Chapter 16 – Juliette
SIXTEEN
JULIETTE
It wasn’t stealing. I stared down at the payment pad in the grocery store and it was simply asking me a question.
Did I want cash back?
Answer: Yes.
Now, I wasn’t a fool. I knew if I started collecting Benjamin’s that wasn’t likely to go unnoticed. But twenty dollars cash back on top of an already crazy expensive shopping bill for two, (Creed ate about quadruple the amount of food Herb used to eat), was not going to hit his radar.
It had been days since he’d given me the card and this was the first trip into town with the card on my own.
The cashier, Jennifer, Mr. and Mrs. Nash’s oldest daughter who was back in town after a rumored nasty divorce, handed me the twenty dollar bill and I stuffed it into my overall pocket along with the receipt.
Twenty dollars per grocery trip wasn’t going to add up to 50K any time soon, but I could add it to my stash of cash and at least it would be something.
I didn’t know if Creed was the dumbest human on earth for giving me such a gift…or maybe the coolest. But, whatever. I couldn’t get lost in the sentiment if I was going to stay focused on my mission.
Freedom was the goal. I had to remember it.
I put the bags into the cart and smiled at Jennifer. I was halfway across the parking lot when I heard my name being called.
“Juliette!”
I turned around to see April Talley jogging across the parking lot. Her hair was bouncing behind her in that way that announced how perfectly thick and long it was. My hair did not bounce like that no matter how long I grew it.
“Hey,” she said, slightly out of breath. She was in white jean shorts and a t-shirt, with a pair of sneakers that looked like they were made for jogging. Folks around these parts did not jog. But they looked cute.
“Hey,” I said, having zero comprehension as to why April would be chasing me down in a parking lot. Unless this was about Kevin? Would he have said something about me?
“I just wanted to thank you for finding and catching Will. He’s an absolute asshole, but he’s my asshole, if you know what I mean.”
I smiled. Yeah, Margo could be a bitch like that sometimes. Especially when she tried to take your fingers off when all you were trying to do was feed her a carrot. “Actually, it was Creed who did most of the work.”
“Jackson said he’s a horse whisperer,” she said.
I shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“So my mom says I can be too bold sometimes, but I’m just going to ask. What’s it like to be married?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you’re only like, what, two years older than me? And you’re married. That’s so crazy.”
“It’s a little weird. Living with someone who’s not your family,” I admitted. “He leaves the toilet seat up, but only sometimes. And he eats like a freaking horse. But he’s pretty good around the house.”
“And of course, he’s hot,” April laughed, like that was the most obvious thing.
“Is he?”
“Yeah, he’s huge and looks a little scary looking, which is always hot. At least, when I’ve seen him around town. Don’t worry though, I’m not gagging after your husband.”
“Yeah, I don’t really think of him like that,” I said. I pulled a bag out of the cart and put it into the back seat of the truck. Then thought about what I said. “I mean, I just like him for who he is.”
“Sure, a hundred percent.”
“Are you still seeing Kevin?”
She shook her head and her hair danced in this wave behind her. Like, what the fuck?
“All he wanted to do was like hang out on the couch and stuff. He didn’t say much at all. I’m going to college in the fall anyway. So hopefully, I can meet some new people there. You were so lucky that someone not from here just showed up and was like bam, I want her.”
First, let’s unpack the statement you were so lucky. Seemed like a stretch.
I lifted another bag into the back seat. “It didn’t happen exactly like that.”
“Yeah, but he’s not from Riverbend. He had a life before he got here. I swear, there are times I feel like if I closed my eyes and just listened to the sound of everyone’s voice I would be able to tell who was who. You know?”
Not an exercise I planned to partake in, but whatever rocked her boat.
“Hey, I know this is sudden, but I don’t know if you saw that Bella’s daughter opened a consignment shop above the Hair Stop. Retro Fits.”
“I thought that was like the bachelor apartment in town.”
“It was, but her daughter came home from college and wanted to try running her own business. It doesn’t have like a crazy amount of stuff, but she shops all over Montana, so it’s not just Riverbend’s leftovers. And she gets new stuff in every week. You want to check it out with me?”
