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“I hope it’s not too expensive.”
She walks in and smiles. “Honey, that man wants to buy you whatever you want. He has never given me a limit when it comes to you, and I can blow money like the wind.”
Camila comes inside from the patio area with LJ in tow and beams when she spots Janine. “Hello, dear. Have you come to whisk Aura away to make her beautiful for her date tonight with Kalum?”
I shake my head, alarmed. “Oh… it’s not a date. I’m just doing Kalum a favor.”
Janine acts like she doesn’t hear me. “It’s a date,” she says to Camila, ignoring what I just said.
Camila gives me a smile like going on a date with Kalum is normal. “We will be fine while you’re gone. I have a whole night planned with LJ. Kalum told me you guys would be out until late. He will be just fine with you gone. Right, sweetie?”
“Yep, we have a whole day planned, and Mommy can go out and have some fun. She is always working.”
I caress his handsome little face. “Oh honey, I’m just trying to save money.”
Janine raises her brows. “You don’t have to. Kalum doesn’t want you to worry about a thing.”
Crossing my arms over my simple black T-shirt, I sigh. “I know, but I don’t like to take advantage of his hospitality.”
She snorts and waves her hand toward the front door. “Come on before my mouth gets the best of me in front of LJ.”
Henry drives us out to the city in the Rolls, with security trailing us in a black Maybach.
“So is there a particular designer you like?” Janine asks, scrolling through her phone.
I shake my head, not being able to remember the ones on the clothes Exie sent me. “I’m not familiar with too many, except the ones my best friend would get me. I hate overspending. My husband was never frugal with me or LJ. I guess I felt guilty having been brought up with parents who clipped coupons. I didn’t see the point of spending five thousand dollars for a handbag when you could get one in a department store for twenty-four ninety-nine.”
“You are entirely too good for Kalum. I can see why he cares for you so much.” She looks up from her phone. “You’re so genuine.”
Cares for me?
This is a small favor I agreed to do for Kalum. There’s no way Kalum still has feelings for me anymore.
I did fall in love with him. That night crying in the diner when Lane picked me up off the street, I poured my heart out to him. How it hurt to be kicked out of Kalum’s parents’ house. My parents’ death. I didn’t tell Lane how I felt about Kalum. I couldn’t. Kalum made me forget about everything when I was with him. You can’t put a feeling like that into words and expect someone to understand. There was nothing to deny or regret. Kalum was my first love.
I was heartbroken on my birthday. I get he called me after, but there was nothing to say. There was no way I could ask him to give up his future for me and go against his parents.
Lane understood me. In Lane’s eyes, I was not the leech Lane’s mother painted me out to be. She said I was a parasite. I will never forget his father’s words when he got on the phone. “She is not worthy of the Turner name, Lane. All she did was trap you by getting pregnant.”
His father’s words sliced into me like a knife, but I acted like I didn’t hear them on the phone. I remember Lane was quick to end the call, but the damage was done.
I knew to be discreet and try to make my own money from knitting my bracelets. I never asked for anything or went shopping. I felt ashamed. I couldn’t provide for me and LJ on my own. My fear was for him to think I trapped him. That one day he would change his mind and believe them.
When he asked me if I wanted something, I said no. Maybe he sensed it, or maybe he didn’t, but I would never know because he never pushed. He left every morning and returned later in the evening. Every. Single. Day.
I never complained or told him he was spending too much time at the shop. When I asked for him to go to the park or zoo with Lane, he always said he was busy. I understood. He was working and providing for us, and what I made selling my paltry bracelets would never amount to what Lane made money-wise.
I look out the car’s window as it makes its way into the city.
“Are you okay?” Janine asks.
I look at Janine and give her a smile. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking, do we really have to buy a designer dress? It can’t be from a secondhand store or maybe a department store? They really have nice things if you look.”
Janine looks at me like I grew a second head. “Um… I don’t think—” She pauses. “Look, there is nothing wrong with buying something from those places, but it is a little more upscale where Kalum goes to take his high-profile clients. I’m thinking Balmain would look great on you since you are so petite.”
The car stops in front of Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Security opens the door, and we are escorted inside. Janine walks ahead. My eyes widen at all the handbags from each designer with security tags. We reach the elevators; security holds the elevator doors, and we go up to the women’s clothing floor.
“Janine.” An older woman walks up and kisses each of her cheeks. “It’s good to see you.”
