Chapter 22 #2
Barrett followed me to the mean, sharp-eyed woman, then handled the check out for both of us.
He slipped his arm around me on the way out.
“Neither of us has eaten anything today. Do you want to get something before we go to the next shop? It’s kind of that zone between lunch and dinner, when no one is sure if they should eat or not, right? ”
I grinned. “How about we go into that coffee shop over there and each get a muffin? Actually, I could use a coffee too.” We’d slept in, but our late night was hitting me.
“Yep.” He kissed my cheek. “By the way, I won’t have to remember you in a year. You’ll still be with me.”
I groaned. “I thought you were distracted from that topic when you paid.” I elbowed him gently and he laughed.
“I’m not easily distracted.”
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee greeted us as we stepped into the cozy shop.
The soft murmur of conversations didn’t change with our arrival.
Unlike the last store, no one bothered to stare at us.
A few other customers were scattered about—a couple sat by the window playing chess, while a group of people our age sat together, none of them talking, everyone on their phones.
One girl snapped a photo of herself. An elderly man read a newspaper in a corner, sipping his coffee and grumbling as if frustrated with the news.
I’d never actually read a newspaper while holding the paper itself, I realized abruptly, just individual articles I would find online of interest. What was it like to just sit and read one from front to back?
We approached the counter, and the barista was cheerful with a bright smile.
Huge improvement from the woman in the last shop .
After greeting us, she asked for our orders.
Barrett held my hand as I glanced at the menu, running his thumb over the top of my knuckles.
“Two muffins, please—one blueberry and one chocolate chip, ” I said, “and a large coffee for me.”
I didn’t drink very much coffee and simpler was better. Too much caffeine and I got jittery.
Barrett leaned forward, adding, “I’ll take a cappuccino.”
The people our age laughed at something on their screens—they must all be looking at the same thing, and the chess players continued staring at the board in contemplative silence.
I took a deep breath, exhaling tension. I didn’t find the location stressful, a surprising pleasure considering my normal anxiety in public spaces.
“Did I say thank you for the suits?” I didn’t think I had, so I glanced quickly at him. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry.”
The barista handed us our drinks, smiling the whole time. I needed to say something. “Oh, and thank you for this. Barrett, you just keep giving and giving to me.”
“Alatheia,” he said as we sat down together.
“Getting to see you in those suits will be all the thanks I need. I hate that you’re so uncomfortable when we meet your basic needs.
I want to take care of you. I want to spoil you.
” Barrett squeezed my hand across the table.
“I love moments like this, I always have, but it’s so much better with you.
The two of us, doing something simple that people have done forever.
None of them were ever as lucky as me, though, because I get to do it with you. ”
Happiness bubbled through me, as bright and effervescent as sunshine on water. Being happy was a strange and unusual experience for me, though, so it took me a few seconds to even recognize the unfamiliar emotion.
“Thank you, Barrett,” I said sincerely as I stared into his lovely brown eyes. “You are so handsome. I think that when I look at you all the time.”
He visibly swallowed. “You do?”
Whatever we would have said next was interrupted by Jeremy, who slid into a chair between us.
“Hi, you two. Okay, listen, Alatheia …” His whole demeanor was bright, the grin stretching his face almost as bright as whatever lit him up inside.
Barrett noticed it, too, because he raised his eyebrows at his younger brother.
“Last night when Phoenix said you finally looked like you, I understood what he meant.”
Barrett cleared his throat. “When exactly did he say that?”
Jeremy didn’t look at him as he answered, waving a hand in irritation at the interruption.
“When we were going to sleep. Also later when, you know, other stuff was happening. Anyway, it occurred to me that you are just … an angel. You really are. Super nice, so much so that Granny gave you her pearls. I recognized them, but they’re hers, not yours.
They didn’t say Alatheia to me, which I think Phoenix noticed.
That’s what he meant. So, I asked myself, what should Alatheia be wearing that looks more like her ? ”
I cleared my throat, pointing out, “Your granny said the pearls would make me strong.”
Barrett winced. “I hate that you need strength to deal with our family. She’s probably right, but still.”
“Well, there is Granny strong and then there is Alatheia strong. You aren’t like Granny.
You’re different people. Maybe you could borrow her strength when you borrow her pearls, but how about just being you?
” His grin grew even bigger. “I want something you can wear that shows you how I feel about you being you every time you wear it.”
“Jeremy, what did you do?” I asked as I leaned forward. “You don’t have to buy me things, whatever it is.”
He waved his hand. “I wanted to buy it. I suddenly knew what you needed. I went to four jewelry stores before I found it.”
“Did you walk?” Barrett asked then laughed.
“Yes, but I had to call a ride share for the last one.” He grinned again, like a boy who’d caught a prized frog.
Barrett nodded then pointed out, “I should warn you, Sweetheart, Jeremy gives great gifts. He always has.” Barrett sipped his drink.
Jeremy patted his older brother on the back. “That’s nice. Surprising you noticed that over the years, but yes I do.” He pulled a long box out of his pocket, the kind of box that could hold a necklace.
I caught my breath. “Jeremy, I don’t know what is in there, but it’s too much.”
“It’s not. It’s not nearly enough. What is that thing everyone is always talking about?” He snapped his fingers, and I stared at him, waiting for him to finish.
