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“Yes, two doors down.”
Quinn sent a text to Luke to say that they were just doing a bit of window shopping to keep Nixon busy now he’d eaten everything in the cafe. She got a thumbs-up reply.
“Let’s go, Nixon.”
“Where?”
“Shopping.” Would he come with her and Mrs. McMillan? What did she do if he decided to run away?
He got off his stool and followed them outside. They reached the shop that had clothes hanging in the windows, and Quinn motioned for him to enter.
“I have to be real honest with you here, Nixon, I’m not a good shopper. In fact I’m terrible at it. So I’ll need your help.”
The boy nodded.
“Shopping is not a strength of mine either,” Mrs. McMillan said.
A sales assistant approached. “How can I help you today?”
“He needs a jacket. Can you show us what you have?”
Nixon didn’t say anything, but his eyes were wide as they looked at Quinn. She nudged his shoulder so he followed the sales assistant moving deeper into the store.
“That rack there.” She pointed to the clothes hanging. “You need help, just holler.”
“Okay, Nixon, what do you like?”
“You can’t buy me a jacket.”
“Why?”
“You don’t know me.”
“Sure I do. You’re Nixon, brother to the Trainers. I like them, so it figures I’d like you. Plus, I don’t have kids or a husband, so my money is just lolling about in the bank. I may as well spend some of that on you.”
Mrs. MacMillan chuckled.
Nixon looked at her, then back to the rack.
“Go on and pick something.”
“I get to pick something off that rack?” He pointed to it.
“You can have whatever jacket you like, but it has to be warm. The weather is getting colder, and the Trainers are outdoorsy types, so there will be plenty of that in your future.”
She was talking like he was going to Ryker Falls. Please let that be the case.
He didn’t move, but she saw the flash of excitement before he looked away. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Quinn started going through the rack of jackets. She knew absolutely nothing about shopping for a fourteen-year-old boy, but he wasn’t that far off her height already, so she went on instinct and pulled out three, seeing as he was just standing there.
“Which one?”
He pointed to a deep-chocolate-brown parka. Long enough to keep him warm right to the tops of his thighs, it had a hood with fur around it.
“Is this a good one?” She raised it for the sale assistant to see.
“The best we got. Great quality. Insulated, waterproof, and has down filling.”
“Okay, well that sounds good. Let’s try it on.”
