Chapter 24 Buy Three
Chapter twenty-four
Buy Three
The next few days were a whirlwind of wonderful punctuated by mind-numbing indecision.
Angel and I competed for who could slide the farthest across the dance studio's wooden floors in our socks. The loser would have to strip a piece of clothing. And dance. We’d always dance together, by the end of the game. Sometimes horizontally.
Whatever we did felt like love, even if we didn’t say it, yet.
We were in this constant flux of ecstasy and longing.
Spinning into hugs the second we’d reunite. Frowning at our respective screens while he studied and I calculated my dismal paycheck against student loans and car payments.
How was I supposed to do all this without burying myself in debt or relying on my parents?
Thankfully, even on days Angel and I worked, the monotony of sales was broken up by sprinting across the mall to see each other on breaks for laughter, shared meals, and kisses.
On a slow shift, I snuck into a dressing room to text Angel to propose another rendezvous, only to find a message from an unknown number.
Of what? Moving out of my parents’ place? Buying sexy underwear for a change?
I frowned and blocked the sender. Did Jen get another number just to bypass my filters or did someone send it on her behalf?
Mom had texted me again too. But she was still on a muted thread.
I wished Angel could meet them at their best. Or that I could share my newfound joy with them. But until Jen came to her senses or my parents gave her consequences, I had to keep my distance. I didn’t even feel guilty about it.
Returning to the sales floor, I clocked Meg playing on her phone behind the cashier’s desk. Was her mom okay with that on slow shifts? Or was Meg more lenient about the rules?
I patrolled the front of the store, trying to keep the ache out of my feet by moving. Leaning against displays was frowned upon, and the underwear bins were as sorted as possible. I couldn’t ‘tidy the dressing rooms’ again without at least one customer using them.
Meandering behind a mannequin, I peeked at my phone.
He sent me a screenshot of urban dictionary for ‘cake,’ and I burst out laughing.
A woman across the display startled at the sound with a gasp.
Whoops. Guess I hid a little too well back here. I didn’t even realize someone had walked in.
“Hi, welcome to The Closette. Can I help you find anything?” My smile froze when I stepped out to greet the guest.
It was my mother.
My mom was in The Intimate Closette.
She clutched her long coat, her gaze dropping to the phone in my hands. The same one I’d been ignoring her on while giggling behind a mannequin with heart pasties on its breasts.
She smoothed her jacket and offered me a stiff smile. “Hi. How are you?”
“Fine,” I said.
Meg strolled within eavesdropping distance, sneaking peeks at us and her phone. Was she texting her mom about me?
The last thing I needed was another critique.
I crossed my arms, then uncrossed them. “We have a promotion on underwear right now. Buy three, get one free.”
Mom shook her head. “I’m here for you, Tori.”
“I’m working,” I whispered.
She hunched closer and lowered her voice. “You think I wanted to have this conversation in public? Next to mannequins in underwear? You won’t respond to my messages, and we can’t drop by Kat’s place uninvited.”
“That doesn’t mean you can visit us at work. Imagine if I came into one of your house showings to hash out an argument.”
“I know, it’s just…” She tilted her head at the sequined pasties. “Do people really buy these things?”
I rolled my eyes and guided her toward a more conservative display. “I’m not ready to talk to Jen.”
“Talk to me, instead.”
I gestured to the store. “Again, I’m working, so unless you plan to buy something, this isn’t the time for chit-chat.”
She raised her chin and adjusted her purse higher on her shoulder. “I plan to take advantage of that underwear promotion. I just need to pick the set with my favorite sales associate, if she has a minute.”
I definitely had time before the end of my shift—and based on the empty store, and the way Meg was on her phone, my mom knew it too.
“Okay, but we have to be quiet,” I said.
“That’s fine.” She walked over to peruse the patterns. “Oh, I like the flowers.”
“That one’s not part of the promotion.” I shoved the stack of that pattern aside, my face flaming. Angel had ripped a pair of those off me with his teeth earlier this week. Mom and I could not wear matching undies. “Um, how about the plain gray?” I suggested.
Mom arched her carefully curated brow. “I might almost be a grandmother, but I can still wear cute undies.”
“Yes, you can. Would you like to try the red? They have a heart cutout.” I twisted them around to demonstrate the tiny keyhole-type design of the waistband.
Mom gasped at the audacity. “I can’t wear that. Your father will think I’m inviting him to try out the back entrance.”
“Ew.” I waved the underwear like a white flag. “Please don’t reference your sex life with Dad.”
