“Probably,” I said, grabbing as many chocolate bars as I could to stall the inevitable. “I keep these in my freezer,” I said, grabbing a bag of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls and putting them on the conveyer belt.
“Keane,” Megan said, and I straightened, meeting her eyes. I distinctly felt Violet scrutinizing us both as she bagged the groceries.
I shoved my debit card into the reader, typed in my pin and then looked at Megan again.
“Do you want to round up your purchase to the next dollar and donate it to the children’s hospital?”
“Sure.” Oh, she was being civil. A feat for her. Maybe this would go smoothly. I glanced sideways at Violet, who was placing bags into the cart. I picked up the box of soda cans and put them in myself, and then the beer as Megan scanned it last.
It might have made me sound like a dick, but when I looked at her, I felt absolutely nothing. Not one iota of a thing. I mean, I didn’t wish ill upon her. But I didn’t feel warmth or tenderness or any of the things I probably was supposed to feel.
She turned to face me, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Who’s this?”
Oh, okay, there was the Megan I knew and didn’t enjoy. “Violet,” Violet replied before I could answer. I didn’t think I would have answered. “Who are you?”
Oh, shit. Of all the things Violet could have said to her, that was definitely the worst one. Megan didn’t like to not be known. And I knew, in her eyes, Violet’s innocent question was a slight to her.
“Oh, you’re Megan.” Megan’s back straightened, her eyebrow lifting as if she had a reputation that preceded her. As if I’d talked about her. But then Violet waggled a finger at her nametag. “Says your name’s Megan right there.”
Megan pursed her lips in disappointment and ignored Violet. “I see you moved on quickly.”
I resisted the temptation to laugh at her. “First of all, it’s not like that.”
“Because it’s ‘not like that’ with anyone.” She cocked her head to the side like she was considering which way to gut me. As if she could. “Not even me.”
“You’re right.” I stared at the keypad, waiting for it to read Approved on the little screen. We were the only people in Megan’s line, so she wasn’t in any kind of hurry to press any little buttons on her side of this transaction. So I had to stare at Waiting while Megan took her time torturing me.
“You’re such an asshole,” she huffed under her breath so that no one nearby could hear. I had to give it to her, even when she was at work, she could call me out and still maintain some semblance of professionalism.
“That’s why we’re not together, if I’m not wrong.” I tapped my foot impatiently, hoping Violet was distracted by something—anything else. “Is there something wrong with my card?” I asked, in an attempt to encourage this along.
“He’s not a nice guy,” she said to Violet conspiratorially.
“He’s nice to me,” Violet deadpanned. “Is your machine down or something? I thought those things moved faster.”
Megan stabbed a button on her side with impressive force, which triggered an Approved message across my screen. Hallelujah.
“You broke up with me, remember?” I told her as I held my hand out for my receipt.
“And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” She slowly curled the receipt around her finger, taking her damn time to give it to me.
I was surprised that I dated her for six months and felt abso-fucking-lutely nothing for her. And I wasn’t going to play her games. “Okay. So, what are we doing here then?” I turned to Violet and grabbed the handle of the cart, not giving a shit about my fucking receipt as I steered us out of the store.
“I think she was going to hold your receipt hostage until you kissed her feet in apology for whatever you did,” Violet remarked as we climbed into the pickup.
“I don’t doubt it.”
“I take it she’s an ex?”
“My most recent one. When she broke up with me, she gave me the whole, ‘We live in a small town’ reminder, like we were going to inevitably and frequently run into one another and she didn’t want me to make it awkward when we did.” I turned the key in the ignition.
“Funny, because she is the one who seems bothered by that.”
“Exactly.” I backed out of the parking space and made my way across town. “Hey,” I said. “Can we keep that whole deal between us?”
“Yeah. But why?”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. Navy seemed insecure about Megan as it was. I didn’t want Violet telling her I’d run into her and making it a bigger deal than it was. “Your big sister doesn’t like Megan,” I said, though it wasn’t the whole truth. “Just easier not talking about her.”
“How are we going to explain the hair dye then?”
“We could say you texted me a photo of a color you’d chosen online?”
“That works,” she said.
“Thanks for backing me up there, by the way. Appreciate it.”
“I didn’t say much.”
“You said enough. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten out there with all my organs intact if you weren’t with me.”
“Okay, well, you can pay me back for keeping your spleen by buying me a burrito.”
It was a fair deal, all around.
18
NAVY
By the time I walked through the door of my aunt’s house on Friday night, I felt so dragged down that even lifting my feet was a chore. It had been two long days since I’d left Violet’s doctor appointment, and Delilah had called out of all her shifts since then—leaving Roger and me alone to cover morning and night. He might have been a pain in the ass sometimes, but at least I could count on him to fill in in an emergency.
I was so rundown in fact, that I’d debated canceling on Hollis. I hadn’t seen her in what felt like ages, but I just didn’t have the mental stamina for much besides sleep. The store wasn’t necessarily grueling work, but between the store and Violet and my other two sisters, I was feeling stretched thin.
But I wasn’t the friend who bailed—not usually, at least—so I texted Hollis letting her know I was home and managed to pull something together for dinner for myself. Rose was still eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I arrived, and Jade was shot gunning potato chips right from a bag.
“What else did you eat?” I asked as I ate the overcooked scrambled eggs I’d prepared for myself. I would need to bake some snacks prior to Hollis’s arrival, but for now I was focused on refueling.
“A steak,” Jade said around a mouthful of crunched chips. I recognized the sarcasm despite the full mouth.
“Do you want eggs or something? Or I’m sure we have some chicken breasts in the freezer that could be tossed in the oven, if you’d prefer.”
“Nah.” Jade crumpled the bag and abandoned it on the counter as she poured herself a glass of water. “I’m not that hungry. Pretty tired, actually. Probably going to go to bed early.”