Page 38 of Here In Your Arms

I frantically try to clean up the mess, knowing he’ll blame me for this. He’s in a different aisle of the store, getting another ingredient we need, but there are sprinkles all over the floor from a broken container that had been stocked. When someone grabbed the sprinkles after me, they knocked the container over and sprinkles went everywhere. The customer went to find a store employee to help get this cleaned up, but I couldn’t help myself and dropped to start picking up the sprinkles.

The other customer isn’t back yet, and I can feel my panic kicking in. We were having a really nice day, and he said we could go shopping together and get some supplies to make sundaes. So he walked away to go grab something else in a different aisle that he remembered he needed and I kept going, sprinkles on my mind. I hope he doesn’t make a big deal out of this. If I explain I’m just helping, maybe he’ll understand.

I hear someone walk up behind me and I move, hoping they’ll continue on their way, but they don’t. Fuck. Turning my head from where I’ve kneeled on the ground, I see his face glaring at me, tight with anger. Opening my mouth to try to explain the mess, he cuts me off.

“Clean it up,” he says quietly.

I turn back to try to move faster, not wanting the employee to arrive finally and see me picking up the sprinkles like this. Luck is not on my side today, though, and not a minute after I try to go faster, he arrives with a broom and pan. The other customer is there too, and she collects her cart to go, her duty done. I, however, am not nearly close to done.

“You can get up ma’am, I don’t mind cleaning this,” he says with a friendly tone.

“No, she needs to clean up her mess,” he insists.

I turn my head to see him and the employee looking at each other. The employee shakes his head and nods down to where I’m kneeled.

“Store policy says I need to be the one to clean the mess once notified. It’s truly not a problem. I’ve cleaned worse,” he says with a smile.

I look over to see if I’m released from my task, aware that I’m already going to get an earful about this later. He nods and I deposit what sprinkles I’ve collected into the bin the employee brought over. I stammer my thanks and am dragged away to a side aisle.

“What the FUCK was that about?” he hisses at me.

“Someone knocked over the sprinkles and—”

“SOMEONE? You mean you. YOU knocked over the sprinkles and made an embarrassing mess everywhere. How could you do this to me?” he says, scathing me with his tone even without his voice raised.

“I-I’m sorry, I was just trying to help—”

“Help yourself? Yeah, I bet. You’re lucky I even take the time to deal with this shit, E. Nobody else would give you the time of day.”

I hang my head and twist my fingers together, hoping that this is the worst it gets. He grips my bicep so tightly I know it’s going to bruise, but I hold my wince in. Yanking me close to him, he dips his head toward me. I’m sure to anyone passing by it looks like two lovers having a private moment, but it’s decidedly more sinister.

“Do I need to keep you at home? Can you handle being in public without embarrassing yourself AND me? How am I supposed to take you places if you can’t handle keeping your messes to yourself?”

My breathing is rapid now, nerves getting the best of me, and I don’t know what response to give him to make it better. How do I make this better?

“I’ll be better,” I whisper.

He softens slightly, but not enough to put me at ease.

“You know I love you, right E? I’m just looking out for you, helping you be the best person you can be,” he says.

“Thank you, I love you too,” I tell him softly.

“Of course you do,” he says, then drags us to the checkout.

I’m pulled back to the moment by Kyle asking me if I’m okay, checking my torso carefully. Blinking, I look up at him, and realize I dropped the earrings. I gasp and let my body fly down to the ground, praying the earrings didn’t break. I can’t afford to buy them. Well, I could, but it means buying cheap food this week, and I was looking forward to a nice steak. Thankfully, they’re in one piece and I snag them up.

“I’m so sorry I dropped these,” I tell the vendor.

“Oh gosh, it’s no problem. It was a total accident,” she says.

“I know. I just don’t want you to think I’m careless. I really try to be careful with things like this and I don’t want to cause problems. Did my coffee spill on your tablecloth at all?” I’m aware I sound a little crazy, but I can’t stop myself since memories of him are riding me hard.

She reaches a hand out and gently takes the earrings from me with a kind smile. “Truly, it’s no problem. Accidents happen. Thank you for being a concerned customer. Most people would just walk away and pretend nothing happened.”

I nod and pick up my discarded coffee cup, looking up to realize there’s no crowd. Nobody’s staring, nobody’s going to make a fuss, and it truly was just a small bump. Wes and Claire are a few booths down, but I can see Wes glancing over to see what’s happening. Kyle’s looking at me with concern in his gaze.

“You okay?” he asks gently.

---