His Army Doctor

Date?

Delilah had hurried off from the bathroom as she could feel her face turning a bright shade of pink. She could hear Tobias chuckle as he closed the bathroom door. Perfectly timed, she heard the horn honk on Lee’s truck. Delilah guessed that Tobias already knew she hadn’t bought a dress and had already arranged her day. Still a control freak, she thought to herself. She hurried outside and got in the backseat briefly greeting Lee and Chloe. 

Lee looked in the rearview mirror and smiled, “What’s with the rosy cheeks, doc? You and the general finally warming up to each other?” Delilah rolled her eyes. She had heard plenty of remarks like that from Lee and others as most people suspected something romantic between the odd pair. 

“Oh, Lee hush.” replied Chloe. “You know there’s nothing between those two. Not yet anyways.” Chloe giggled. “Anyways Delilah, this will be so much fun! I already got my dress, but I can’t wait to help you find one. You’ll be gorgeous in anything!” 

“Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what you look like under that white coat,” Lee flirted with a wink. Chloe gave her brother a little punch on the arm. Delilah sat back and silently enjoyed the scenic ride into town. Lee and Chloe chatted about trivial things and discussed who they expected to be present at the dinner tonight.

The square downtown was full of little shops and windows beautifully decorated for the upcoming Christmas season. Lee went in the shop next door that had manikins featuring men’s tux and formal wear. The bell rang as Delilah and Chloe entered the little dress shop and a petite older lady came out from the back. “Good morning ladies, how may I help you today?” 

“My friend, Delilah, here needs a dress for tonight’s military banquet.” said Chloe clearly barely containing her excitement for a shopping trip.

“Ah, yes, General Matthews told me to expect you.” said the older lady as she began walking towards the racks of dresses. That’s weird, Delilah thought, but at least he didn’t insist on chaperoning her himself.

The day dragged on as the shopkeeper and Chloe handed Delilah dress after dress to try on. Chloe seemed to be thoroughly enjoying playing dress up while this felt like some form of toture to Delilah. Delilah had never been much of a shopper. Her mother was a child of nature and loved to spend time outdoors. Not to mention, Delilah spent her childhood being fairly poor since her father blew all their money at the local liquor store. She had to work three jobs to support herself during college. Needless to say, she rarely had the time or money to shop while growing up so she had spent her days outdoors sailing, fishing, or hunting in the woods with Daniel. 

“Delilah, are you okay? Do you have that one on yet?” asked Chloe interrupting her thoughts. 

“Uh yeah, just a second” replied Delilah from the dressing room. She walked out of her dressing room to the show area with multiple mirrors and a platform to stand on. Chloe gasped, “Oh my goodness, this is it! This is the one! I’m so jealous. You’re officially going to look better than me tonight!” 

Delilah studied herself in the mirror. Even she had to admit that she looked like a real woman in this dress. Delilah typically dressed herself in oversized outdoors clothes. This dress was emerald green silk and it fit like a glove showing off every curve of her body which had thankfully returned since she had been back to feeling well. Delilah had always been petite in stature, but she had never lacked womanly curves. This dress proved it. It was backless and exposed her skin all the way down to her hips. The front was a V-neck that showed her cleavage, but was not too revealing. The emerald green made her sea green eyes shine brighter than ever. 

“Are you sure this isn’t too much?” asked Delilah hesitantly. “I don’t want to wear anything too revealing.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re not 12 Delilah. It’s appropriate. I’d walk around half naked all day if I had a body like yours.” said Chloe. Delilah smiled shyly at her friend. Chloe would most likely be described as cute. She was petite and skinny, but unfortunately, she was thin as a rail no matter how much she ate. She didn’t have any curves except for round cheeks which only added to her cute physique. She kept her blonde hair short which framed her face. Chloe’s appearance matched her personality perfectly, sweet, innocent, and cute.

The bell to the shop rang and the women turned to see Lee walking in holding his Tuxedo in a formal wear bag. He stopped when his eyes fell on Delilah. “Whoa. That white coat really does hide a lot.” Delilah’s face turned red as she instinctively grabbed the high heel shoe she was wearing to throw at Lee. She hated being the center of attention.

It took Lee, Chloe, and the shopkeeper half an hour to convince Delilah to get the dress. Delilah went to hand the shopkeeper cash at the checkout. The shopkeeper politely pushed out her hand to stop Delilah. 

“Oh no mam, General Matthews has already taken care of it.”

Delilah stood in shock as she turned to look at Chloe. “Well, that was nice of him,” shrugged Chloe. 

“Why would he do that?” asked Delilah. Lee sighed, “I wouldn’t worry about it, doc. General doesn’t really show it, but he’s got money. This is of no concern to him. He probably thinks it’s polite since you’re his date.”

“Date?” asked Delilah. 

“He asked you to go with him right?” asked Chloe. 

“Yeah, but I never thought of me as being his date.” said Delilah as the shopkeeper packed up her dress. 

“Well, dear, that’s the definition of being someone’s date,” said Chloe.