“I didn’t plan on airing my dirty laundry in the middle of The Closette.” She selected a silky pair and worried the elastic band. “I did try my best with you girls, you know. Especially Jen.”
I sighed and straightened out the display. “We all tried our best.”
Mom nodded. “She still turned into a brat.”
I snorted, then glanced at Meg, who was thankfully too absorbed with her phone to notice my lack of professionalism.
Mom turned to me, a line between her brows. “I’m sorry about how we handled the crib situation. We should’ve stood up for you.”
“Yeah, that would’ve been nice,” I said. “You could’ve stood up for Kat more too.”
Mom shrugged. “Maybe. But Kat defended for herself plenty. Sometimes a little too fiercely. We tried to get Jen therapy as a teen to see if we could root out that animosity, but it never seemed to improve.”
“Nothing will until she realizes she's the problem in all her relationships. She has to commit to changing how she behaves.” Fat chance of that, though.
Mom set aside three pairs of underwear with lace waistbands: one black, one white, and one beige.
“I think we might’ve been tip-toeing around the reality of Jen’s situation, of what she needs versus what she wants, and how those options will affect all of us.
Your father and I are not willing to sacrifice our relationships with you and Kat just because you’re not on good terms with her. ”
Did she ask them to cut us off?
I grabbed a pastel pair of underwear in Mom’s size and set it on top of her selection. “Not even if she withheld grandkid access?”
She shook her head. “I’ll love that baby, and we’ll help her take care of it, but I love my babies too. She has to respect all of you. Maybe part of our journey as parents, and life in general, is learning how to be better in all our relationships.”
I cracked a smile. “Did you get that from one of your daytime talk shows?”
“Yes. But I’ve also lived.” She raised her chin and handed me the stack of undies.
“I see. Well, as much as I appreciate the apology and the sale, I don’t think Jen’s gotten with the program. Either she or someone close to her was messaging me hateful things.”
“Let me see.” Mom put on her glasses, her face crinkling in frustration as she read the various messages that remained after I'd blocked contact. “These aren’t from her phone number. Does she have another one?”
“Maybe. They could also be from her baby-daddy.” I doubted she had any friends left who’d crusade on her behalf.
“I don’t know what she’s thinking.” Mom took a deep breath and drummed her fingers on the display table. “You know why she was so upset about that crib?”
“Because she didn’t want to do night feedings?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “She thought that boyfriend of hers was getting a crib for his place. That way, they could stay over, and he could parent. She had all these hopes of them becoming a real family. But then the crib showed up at our house. And he was ‘too busy’ to help assemble, paint, or take any parenting classes. On top of that, the crib didn’t fit in her room.
You can imagine how that shattered her fantasy. ”
I frowned, smothering a twinge of pity for the baby. “So she decided to take out her coparenting woes on me?”
Mom's shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry, Tori. She’s been taking it out on everybody. But maybe because you’re so sweet, we thought it’d be easier for all of us to deal with her outbursts for the time being.”
“I am sweet. That doesn’t mean I’m spineless.”
“Good.” Mom smiled warmly, a faint line of tears in her eyes. “You and Kat could probably teach me a thing or two about handling her outbursts. How about I treat you both to lunch for a little catch-up and coaching session after this?”
“Oh, that might be tricky.” I’d already made plans with Angel. Plus, I wasn’t sure we were ready to sit down again as a family—even without Jen present.
Mom looked stricken. “I don’t expect to fix everything in one evening. I know it’ll take a lot of hard work to earn back your trust. But I’d like to start trying.”
I grabbed her stuff and headed to the checkout. “We’re both working today, so it’s kind of tough to coordinate our break.”
“You can’t spare a few minutes? Not even for a piece of cake?”
I whirled around, my heartbeat rapidly increasing. “You’re going to Cake Warehouse?”
She brightened at the prospect. “Yes. You seemed to like it so much the other day.”
“I-I did. I do.” I loved the man who worked there.
“Great. Kat laughed when I suggested it, but she assured me it was probably your new favorite place. I’ll see if she can join us.
If not, I don’t mind waiting at a table until the two of you are free.
It’ll give me more time for people-watching.
” She handed me her credit card and smiled brightly. “Sound good?”
“Sounds…amazing,” I said, my cheeks frozen in customer service-mode.
I couldn’t think of a single reason not to go there. Free cake. No time limit. There was only one problem.
My mother was going to meet my boyfriend before I even told her I had one.