She looks me up and down, her gaze lingering on my structured, neat dark green skirt and the thick, sensible shawl pinned tightly over my chest.
"You don't look like you belong in this cove, mi lady," she says, her voice a deep, gravelly purr that makes no effort to hide her amusement. She tilts her head, a smirk playing on her painted lips. "What brings you into my store? I don't have no sturdy, proper clothes to cover you up here."
I look past her, my eyes instantly drawn back to the racks in the shadows where those vibrant, ruffled fabrics hang.
"Good," I say, a sudden, bold confidence rising up in my chest as I unpin my thick shawl and toss it onto a nearby barrel of trinkets, letting my loose linen shirt breathe. I meet her sharp gaze with a matching, defiant smile. "Because 'prope
