Chapter 13

The next morning Devlin forced a smile as finished laying out the muffins, bagels, coffee and juice. She'd already put her sign out in the hall, and she heard comments from the hall as people saw it. She was tired, five hours of sleep did that to her. And tonight she was going to have dinner with Jeff before he went back to his apartment and his tutor. She was going to have to get to bed early Friday. Maybe she should sleep here so she wouldn't be pestered half the night by Connie.

"This must be the place," a woman said, entering the door.

"It had better be," Devlin said, smiling. "Or I'm in the wrong room, too."

The woman laughed. "Karen Sullivan. I saw your flier in the Women's Locker Room."

"Devlin McCabe. Have some breakfast."

The other women, including Sergeant O'Connor, crowded in right after that. Devlin had shut the door and was about to get started when the door opened and Connie slipped in. Oh great, Devlin thought. This I don't need. Connie definitely didn't need a bra - a camisole, maybe, but not a bra.

Eventually everyone was settled, coats off, coffee or tea in hand, and the door locked. Devlin gave them all her best smile and pushed the button for the first slide, a picture of her in a swimsuit when she was 14. Her bust was very obvious. "I'm Devlin McCabe, and I represent Your Best Bra. We're a lingerie company that specializes in bras for the hard to fit woman." She clicked on the next slide, when she was 15. And the next, taken on her 16th birthday. "As you can see from the pictures, I have a problem. I've had this problem since I was 14, which was the first picture." Another picture, summer when she was 17, and a current picture of her, and her bust was even more obvious.

"More than 70% of the women in this country don't know their proper bra size. You can usually find out the right size at a large department store's annual or semi-annual lingerie sale, but for a small group of us, and I'm part of that group, those stores don't carry bras that fit. Or, if they do, the straps dig into your shoulders, or they pinch, or whatever, and they're hideously expensive. I have a friend who can buy her bras right off the rack. If she needs a new one she just stops at the department store on her way home and gets one, or two, or three, or however many she wants. And hers cost $9 to $10 each. I thought I was lucky when I found one for under $40. And let me tell you, that didn't happen too often.

"About four years ago the founder of our company had a disagreement with her boss. She worked for a firm that made customized swimsuits, and she brought the same ideas with her when she founded Your Best Bra. We make customized bras, and we guarantee they fit and support, and they don't look like what we've call the Brunhilda bra - you know what I mean, the industrial strength bra that doubles as a harness when we aren't looking."

"How do you do it?" a woman on the end asked. "Isn't it expensive to custom-make a bra?"

"I thought so too, until I found out how she did it. We have a computer with a special scanner that takes all the measurements it needs. It feeds the information in to a computer driven sewing machine, which takes the pattern you've selected and makes the bra. From the start of sewing to the end takes about 3 minutes, and it costs about a fourth of what it costs to make a regular bra." She smiled. "And we have this belief that if we sell you one that you really like, you'll come back for more. Two-thirds of our business comes from satisfied customers."

She turned off the slide projector, she had more slides for use later, and turned on the television. "I have a short video on how it's all done."

"What about those of us with... other... problems," Sergeant O'Connor asked when the video was done.

"We do a lot of business like that," Devlin said. "I have some literature here," she grabbed it from the table behind her, "and this should answer your questions. We can talk more in a few minutes."

She went through the rest of her slides, passed around the book with the fabric samples, and let everyone study her manikins. She was really proud of the manikins; two of them had inflatable breasts that almost looked real, but, more important than that, acted real.

"Now it says in my sales manual that this is when I'm supposed to give you the salesman hype. I'm so confident you'll like our bras that I can offer you one, in your size, for $5. The only gimmick is that you'll have to submit to our measuring computer. I have it set up in the corner behind that screen. We'll have the bras sent here, and you can pick them up Monday afternoon." She looked around. "Anyone interested?"

As always, everyone was. That was an offer they couldn't refuse. She left the others pouring over fabric styles, strap styles and other features while she helped the first woman, Karen Sullivan, with the computer. The instructions and demonstration only took about two minutes. "And when you're done hit the yellow Reset button," Devlin said at the end. "Any questions?"

"This won't... they won't see..."

"I'll show you what the measurements look like," Devlin said. She brought Cindy over. Hoisting the manikin into the scanner, she held her there while the computer ran through its cycle. At the end it produced a strip of paper covered with a gray rectangle and a long barcode. "Here is what the computer sees."

"I can't make heads or tails of this," Karen said.

"And neither can anybody else. There aren't any pictures. This is as private as we can make it. The sewing computer can read it, but that's all."

The woman nodded. "Great." She started unbuttoning her blouse. "Where do I stand?"

The rest of the presentation went well, even Sergeant O'Connor seemed happy with what she heard. When everyone left Devlin had seven firm orders for bras.

She was straightening things out when Connie popped back in the door. "Uh, Devlin, I've got a question." She looked around and closed the door behind her.

"About these bras, I hope."

