Chapter Twelve

Teagan

WE HOPPED INTO Cash's truck and headed down to the local Fred Meyer, where I made sure he stocked up on everything from pantry items to lightbulbs.

"When's the last time you changed the batteries in your smoke detector?" I asked, holding up a pack of nine-volt batteries.

"You have to change those?" he joked.

I pulled two more packs of batteries from the end cap display before pulling out my phone. "Adding change all smoke detector batteries to your to-do list."

"Baby, I change those on the regular."

"You can never be too careful."

"Has anyone ever called you pushy before?" Cash asked with a grin.

"I accept your unending gratitude wholeheartedly."

"Did I thank you?"

"Yes, you did," I replied, patting his chest. "And I believe you also said that you'd love to repay me by taking me to the cute little clothing boutique that just opened a few doors down from here."

Cash's brow furrowed as he scratched the back of his neck. "Man, I have got to see a doctor about this memory loss problem, 'cause I don't remember saying any of that."

"I keep reminding you to make an appointment, but I guess it keeps slipping your mind."

"What would I do without you?" Cash asked, before leaning down to kiss me.

However, after almost an hour of shopping, Cash's good mood was starting to wear off.

"Turtle, there's nothing left in the store," he said, nodding to our overfilling cart. "And I only brought three bags."

"Well, that's on you, Old Mother Hubbard. Your cupboards are bare. How do you live like that?"

"I'm either at the club or the shop. I'm never home and it's not like I entertain. There's no point in having food, much less fresh food in my house."

"You have a point." I frowned. "Should we put stuff back?"

"You planning on being at my place more often?"

I beamed. "Hell, yes."

"Then, no, we'll keep everything. Gotta keep you fed, right?"

"If you don't want feral Teagan, yes, you need to feed me."

He chuckled and we headed to checkout.

After loading up the truck's cab with our haul, we walked hand in hand down to the new boutique for a little window shopping, just as Cash had "promised." The shop was a gorgeous bohemian dress shop called Le Perche. As soon as we walked inside, I heard my name called and turned to see Claire Hurley walking toward me.

"Oh my god, Claire, hi," I said, giving her a hug.

"Hey yourself."

"Cash, this is Claire. She and I went to high school together."

"I was a shy little nerd who was afraid to talk to anyone and Teagan was the coolest girl in school." Claire said with a chuckle as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Cash smiled. "You too."

"I was not cool," I argued.

"You were too," Claire said. "But never stuck up or mean. You were always nice to us weirdoes."

"You were not a weirdo."

"See? That's what I mean, you were always so nice."

"Whatever." I smiled. "How are you? How long have you worked here?" I asked, pointing to her name tag.

"Since day one. Minute one actually," she chuckled. "I'm the owner."

"Oh, my gosh. This is your place? It's beautiful."

"Congratulations," Cash said.

"Thank you. We've only been open for six months, but we landed this amazing space, and I've got two full time employees who are both rock stars and we're running full steam ahead."

"Last I heard you'd won a Gunnach Grant and were off to Dartmouth."

Claire nodded. "Six to eight years of academic research with the hopes of landing a long-term career in academic research. After a year of assisting and two years of lab work my future was looking less like a shiny path and more a death sentence, so I dropped out of Dartmouth, got a small business loan, and took a leap of faith into dream land."

"How exciting."

Claire laughed. "Exciting is one way of putting it. My parents freaked out and the Gunnach foundation people were pretty pissed, but something inside of me was screaming the same thing over and over. If you can't summon the courage to make a move right now—"

"The chance to make it may never come again," I interrupted.

Claire smiled wide. "That's exactly right."

"I'm kind of figuring that out myself."

"I thought you were heading to law school."

"Oh I did. I am, but I hate it," I admitted. "About to make a change in career path, just figuring out what I want to do."

Claire smiled sweetly. "Well, whatever you decide to do, I know you'll be great at it. You can do pretty much anything you put your mind to."

"Well, that's really kind of you to say, Claire."

She shrugged. "Just speaking the truth."

"Oh, my gahd! Claire Hurley and Teagan Reed," another voice from my past called out.

Claire's smile dropped and I stiffened.

"What?" Cash asked.

"Lauren Marks," I whispered. "Head mean girl of our class."

Cash frowned. "She bullied you?"

"She tried, but mostly it was girls like Claire and her friends who took the full brunt of her nastiness," I said before turning to face her.

"Hello, Lauren. How are you?" I asked in a clipped tone.

She wore a long cardigan and a floppy straw hat straight from the "Pinstagram" online shop. She smiled coyly. "How sweet. Like you don't know."

I had no idea what she was talking about. The last time I'd seen Lauren Marks was the day of our high school graduation which was also the last day I'd ever thought about her at all. She was the most self-centered, shallow bitch in a school that had more than its fair share.