After a moment, I spoke again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He turned to Barrett. “You must know.”
“Your brain is moving a hundred miles an hour, so how could I guess what track you’re on? What are you trying to say?”
Finally, Jeremy knocked on the table. “Love languages. I always hear people talking about them like it’s a thing.
I don’t know anything about it, truthfully, but we can say that my love language is gift giving.
” He held out his hand. “I know. Too soon for that word, but I’m not injecting that into this conversation.
Not with Barrett here, anyway.” I blinked but he continued, not giving me a chance to process the fact he mentioned love. “I like giving gifts to people I like.”
On that note, he pushed the box across the table toward me.
My hands shook slightly when I took it from him. I lifted the top of the box and spotted a shimmer from pearls. Pink pearls. I had never seen anything like them before. They were … gorgeous.
Tears threatened to spill. “Oh wow.”
“You like them? They seemed like you. To me, they did, at least. They’re natural pink freshwater pearls. There are other pink things, but this is what they had in terms of real pearls.” He took my hand in his and squeezed. “Do you like them?”
Do I like them? I lifted my gaze to meet his. “I love them so much, but I don’t want you to do things like this. I am … I am overwhelmed.”
Barrett laughed. “Well done. They’re perfect for her.”
“I know.” Jeremy rushed around the table to put them around my neck. With my hands still not steady, I lifted my hair for him. “They are.” He leaned over and kissed my neck after he set the clasp. “Thank you for loving them.”
As he took his seat, I searched for something to say. “Jer, they’re perfect. Thank you and please don’t … don’t think I expect this or anything like it. I just feel lucky to spend time with you. I feel lucky because you want to spend time with me.”
“This was my pleasure. Really.” He looked around. “Do we go to the counter to buy coffee or is there a waitress?”
Barrett shook his head. “No, little brother. You don’t need any caffeine. Not a drop.”
Jeremy grinned. “Maybe not but I want a muffin. Did I miss the dress shopping?”
“Up next.” Barrett adored me with his eyes. “They look incredible on you, Alatheia. They really do.”
Jeremy headed to the counter.
“Barrett,” I said as I touched the pearls again carefully.
“They’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever owned.
But won’t your parents hate this?” Do charity cases get gifts like this?
I couldn’t ask that, but I couldn’t help thinking it just the same.
“I don’t want any of you to think you need to spend money on me.
The clothes, the food, this necklace … I don’t know how to accept it.
I don’t know how to think about all of this. ”
He scooted his chair closer to me. “I know. I can see that. But the thing is? We are all going to want to do things like this for you. That’s just how it is with us.”
“How can I ever repay it? I can’t reciprocate.” My voice shook as Jeremy sat back down with his muffin.
“Don’t think you have to, because you’re a gift to us in a million ways.
” He kissed my cheek. His easy affection had increased since we’d been cuddled in bed together.
I couldn’t say I minded, but shouldn’t they be more careful?
We were in public. Maybe the location was okay?
I sighed in frustration, because if no one explained how it all worked, how could I hope to judge how to act and where?
Jeremy ate his muffin fast and then scooted his chair back. “Come on. Dress time. I am so up from seeing you in those pearls. I’m going to be on a high from it for a week.”
“No, you won’t.” Barrett rose and offered me his hand, which I took because I was still so stunned I wasn’t sure my legs would work otherwise. “Tomorrow is the big party, and we know that it always sucks and drains the life out of us.”
Really? Is it that bad? “Jeremy, you and Barrett came to Manhattan just a few days ago for the sole purpose of getting me out of Julian’s life.
Now you’re treating me like a princess. I really can’t fathom it.
” In fact, Jeremy sometimes called me Princess.
I hadn’t focused on it, but that was what he did.
“Ah, no,” Barrett said then shook his head. “By the time I got there, I was trying to get you out of Jeremy’s life, too.”
Jeremy pulled me to his side, and I wrapped my arm around his waist as though I had done so a million times. “Would have been the biggest mistake of my life, Princess.” There it was. “I was hooked the second you walked out of the library because I was being a jerk. Just hooked.”
“That is not true. You were mean to me at dinner, too.”
Barrett grinned. “Really? He was that bad?”
“I fought it, but I was hooked. What did he do?” He nodded to Barrett. “To try to get rid of you?”
It baffled me that so much could change in so few days. “He was just cold.”
“Until you knew the jazz music. But I was hooked the second I saw you. Thank God Julian was there that day.”
The dress shop wasn’t far, just down the block from the coffee house.
It was aptly named Ethereal Elegance ; delicate ivy crept up the whitewashed brick of the building.
Large, arched windows displayed the latest couture, though I didn’t know much about fashion.
Golden lettering above the door gleamed in the afternoon sun.
Barrett grabbed the door for me. “I want you to show me what you try on, okay? Even if there is some weird saleswoman in here, too.”
“Did she not model the suits?” Jeremy sighed in an exaggerated way. “That sucks.”
“I don’t have the slightest idea what to look at,” I confessed.
Barrett whispered in my ear. “That’s okay, I do. Forgive me while I pull out my rich entitled asshole side to get you what you need. Sometimes it’s good to play the game. I know how to play it. I hate it, but for you, yeah, I am going to get it done.”