Deciding it was best to change separately, Mei took their room, while Violet went into the boys’. Opening up her own package, she held her tunic up in the mirror. Unlike Mei’s gift, Violet’s tunic was a blue robe, trimmed with thick panels of ivory silk. The high collar was hemmed with black, and colorful blossoms were embroidered into sections of the fabric. She’d decided to skip the skirt for her part (mostly because she was out of money by the time she was buying for herself), so she was sure to wear her best pair of jeans underneath. Which was easy to do; she only had two pairs to choose from. She combed her hair the best she could, borrowing some of Linus’s pomade to keep her cowlicks flat. She washed her face, cleaned and trimmed her nails, and shined her shoes. Once she was ready, s
