The mile walk into town wasn't all that bad, it was a nice walk, actually. She had three outfits. The jeans, boots and band tee she had on, a summer dress with sandals and a pair of yoga pants and a tank top with a pair of running shoes. She needed a nice pair of jeans and white button down shirt and the things on her list.
She walked into town along the Main Street and found a clothing store. It was mostly cowboy and ranch apparel but she was hopeful. She walked in and saw a long shelf of cowboy boots and cowboy hats. Then looked around and noticed a shelf with wrangler jeans. She looked for her size, she wasn't very tall, only a little over five feet and was sure she had lost weight since leaving Indiana.
"Can I help you, hun?" A young woman asked. She was strikingly pretty with bright blue eyes and long, straight blonde hair. She towered over Billie in height.
"Yes. I am needing a pair of jeans and an white shirt. Button down. For work. And maybe a couple of pairs of socks." Billie said.
"Well, you look like a size 6. Petite. Let's see..." the woman said, searching through the jeans. "Ah! Yay. One pair left. And we have a ton of white collared shirts. Size small, I imagine." She said.
"The cheaper the better." Billie said.
"Right! I'll go hit the clearance rack and you go try these on." The woman said with a smile.
Billie walked over to the curtained dressing room and put on the Wranglers. Much to her surprise, they fit perfectly. She liked the boot cut, too.
"Here. It's only 5.99." The woman said, handing her a shirt through the curtain. She slid it on and it fit nicely, too.
"Awesome. Thank you so much." Billie said.
"Happy to help!" The woman said, cheerfully. Billie put her clothes back on and went to the register.
The woman rang her up. "Thirty-nine dollars even." She said
"How much for those boots?" Billie asked, looking behind her at a nice pair of vintage looking cowboy boots with distressed, tan leather and beautiful turquoise underlays with a pop of red on the shaft. They reminded her of her guitar.
"These are a return. Size six, I think. They aren't in the best shape but the lady who returned them is a regular customer. Normally they around two hundred dollars but these, how about forty bucks?" She asked.
"Sold." Billie said. The woman smiled and rang her up. Billie would have enough money left over for food and that was about it.
"You're new around here? I've never seen you before and it's a small town. I'm Abby. I'm from here." She said, handing Billie her bag.
"I'm Lily. And yeah, I'm new here. From Illinois. Outside of Chicago." Billie said, hating the lie.
"Welcome! Are you staying here long?" She asked Billie.
"I hope to, yes." She said.
"That's awesome. Happy to have you. You seem really nice. And cool. Want to grab a drink tomorrow night? Me and a couple of friends are going to Johnny's around 8. There's a band. Would love to have you come out." She said. Billie smiled and nodded. She told her she would think about it. Abby jotted down her number and told her to call her anytime if she wanted a tour of the town.
She thanked her and walked out. Everyone was so nice in this town, she was beginning to feel like maybe she was dreaming.
She walked another few blocks and found a small grocery store. More like convenience store but there had food and drinks. She bought coffee and filters, creamer and a bag of sugar, a coffee cup, some dish cleaner, laundry soap, sandwich stuff, paper plates, baby carrots, a bag of chips, a six pack of soda and small bottle of Jameson. The good stuff she thought. And after that, she had ten bucks to her name and a new job she was starting the next day, two new friends and cool ass room. She was beyond thrilled. She grabbed her bags, packed them in tight and walked the mile and half back to her room.