"And how are you, Claire? I'm surprised to see you in a place like this. You never seemed to follow fashion trends back in high school."

"I still don't," Claire replied. "I've always liked clothes like this. The current trends have finally caught up with me. But like you said, I don't care about trends."

Lauren's head tilted, making her look like a confused puppy.

"This is Claire's boutique," I said.

"Oh, wow, how… nice," Lauren said, sounding like she was in shock.

"And with that, I have to apologize, but I really need to get back to work. I'm trying to sort out a fabric supply issue with one of my vendors in Bangladesh and the time difference is a nightmare to deal with. It was so good to see you again, Teagan, and nice to meet you, Cash."

"You too," Cash replied.

"Lauren," Claire said with the slightest of nods. After hugging me one more time, Claire walked away, turning to the young woman at the counter as she left. "Marci, please make sure Teagan gets the friends and family discount."

"That's so sweet. Thank you," I said.

"My gift to the coolest girl in school," she said before disappearing down the hall.

"Let's look around, baby," Cash said, pulling me away from Lauren, who waved goodbye awkwardly.

I smiled up at Cash. "Well, that was super sweet of Claire to say all that nice stuff about me."

He rolled his eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

He slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. "I wish you'd see yourself the way the rest of us see you."

I hugged him and smiled. "I'm working on it, honey."

He moved his hand down to my butt and gave it a pat as he teased, "Work faster."

Within ten minutes I had already found two dresses, a pair of pumps, a handbag with a matching leather notebook, and three pairs of earrings to buy.

"I thought you said you just wanted to window shop," Cash said.

"What? It's only a few things," I replied, innocently.

"Then I think we should get you out of here before you really become dangerous."

"You heard Claire. Friends and family discount, baby. That means I'm not spending money, I'm saving money."

"That's not how math works," he replied.

"Maybe not regular dumb old boring math, but that's definitely how girl math works."

As we made our way to the checkout counter, only one customer was in front of us. It was Lauren and she appeared to be in some sort of disagreement with Marci at the register.

"This could all be cleared up if you'd just call Claire," Lauren said. "We're dear friends."

"As I said, Ms. Hurley is on an important overseas call and cannot be disturbed at this time. You can either pay for the items you've selected, or I'd be more than happy to hold them for you if you want to come back later."

"I don't want to come back later. I'm here now and would like to pay now, so if you could just apply my discount to the total purchase price that would be great."

"I've explained that I don't have authorization or instruction to grant you a discount."

I let out a quiet gagging noise only Cash could hear.

"This is ridiculous. First of all, you clearly heard Claire when she instructed to give her friends a discount." Lauren motioned to me and her. "Besides, and I didn't want to have to say this, but honestly, I shouldn't have to pay anything for this stuff." Lauren looked to me for support. "Right?"

I shrugged.

"Ms. Hurley authorized a discount for her," Marci said, motioning to me. "Not for you. I don't know who you are, and because I don't own the store, I can't just give discounts."

"Right." Lauren huffed. "I'm only one of the most important and influential influencers on social media today. I know you're familiar with my work, so don't act like you're not. One positive post from me about this place and it'll be packed with every local celeb. One negative word, and Claire won't be able to get a job at the Discount Dress Depot."

"Was that a threat?" I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.

Lauren turned to face me. "Still butting in where you're not needed, I see."

"Still bullying people, I see," I lobbed back. "Why don't you pay for your stuff and be on your way?"

"I swear, I will tell everyone—"

"What?" I asked. "That you tried to bully your way into something you didn't deserve and when you were told ‘no,' you stomped your foot like a petulant child? Good luck with that. Jesus, you're still just as much of a bitch as you were in high school."

"I'm only trying to help these people," Lauren seethed. "Do you know how many followers I have?"

"I don't know, Lauren. More than Charles Manson but less than Hitler?"

Lauren's face blotched red. "What did you say?"

"You heard her," Claire's voice rang out as she stormed up to the counter. "And now you can hear it from me. Place those items on the counter and get out of my shop before I drag you out by your cheap hair extensions, you social media whore."

Lauren dropped everything in her hands to the floor. "You've messed with the wrong influencer."

"I doubt you could influence a burning man to piss on himself," Cash said, quietly.

"Enjoy failure," Lauren said, before spinning on her heel and rushing out of the store as Claire called out, "Thank you, don't come again!"

Claire met my eyes and burst into giggles. "Oh my god, I love you."

"Love you back," I said, setting my items on the counter.

Claire rang me up personally, and I was pretty sure she gave me a little more than the friends and family discount, then Marci handed me a beautiful black and white striped bag with black ribbon handles.

"I put my card in there," Claire said. "It has my cell on it. Let's get drinks soon."

"Girls' night," I promised.

"Me too?" Marci begged.

I grinned. "Absolutely."

Cash took my bags from me and led me out to his truck and then home where we unpacked all the groceries, then made dinner. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.