"Well, yes, actually." Connie motioned at her chest. "Do you have something that could help me here?"

"You mean, add something?" Connie nodded. "We do, but are you sure you want to?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't people going to say something if you suddenly have a bosom that you didn't have the day before?"

"I-I'm... that's not a problem. It's just... I don't feel right. I mean everyone I know wears a bra, but I can get by without one." She grimaced. "I haven't grown out of my first training bra, and even that fits kind of loose. I've had boyfriends with a better developed chest than me." She looked down at her chest. "I don't even really have any curves, not like a woman."

"You should be grateful you don't have a large bust," Devlin said. "Believe me, there are times I wish I didn't have this chest."

"That's because you have one," Connie said bitterly. "I don't. It's always easier to wish you had less of something than to not have it at all. I just don't feel like a woman."

Devlin sighed, but kept it to herself. Breasts could do a lot for a gal's self-esteem. She remembered how grown-up she'd felt when she put on her first bra. "We have bras that can do what you want, Connie. They were designed for the woman who has had a breast removed, but there's nothing that says we can't do that with both cups."

"Do you have one I could try on?"

"Maybe. What size are you?"

"Just a minute," Connie said. She unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it over a chair, followed by the tee-shirt she had on underneath. Her breasts were really just large nipples. Except for that Devlin would have thought she was looking at a guy's chest. "Hand me the tape measure."

Devlin silently handed it over. Connie quickly measured herself. "What do you have for a 28?"

Devlin looked through her stock. "That would translate as a 33. I have a 32 and I have a 34." She pulled out the 34 and the gel inserts. "Try this." Connie quickly shrugged into the bra. "Just slip these inserts in and adjust them till they feel comfortable."

"They're cold."

"Most women hold them in their hands to warm them up before putting them in."

Connie moved the inserts around a little. "What size is this?"

"34B. Put on your blouse and take a look."

Connie did so, turning from side to side to look at her profile. "I like. I have a figure." She wiggled her shoulders slightly. "It's a bit loose, though."

"You're a 33, the bra is a 34. Of course it's loose. I'll have to see what we have in stock. It may be a day or two before I have your exact size." She thought a moment. "How big do you want to be? I'll have to annotate your order for inserts and cup size."

Her eyes lit up. "You mean I can be any size I want?"

"You can, but do you want some advice? Don't go overboard. If I were you I'd stick with a B cup. Much beyond that and your clothes won't fit. Most women who are my size have to order the next size larger blouse and have it tailored. You wouldn't believe how much I spend on clothes."

"I may want to have one, just to have it," Connie replied.

"And then people really will talk." Devlin shook her head. "No, I'd stay with a B cup for now. Later, you might try going to a larger size, but start out moderate and get comfortable with them." She dug through one of her cases and handed Connie a gel insert for a C cup. "This is a C," she said. Then she handed her one for a DD cup. "And this is a DD cup."

"Heavier than I thought," Connie said, weighing it in her hand. She pursed her lips. "Okay, I see what you mean. If you order it today, when will they arrive?"

"I'll send the order in before lunch today, and they'll be ready tomorrow. They'll ship tomorrow afternoon, and I'll have them on Monday." She glanced out the window where the snow was piling up. "Depending on the weather, it might be Tuesday. If I can find one in stock I'll get it this weekend."

"Sounds great," Connie said as she dressed again. "When you come back to the room Monday morning you'll have it, right?"

"You'll have one Monday morning," Devlin said. "The rest will be Tuesday or later."

"I can live with that." Connie gave her a quick hug. "Thank you, thank you. You don't know what this means to me."

"You know, you could have said something before. I could have gotten you these last year."

Connie glanced down. "I was kind of embarrassed. You don't know what it's been like seeing your, you know, your bust, and then looking at what I had. Thank you so much for this."

When Connie left Devlin glanced at the time. If she hurried she had just enough time to call in the orders and get to class. She thought she could find a bra for Connie at one of the three stores in Central Illinois, so when she got to the cubicle she checked to see which store had what in their inventory. The only one that did, she had to smile at this, was Emma's store in Cedar Point. She put a query into the system, shut down and headed for class.

Three hours later she checked back in the office. Emma had three of them. After checking with the other stores - the next nearest store with that size in stock was in Milwaukee - she called Emma.

"33B with gel inserts," Emma said. "Sure, I'll hold two of them. Do you want me to send them to you?"

"No need. I'm going over to a place in Iowa on Saturday morning. I can just stop and pick them up on my way back."

"How are those sales meetings going?"

"They're going fine," Devlin said. "They're well-attended and I get a lot of orders out of them." She laughed. "You were right, I'm actually making money."

"I'm glad to hear that." Emma paused. "Devlin," she said slowly, "are you still interested in the lifestyle?"

That was unexpected. "Sure," she said cautiously. "Well, sort of." She thought about it, remembering the times at Emma's. More important than those sex-drenched evenings, though, were the friendships. She missed some of those people more than she missed the sex.