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I scanned her body as she set her items on the conveyor belt. She wore her tattered jeans and a shirt two sizes too large. Once again, I noticed the holes and stains on her clothes. When my eyes dropped to her feet, my heart sank. Her shoes were falling apart, and when she moved, the heels separated.
The cashier chatted with her, and I listened. They talked about The Huddle and the classes Gracie was taking at school. It sounded like Gracie had her head on straight. Either that or Tori was pushing her to be all she could be. Probably the latter.
“Okay, that will be forty-nine dollars and eighty-three cents,” the cashier said after she punched the total button.
Tori’s shoulders stiffened.
“Okay, um. I need to put a few things back. I’m a few dollars short.”
She began digging through the already bagged things, pulling out items and setting them to the side. “Okay, that should get me down to thirty-three dollars.”
People behind me were getting annoyed, but the cashier smiled and removed each item Tori put aside before giving her a new total. “You’re at thirty-four dollars and eighty cents.”
“Hold on,” Tori said before digging through her bags again.
She barely had anything left in her bags. Two women couldn’t live on Ramen, eggs, and milk, which was all I could see through the bags on the counter.
“Just ring it back up, and I’ll cover it,” I said, getting the cashier’s attention.
Tori swung my way with wide eyes. Her expression cleared a second before rage bled across her face. Her eyes narrowed, and her cheeks flamed red. “You.”
I nodded at the cashier to continue when she began ringing Tori’s things back up. “Yes, me. I got this.”
“No, thank you,” she spat. “I don’t need your charity.”
I sighed. I was annoyed that I stayed at the store longer than I wanted. “It’s not charity.”
“No! Just stop,” she said to the cashier, making the young woman pause and look back and forth between the two of us.
I moved in closer to her so only she could hear me. “You’re making a scene, Tori.”
Everyone in the store looked our way, and the people behind us were annoyed.
“Just let him pay for it, honey. We’ve got places to be,” someone behind me called out.
Tori gritted her teeth and set her jaw. “Whatever.”
She set her basket on the counter and walked away, leaving everything she had shopped for in bags.
The cashier looked at me helplessly, and I nodded. “Keep ringing it up. I’ll get it to her.”
She rang up Tori’s stuff with mine, and I paid for it. When I left the store, I was sure Tori was already halfway to her apartment, but I knew where she lived, so it wasn’t a big deal.
I pushed the cart across the parking lot and toward Crow’s car. When I hit the unlock button, and his lights flickered, I saw Tori standing beside the car, and she was fuming. Her arms were crossed, her shoulders stiff, and she looked as if she was ready to beat the fuck out of me. It was hot.
“I don’t need your fucking charity, Koah Saint,” Tori shouted as I popped the trunk and loaded my groceries.
“It wasn’t charity. You were holding up the fucking line and pissing everyone off.”
She didn’t need to know it made me feel better to buy her fucking groceries since I had been a massive dick at the party the night before.
She glared at me. “It doesn’t matter. Keep all of it,” she said, waving toward her bags left in my cart. “I don’t want or need anything from you.”
I moved, shoving the cart her way, and yelled, “Fine! You got it. Now take your shit and go!”
She caught the cart before it hit her. Her expression changed from anger to fear, and it was like a gut punch. At that moment, I recognized my actions. My father had started the same way—getting in my mom’s face and yelling. I didn’t want to be anything like him. I took a deep breath, put my hands down, and backed away, giving her breathing room.
Before she could say anything else, I opened the car door, got in, and peeled away. Tori was making me crazy. Staying away from her was the intelligent thing to do. She didn’t want to be around me any more than I wanted to be around her. I hated how she made me feel confused and needy. I never wanted to be that type of man.
