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He stared at me, his tongue poking into the inside of his mouth. “It isn’t really anything personal.”
I heaved a sigh. “I know.” But it stung nonetheless. I cleared my throat. “I’m going to finish this chapter while you order dinner. I should be done before it gets here.”Hint, hint—leave.There was nowhere for the conversation to go.
His chin dropped slightly for the briefest moment. “All right.” He walked toward the door but then stopped and looked over his shoulder. “I know you’re a loyal person, Addison. But you’re married to someone who has a different moral compass than you. Mine isn’t weak, but it follows another set of rules. Right now, you think you can live with that. And maybe you can. But maybe you can’t. It isn’t that I expect the worst from you. It’s that I don’t know if you can deal with the worst parts of me.” He then breezed out of the room.
∞∞∞
Unhooking a tiny outfit from a metal bar a few days later, Sabrina cooed, “This has got to be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
It was in fact super cute. I’d noticed it before we entered—it was featured in one of the window displays. If I didn’t already have three bags of stuff from other stores, I might have bought it.
Harri cast her a swift glance. “That’s about the twelfth time you’ve said that.”
Sabrina lifted her shoulders. “Everything here is just adorable.”
Very true. The popular boutique sold children’s clothes of all sizes. Some items hung on racks while others were folded and piled on either shelves or tables. Little mannequins stood on rises sporting colorful outfits.
The store was bright, courtesy of the large glass-frontwindows and the florescent lighting. Elevators and stairways led to higher levels.Salespeople wearing headsets walkedaround, talking with customers and fixing displays.
The scents of new clothing, floor wax, and air freshener were strong in the air. Cheery music played low. The mishmash of voices echoed throughout the space. Babies babbled or cried in their strollers.
“There’s no point in buying newborn-sized stuff, Alicia,” Marleigh advised as my sister fingered a multipack of tiny sleepsuits. “Babies grow so fast they’ll hardly get any wear out of small outfits.”
“Just so you know,” began Alicia, flicking through the rack of sleepsuits, making the air ring with the scrape of metal on metal, “Ollie was a big baby.”
Marleigh tensed. “What?”
Nodding, I adjusted the position of the shopping bags handing from my arm. “Ten pounds eight ounces.”
Marleigh did a slow blink, her hand flexing on the handle of her wheeled basket. “You’re lying.”
Stifling a smile, I shook my head. “Nope.”
“It’s true,” Harri confirmed. “Mom complains about it now and then.”
Her shoulders dropping, Marleigh let out a little whine. “Hopefully the baby takes after me.”
Sabrina snickered. “You weighed almost nine pounds, so …”
Marleigh groaned. “I don’t want to get split in half.”
“You won’t.” Sabrina tossed an arm over her sister’s shoulders. “Now, tell me what in the store you’d like so I can mentally note down a possible lists of gifts for your baby shower.”
Marleigh looked at her askance. “It won’t matter how nice you are, I’m not going to let you name my child.”
Sabrina frowned. “Oh, come on.”
“No. And I mean, no. Now, onto better things …” Marleigh scooped the merchandise from her basket and quickly flicked through them. “I’m definitely getting these, they’re too cute to put back.”
“I’ll stick with these booties,” said Alicia, holding them up. She glanced in the direction of the checkout counter. “The line is a little shorter now than when we first walked in, thankfully. Not by much, though.”
Looking at Marleigh, I gestured at her basket. “Give me that, I’ll put it back for you.”
With a grateful smile, she passed it over. “We hopefully won’t be long.”
“I’ll go pee while you two pay,” Harri declared.
The three women then swanned off.
