocked at the outcome. :-0 🙂

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    • I’m a flat-shoed person also, Liesbet. And don’t tell anyone, but I haven’t experienced a Cosmopolitan yet. ;-0 Horrors. On the other hand, that chocolate martini I ordered for my birthday. Yikes. I’ll never write THAT story. 🙂

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  32. I clicked those red shoes, and like Dorothy, found myself in the Land of Oz. Seriously, red shoes are motif in my memoir. I love RED shoes, but sneaking back under the sheets? Well now . . .

    There will be a follow-up. Right?

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    • How fabulous is that – that red shoes are an important part of your memoir. I so can’t wait to read where you walk/live/love/dance in them. But no, sneaking back under the sheets does NOT belong in anyone’s memoir, I would guess….. 🙂

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  34. Well that was a fun story!! I immediately thought of the song by the Eagles “Those Shoes” have you heard it?? If not, youtube it! Shoes can tell a lot about a person and speak words we dare not say out loud. Shoes are one of the things I notice about people and hands.. I always look at hands!! Men and women!
    ps Who said it was Joe?? Maybe it was someone else?? Hmm… (taps chin)

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    • We authors have to allow our muse to pop out and move the story along, even if we’re a bit shocked by what’s pouring forth. :-0 🙂 So glad you enjoyed this one – the muse was chuckling the entire time.

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    • Awwww, the blonde on the top of the page was my favorite guy for almost 13 years. ❤ Who, by the way, always refused to wear shoes, even little booties, no matter how deep the snow was in the winter. 🙂

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  39. Great fun Pam, I love this idea of taking on the ‘life’ of someone else by wearing their shoes, it gives a whole new meaning to walking in someone else’s shoes 🙂 By the way I finished reading ‘Twin Desires’ last night – exciting and very good, now I’ve started ‘The Right Wrong Man’…

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    • Whoot. Whoot! (Can you hearing me cheering and jumping up and down in my loft office at your words?)You write so ethereally and intimately and deeply. Not sure if you’d enjoy my fun little page-turners. So far, so good. ❤

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        • Thanks Andrea!!! I’m curious if you enjoyed one more (or just the same) as the other. I think of Twin Desires as more ‘romance with suspense,’ while The Right Wrong Man more suspense with romance twisted in. 🙂

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          • I found them both as enjoyable to read as each other – possibly enjoyed the story of the second best, but liked the characters of the first best, but it’s a close thing. I’m interested how you practically wrote the first one since you worked with someone else?

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            • Thanks for the great question. I guess it was a rarity, but my co-author and I were on the ‘same page’ so to speak as we wrote Twin Desires together. She was a student in my creative writing classes and we both noticed that the stories we wrote had a similar style, so we decided to write women’s fiction together. We spent a weekend plotting it out, then each took a chapter to write following the plot. Then I’d send her my chapter for her to edit, and vice versa. She wrote most of the chapters with the bad guys in them, I wrote most of the chapters with Sandra and Blake’s POV. Somehow, it worked, and we had such fun writing it together. We got an agent almost immediately, but then my co-author decided to study for a Ph.D. and I moved to another state, so we decided to publish as Indies.

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  42. Loved it – just love your style of writing – you really keep one waiting to see what comes next. And when the climax does come – you do not disappoint. Really great ending to a cute story. Thanks for sharing.

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  43. This was fantastic, Pam! Talk about be careful of what you wish for… when in possession of magical shoes!
    I must agree with John, I love her “stages” of acceptance!!

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