After lunch, the Gibson family said their goodbyes to Vanessa as they headed home—but not before Jonchelle and Vanessa exchanged numbers, promising to hang out again over the weekend.
Once the car was loaded with shopping bags, they drove home, Liam drove while Rose sat in the passenger seat. Jonchelle, Zachary and Kiera sat in the back; they had to have some bags spread out over their knees because there were so many. Jonchelle was glad that she had made her earlier wish that everyone would be able to afford everything they wanted.
She was also glad that, when Vanessa and Jonchelle purchased her new shoes, she had made the wish so that all men would be able to walk in heels. That made seeing her mom’s entrance that much more satisfying.
The children sat in silence at the back while Liam glanced over to his new wife.
“Care to explain all of...this?” he asked, indicating towards Rose’s expensive looking new outfit. Rose, who had been busy looking at makeup tutorials on her phone, looked up and shrugged.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I was browsing through the stores and then I saw this dress and I just had to have it. Things just kind of spiraled from there.”
“But honey,” Liam whined. “That dress looks like it cost a thousand dollars. Not to mention Jonchelle’s new look. How do you think that we are going to pay for all of this? At least Zachary was sensible with his purchases.”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Oh, that reminds me. As I stepped out of the salon earlier, a man approached me. He said that he worked for an advertising agency, and he told me that I was exactly the type of woman that they were looking for to advertise a new line of clothing.”
“Wow!” was all Liam could say. Things seemed to be happening really fast. Rose nodded.
“Uh-huh, so I was thinking... If I’m sexy enough to be a model, then I could work a couple of modeling gigs throughout the year while you get a steady office job with a comfortable salary.”
Liam nodded.
“I suppose that works.”
Liam pulled into the driveway and everyone helped carry the shopping into the house. Jonchelle carried her bags upstairs and started towards her room.
“Hey!” Zachary yelled. “Where are you going?”
“To my room?” Jonchelle suggested. Sure she had slept in Zoe’s room last night but she had always intended on switching back after they had gone shopping. Zachary, it seemed, had other plans.
“Nuh-uh,” he replied, shaking his head. “You can’t demand my room for one night and then expect to switch back the next day.” He pointed towards what had been her room. “Your room’s over there.”
“But, but...it’s so dark in there,” Jonchelle protested, referring to Zoe’s black painted room. Zachary shrugged his shoulders.
“So? Redecorate it. That’s what I’m going to do with your room.”
“Wait!” Jonchelle shouted. “You can’t…” But Zachary had slammed the door to her room shut.
Jonchelle sighed, trudging back towards Zachary’s room. She supposed that she should have seen it coming. This was supposed to be only for a year, after all. They could always switch back at the end of the year.
