The Time-Traveling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky Page A

Miss Baxter’s unfamiliar high-heeled shoes and be totally humiliated. With a little patience,
     and some help from the smooth wooden handrail, she made it safely down to the ground level.
    Louise looked down at her hand on the banister and gasped. She was wearing a stunning diamond-and-sapphire ring on her right
     ring finger. She held the ring up to the natural light in awe of the stone’s glimmering beauty. Had she been wearing it all
     along? For some reason, she was a little freaked out that she hadn’t noticed it before, and now that she did, her hand felt
     heavy and weighted down. The ring was spectacular, but it wasn’t hers. She had the sudden realization that this wasn’t her
     life. But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside and instead took Mr. Baxter’s outstretched hand. He was all gussied up for
     dinner, wearing a formal tux with a white bow tie and black-and-white wing tip shoes. It looked as though he had greased his
     handlebar mustache for the occasion, which now turned up in two perfect points.
    “Is something wrong with your hip?” he asked, concerned as she held on to his arm for support and hobbled into the dining
     room through two open French double doors.
    “Oh no, my hip is fine,” Louise said quickly, embarrassed. “I’m just not used to these shoes or something.”
    How long would she be able to get away with pretending to be Miss Baxter before she was exposed for who she really was?

The first-class dining room was crowded with hundreds of passengers, all dressed in their evening best. Dinner was clearly
     the most important social event of the day on this cruise. The ladies were wearing a rainbow of evening gowns, and the men
     were dressed in tuxedos or formal dark suits with vests, the kind they would put pocket watches into. The room sparkled as
     the elaborate crystal chandelier in the center of the ceiling cast a soft light that reflected off the women’s jewelry. Louise
     had never seen so many diamonds in her life. The enormous cream-colored room, which seemed to span the width of the entire
     ship, was strangely familiar. She felt like she had been there before.
    Mr. Baxter led her past the other tables, all covered in crisp, white linen tablecloths and set with fine white china with
     cobalt blue and gold borders. Big porcelain vases filled with beautiful yellow daffodils served as the centerpieces of thetables, as fresh as if they had just been picked. A string orchestra of violins and cellos playing in the corner serenaded
     the guests. The musicians were dressed in matching white dinner jackets and bow ties.
    “Lucy! Cosmo!” Mr. Baxter called across the dining room as he navigated his way through the crowd.
    “So nice to see you again, my dear,” Lucile exclaimed. “And Henry, you are looking quite well.”
    There was a flourish of air kisses as Lucy and Cosmo stood up to greet them. Lucy was wearing a white silk evening gown of
     her own design, embroidered with gold and jeweled dragons. It was spectacular. Her chestnut brown hair was pulled back in
     an intricate knot, held in place by a jeweled comb, with some curls framing her face.
    “Fancy strawberries in April, and in mid ocean. The whole thing is positively uncanny. Why, you would think you were at the
     Ritz,” she remarked.
    That would explain Louise’s feeling of déjà vu. She had stayed at the Ritz Carlton once with her mom in London, and this dining
     room was very similar to the restaurant in the hotel.
    “I went to the Ritz once with my mother,” Louise said to no one in particular, wishing that her mom could see this place,
     too. Somehow it seemed less special if she couldn’t share it with her. Like, how would she know if it had really happened?



“Miss Baxter, that dress looks stunning on you. I need to use you as one of my models,” Lucile enthused, turning toward her.
    Louise smiled shyly.
The
Lucile was actually asking her—well, Miss Baxter, but still—to be one of her models.