Trial

She was officially an unwilling participant in that Pretty Woman shopping scene. Except she was going to have to use her own credit card at the end of it.

She sighed and stripped down to her bra and panties and pulled the first dress on.

"No, next." Maddie barely glanced at her in the dress before she vetoed it and pulled another dress from a hanger. "How's it going with your arts program?"

Maddie knew everything about the program Stella had proposed to the mayor that morning: a pilot for an arts and writing diversion program for at-risk youth. Stella had been wanting to start something like this in Berkeley for years, and now she was finally trying to make that dream a reality. It would be a place for teens who had gotten into some trouble to come and find their gifts, to find adults who believed in them, to work hard on something they loved to do, and to get their feet on a different path.

"Well, I proposed it to the mayor this morning, but he didn't say much. I'm not sure what he thinks. I'm worried."