30. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Then
“Nina Lynn.”
The annoyed voice cut through my thoughts. I paused, price gun in one hand and a pair of seasonally inappropriate shamrock slippers in the other, and looked up. From my spot on the floor of the stock room, Mom towered over me. “What?”
She let out a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. “You aren’t listening to music, are you? You need to be able to hear the customers."
“No, I’m not.” I finished tagging the slippers, covering the price on the original tag with a bright red $4.99. After tossing them into the box beside me, I pulled my hair back to show Mom that my ears were empty. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”
I had wished many times for my mother to take an interest in my life beyond what she believed needed to be fixed, but at this moment, I was glad to be safe from further questions. Because where my mind had been—in the back of Theo’s truck with his body moving over me, sweet words spoken against my skin—wasn’t anything she needed to know about. We had snuck off a few times since, but it was that first time that I was hung up on—that moment when Theo and I handed over the only pieces of each other that we didn’t already have.
For a week, I’d been reliving that night, and for a week, I’d been terrified that she’d somehow know. But as she skirted past me to move into the office, it was clear that she was oblivious.
I ducked my head so shecouldn't see me smiling.
“Well, I was trying to tell you that when you’re done tagging that clearance, you need to go cover the register so Theo can take his break,” she called out to me. I heard the office chair creak as she sat down. “And then make sure the clearance gets put out before you leave for the night.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
All noise from the office ceased, and I grimaced to myself, realizing how deferential my tone had been. I had been raised to speak to adults that way, but when I pulled out the pleasantries with my own parents, they often assumed that I was up to something.
Generally, they were right.
I held my breath as I waited for my mom’s response. It finally came as a pointed, “Thank you.”
I rushed through marking the rest of the clearance and breathed out a sigh of relief when I plowed through the one swinging door, box of slippers propped on my hip, putting distance between myself and my mom. There didn’t seem to be any customers around. When I got up to the register, Theo was leaning on the counter and working a page in the sudoku book he kept behind the counter for slow nights like this.
“Hey,” he said, flipping his book shut as I approached. His eyes sparked with mischief as he looked at me. I wasn’t the only one who’d been on cloud nine lately. “What’s all that?”
“Those ugly shamrock slippers.” I dropped them on the ground. “You can have your very own for only $4.99.”
“What about my employee discount?”
I clucked my tongue. “You know I can’t do math in my head.”
“Sure you can. Round it up to five dollars and think of it as five hundred cents, and then—”
“Theo,” I whined. “I don’t care.”
“Fine.” He leaned toward me, smirking. “I’ll take pity on you ’cause you’re hot. Fifteen percent off would make them $4.25.”
“Great. Sign me up.” I jerked my head toward the front door. “My mom said you could go on break.”
Theo stretched his arms over his head. His t-shirt rode up over the waistband of his jeans, exposing his belly button and a dark smattering of hair. I tried not to stare. “I don’t need one. I’ll hang out with you.”
The bell at the door jangled to announce someone’s arrival, and I stopped ogling Theo long enough to cast a quick, “Welcome to Walk a Mile,” over my shoulder. Then I leaned in toward him, lowering my voice so only we could hear. “Go on break. It’ll make my mom suspicious if we’re just hanging out up here by ourselves.”
“Why?” he asked. “We’ve done it a million times.”
“Do I really have to explain to you again —”
I cut myself off when Theo’s eyes darted to the right. I turned abruptly, expecting my mother to have come up beside us, but instead saw the customer who had just entered.
Except he didn’t really look like a customer. He didn’t look like he belonged here at all. He was wearing a tailored suit, hair perfectly swooped above his forehead, and towered over both of us. He reminded me of the main character in a law drama I liked to watch sometimes.
“Can we help you?” asked Theo.
The man responded with an easy grin. “Hey, y’all,” he said cheerfully. “You sure can. Nina and Theo, right?”
I furrowed my brow, trying to remember if I’d met him somewhere before.
“That’s right.” Theo answered for both of us, the slightest edge in his voice.
“Rick Redding,” he said, pointing to himself with a thumb, and I felt my eyes go wide. “I’m not sure we’ve met. Y’all know my son Vince, I think.”
He was still being conversational, but when he mentioned Vince, his voice lilted up into something that sounded like a warning.
I turned to look at Theo, only to see that he had come out from behind the counter and was standing at my side, tension radiating off his body. “Yes, sir,” he said. “He was in my class. Nina’s a year behind us.”
“Right, right. I remember seeing you at graduation now. Exciting stuff, going out into the world,” Mr. Redding said, and then clapped his hands together. “Listen, is it just you two in the store today? I was hoping to chat with one of y’all’s folks.”
“My mom is in the back,” I said. “If you wait here, I can go get—”
“Actually, it might be better if I talk to her in private,” he interrupted. “Mind walking me back there?”
Theo cleared his throat. “Sure. It’s just this way.”
His hand grazed mine as he turned away. I wanted to grasp it, to let his touch quell the anxiety bubbling up in my chest, but I knew I couldn’t do that right now. Instead, I watched as Theo led the way down the center aisle. Mr. Redding followed a pace behind, striding forward in that same deceptively casual manner.
By the time Theo returned, I was practically vibrating with anxiety. He joined me behind the counter, and I could see the worry marring his features.
“What did he want?” I whispered.
Theo pressed his lips into a thin line for several seconds. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “But when I went into the office and told Kelly he was here, she looked like she’d seen a ghost.”
“Do you think they might be raising the rent again?”
He let out a breath. “It’s July second,” he said. “It was due two days ago. Hell, Sass—I’m wondering if maybe they didn’t make the rent.”
My stomach bottomed out, and I opened my mouth to argue, stopping short when I realized that he could be right. There was a reason we hadn’t recognized Mr. Redding when he came in—he and his wife may have owned half the town, but they had reached the level of success where they could delegate their business, pocket the profit, and spend most of their time at their vacation home.
Whatever he had come here to talk about, it couldn’t be anything good.
The bell at the front door jangled again, this time to announce the arrival of actual customers. Theo showed the family to the kids’ section while I arranged the shamrock slippers on the clearance rack. As I was finishing up, Mr. Redding came around the corner, and I practically jumped out of my skin at his reappearance. He breezed on past without so much as a glance at me, strides long and back straight, with the air of a man who knew he had won.