Chapter 4
Dina
"Well, I think that’s everything," Mom sighed, as she planted the last of the groceries on the conveyer belt. "Let me just get my coupons, Mary..."
She reached into her bag and began to fish around, and I smiled at the cashier, grateful for her patience.
We always made sure to come to the Mill with all the penny-pinching we’d had to do over the years, it must have been kind of a shock to be faced with someone so willing to pay the bills. But she didn’t know the full story, and frankly, neither did I.
If this was nothing more than his attempt at a kind gesture before he left town, that was one thing, but if he expected me to go to him to thank him personally...
"I think so."
"Well, he must be a pretty generous guy!” she exclaimed. "When are you seeing him again?”
"Uh, I’m not."
"But you-"
I looked past her. Mary was already bagging everything up, though I wanted to tell her to hold off just a little while longer.
Maybe I could pay for it all myself, clear the cash he’d put on our account, so that I wouldn’t owe him anything.
Even if that wasn’t how he had intended this, that was sure as hell how I saw it.
"Look, Mom, can we talk about this afterwards?" I asked her. I just wanted to get out of there. I could see Fiona over in the fresh fruit section, but her head was tilted slightly towards us, as though she was listening in on our conversation.
"Sure," she replied, still sounding a little dazed. "But you must tell me all about this guy. And I can keep my coupons to use for next time! Oh, this is even better than I thought..."
I watched as she pushed the cart down to the end of the register to finish packing up, and I felt a pang of guilt for second-guessing this gesture at all, seeing how happy it made her.
Maybe I just should have been touched that he had done something like this, and leave it at that, let my mom enjoy this little break from the weight I know she was always carrying...
I shook that thought off swiftly. No, I wasn’t going to let him leave town before I’d had a chance to get even with him financially. As kind as this was, I knew that nothing came for free, and I didn’t like the thought of owing anyone.
And perhaps, whether I was willing to admit it to myself or not, there was a part of me that wanted to see him again, too.