Shop in the Name of Love Read Online Free Page A

take it, for fear I’ll be struck by lightning or something like that.
    “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve been thinkin’ about it all day. You and I haven’t been spending enough time together lately—what with me bein’ with my new boyfriend, and you hangin’ with the Cheetah Girls. I miss bein’ close.”
    I smile. “Me too,
Mamí
.”
    “And I know how much this lunch meeting means to you and the girls. So I decided I want you to look your very best.”
    “Wow” is all I can say. I can feel the tears of gratitude welling in my eyes.
    My mom looks up at the ceiling. “And it just bothers me that that
bruja
Pamela has been pushing her way into your heart, trying to buy your affection with diamond earrings and such. If anybody’s going to buy you nice things, it’s going to be me.”
    So
that’s
it! “But,
Mamí
—”
    “Now, you just tell her you can’t accept them, and that she’s to stop giving you expensive gifts. It puts a wedge between you and me, baby, and we don’t want that.”
    “But—”
    “Now, now,” she says, stroking my braids. “I can afford to get you even nicer earrings, if that’s what you want.”
    “I can’t return them,
Mamí
,” I say, holding my ground now that I know what she’s after. So, all this niceness is just a trick, to try and turn me against Pamela! Well, it won’t work. If people I like want to give me things, I should be allowed to accept them. “I can’t and I won’t!”
    “All right,”
Mamí
says, seeing she can’t win on this one. “You can keep the earrings. But from now on, no more gifts from that
bruja
, you hear?”
    “Yes,
Mamí
,” I say, grabbing the compromise when I can get it. “Can I still buy the outfit?”
    “Of course, baby,” she says, smiling again, although it looks more forced now than it did before. “I want you to look beautiful for your big meeting.”
    “But I thought you didn’t even want me to
be
in the Cheetah Girls!” I point out. Then I want to kick myself for bringing it up. Why couldn’t I just keep my
boca grande
—my big mouth— shut for once?
    Incredibly, it doesn’t seem to bother her. “I think it’s just a phase you’re going through,
mi hija
,” she says, still smiling. “But since you insist on this singing nonsense, you may as well go all the way with it.” She pushes the card into my hands and squeezes them. “Buy yourself the outfit. And remember who bought it for you—
me
, not Pamela—
está bien?
”
    “
Sí, Mamí
,” I say, giving her a big hug and kiss. I’m still mad at her for not believing in me, but at least she’s showing me she loves me.
    “Now, you know the rules, Chanel. You only order that one outfit. You give me the card back as soon as you’re done. And don’t you ask ‘that woman’ for anything ever again.
Entiendes?
You hear?”
    Now she is wiping imaginary dust off my altar table right next to the window. My altar table is covered with a pretty white tablecloth. On top of it, there are candles and offerings to the patron saints—fruits, nuts, and little prayer notes.
    “I didn’t ask Pamela for anything,” I whine, making the cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die sign across my chest. “She just gave the earrings to me!”
    “Well,
don’t
accept anything else. And if your father asks you anything, don’t tell him what I told you.
Entiendes?
” Mom asks me— again. Now I’m really getting annoyed.
    “
Está bien.
I won’t. I promise,” I respond. Anything to make her stop being such a policeman. “And thank you sooooo much! Letting me charge a new outfit is the best present anybody ever got me!”
    I give her another hug, and that seems to do the trick. She flashes me a big smile, kisses me on the forehead, and heads for the door.
    When Mom finally leaves my room, a sudden feeling of total bliss comes over me. The credit card feels sleek and powerful in my hand, and I’m anxious to get my shopping groove on. Prada or
nada
, baby! Okay, so I am rolling more