Glancing over, I see Auntie Gray bent over a book with Lanie, neither of them paying any attention to me. I inch toward the front door, keeping an eye on them the entire time.
Someone enters the store, the bells above the door jangling happily. Auntie Gray glances up, sees the person entering, and then returns to her conversation with Lanie.
This is my chance. Heart pounding, I slip out the door before it has a chance to close. For a long moment, I stand on the sidewalk, torn between being a good girl and going back inside, or for once in my life, doing whatIwant to do.
As I’m trying to decide, a couple exits the candy store holding giant bags, excited smiles stretched across their faces. And I decide right then that I’m really freaking tired of being a good girl.
CHAPTER 22
TABITHA
The candy store is everything a Little girl could possibly dream of. Bright and colorful and, of course, filled to the brim with every kind of candy imaginable.
Way more exciting than the bookstore, that’s for sure.
I’m standing in front of a wall of approximately a thousand different flavors of jellybeans when an unfamiliar voice startles me out of my candy fog. “What do we have here? A Thorne bride, all on her own?”
Turning, I come face to face with a stunning woman with the brightest, greenest eyes I think I’ve ever seen. Jet-black hair is pulled back from a face that looks to be carved from marble with high cheekbones and a strong, firm jaw.
I’m so struck by her that it takes me a moment to process what she actually said.A Thorne bride. The same thing Poppy said when she saw me with Josie. At the time, I assumed it was because I was with my family, but here I am, completely alone, and this woman I’ve never met has somehow come to the same conclusion.
“What makes you think I’m with the Thornes?”
The woman smiles, smug and satisfied as she gestures to my dress. “You’re wearing the uniform.”
It isn’t until this very moment that I realize how much I stand out. Nearly everyone around me is dressed in jeans and a casual shirt of some kind. Several people are dressed like my uncles in flannel shirts. Not a single other person is wearing anything nearly as frilly and fancy as the dresses my cousins and I wore into town.
Feeling self-conscious now, I tug at the hem of my dress, wishing it was longer. If anyone catches even a glimpse of the diaper I’m wearing beneath all this tulle and silk, I might actually die.
The woman smiles at me, and my anxiety levels immediately dip. “It’s all right, sweetie, nobody’s paying any attention to you. They’re all far too busy trying to decide what kind of candy to buy.”
“That’s what I was trying to figure out! There’s so many to choose from!”
“I know, right?” Shaking her head, she turns her attention to the jellybean wall. “My friend Persephone loves jellybeans, but I’m more of a chocolate girl, myself. Do you have a favorite flavor?”
“Anything but coconut. Yuck.”
My new friend’s laughter rings out. “Agreed. I’m Reese, by the way.”
“Tabitha Grace!”
Whipping around at the sound of my name, I instinctively shove my hands behind me as a furious Auntie Gray storms into the store, Lanie hurrying along behind her.
Before I can even process what’s happening, Auntie Gray steps between me and Reese, as if she’s protecting me from the pretty woman with the emerald eyes. “Why are you interrogating my sister-in-law?”
If Reese is at all put out by Auntie Gray’s aggression, she doesn’t show it. Arms folded across her chest, she slowly raises a dark brow. “We were just having a conversation.”
“About?”
“Candy.” Reese waves her hand. “We are in a candy store, after all.”
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, Reese, but leave my family out of it. Come on, girls.”
Grabbing my hand, Auntie Gray pulls me along behind her toward the front door of the store.
“Bye, Tabitha! It was nice to meet you!” Reese calls out as we exit the store.
My tummy churns with fear as my furious Auntie leads me back to the bookstore. Turning to Lanie, she jabs a finger at a plush armchair in the corner. “Sit your butt right there, Melanie Brynne, and don’t you dare move a muscle.”