“I…uh…,” I pointed to the groceries in the truck.
“They’ll be fine for a couple of minutes. I just don’t want to go in by myself. Rule of shopping, never shop alone or else you will buy the most hideous thing.”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to buy…”
We both stopped talking and she averted her eyes like she’d stepped into something she knew stunk. What I’d said was accurate. I’d never been allowed to buy anything on my own. But that was Herb.
Creed didn’t seem to have those restrictions on me.
“Anything hideous,” I finished, with a half laugh. “Creed would be mad at me.”
Immediately, April’s expression changed. Like of course, she misunderstood that I was some restricted adult who couldn’t do basic things without supervision.
“Cool,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Without any sort of legitimate reason, and because I was a little curious, I shut the back of the truck and headed across the street and down a couple of blocks back into town.
We took the stairs up to the space that had been converted into a shop.
An open sign hung from the door and April didn’t hesitate.
My first thought was that it smelled a little musty. But that seemed reasonable in the summer when the place was stuffed with clothes.
There were as many round racks that could fit in the space available. To navigate through, you had to push through hangers and clothes, but April seemed to be on a mission.
“Hi Kaye!” she called out.
“Hi April, new stuff is in the back near the dressing room,” a disembodied voice returned. I couldn’t see her, but she had to be somewhere in this miasma of people’s discarded clothes.
“This way,” April directed me.
I could see the small corner of the room that was sectioned off with a curtain.
I assumed that was the dressing room. In front of it was another round rack, although this one was more carefully spaced and not completely overstuffed with clothes.
On top was a cardboard sign with neat lettering that read: Just In.
The sizes were sectioned off and so I focused on the medium and small area.
“Oooh! Look at this dress!” April pulled it off the rack and showed it to me. It was soft pink, with white detailing along the shoulders. Straight skirt, knee high, the white pearl buttons only went up so high on the chest where it opened to a V-neck.
It was pretty. Maybe the prettiest dress I’d ever seen. “You should totally try that on. It would look awesome on you.”
“No way,” April said. “Pink is not my color. You try it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have much reason to wear something like that.”
April did this head tilt pouty thing. “Juliette. You’re married now. You should have a dress that you wear to make your husband sit up and take notice. What about date night?”
“Date night,” I scoffed. “What’s the point of being married if you’re still dating?”
“My mom and dad have a date night at least once a month. My mother insists on it, but truth is, I think my dad likes it when she puts on a fancy dress and make up just for him. Now listen to me, I may not be a married woman, but I know things, having two older brothers. Try this on.”
It couldn’t hurt to try it on, I thought.
I took the hanger from her and walked behind the curtain in the corner.
I kicked off my worn sneaks, and pushed the straps of my overalls off my shoulders.
I pulled off my shirt and studied myself in the mirror.
The bra was the same one I’d had since I hit puberty.
And my underwear was white and came in a six pack.
Creed had been making noise again about me moving back into his bed. He wasn’t shy about letting me know he wanted to keep messing around and see how things progressed. But of course, I kept digging in my heels.
In so many ways it felt like a tug of war. I was clearly slipping across the playing field. And the puddle of mud in the middle was just waiting for me, eventually. But giving up didn’t feel right. So I kept tugging.
This, I thought, looking at myself in the mirror. This was what he was so hot for?
My brown hair was braided down my back. My skin was white and brown depending on where the sun hit. My underwear was not sexy, and my face…I don’t know. It was just my face.
I reached for the dress and pulled it off the hanger. You had to undo all the buttons, slip your arms in it, then button it all up again. It cinched it around the waist and just under my boobs.
I looked in the mirror again. My tan face felt a little softer against the color. There was some cleavage where the V landed. My knees peaked out just under the hem and the sleeves fell just short of my biceps.
“Come out and let me see,” April called. “Remember, you can’t be your own judge of what looks good.”
I pushed the curtain aside and immediately April started bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping. “Oh my gosh! That looks so good on you. You have to get it.”
“She’s right,” the woman, Kaye I assumed, who ran the store, joined in the chorus. “That shade of pink brings out your skin tone and your eyes look so blue now.”