Page 107 of Worlds Collide

“Ooh, you know I love shopping, come on, walk me around and show me what they have. Oh, and do you have pictures of your new place? I need to see what you need.”

“Yeah, sure,” I mumble and send her the link to the listing which has most of the furniture that’s in the house—except my bed. I bought that one online and it was delivered just a day before I arrived.

I spend the next half hour hearing her tell me what she thinks about every single thing I show her and it’s safe to say that I would rather be doing literally anything else, but this has to be done and today is as good a day as any.

She signs off once she gets tired of my objections. “Call me soon, Wolf. Don’t just call when you need something,” sheadmonishes and hangs up before I can protest that I saw her only two days ago.

I sigh and look around. Rich deserted me a while ago and is standing in a corner somewhere, making sure none of the employees or old ladies shopping in the store murder me or something.

Speaking of old ladies, one that looks kind enough—though she’s clearly got money and plenty of class—comes over to where I’m looking at dining tables and smiles kindly at me.

“Having trouble?” she asks. She has a humorous glint in her eyes that makes me like her instantly.

“Just a little,” I confess, and it’s one of those rare times when I feel like I need to explain myself. “I’ve got a new house and only have a bed, a couch, and a TV.”

“Ah,” she says, clearly understanding. “Do you want some help?”

“If you could choose everything for me?” I practically beg her and I’m not ashamed of it. She laughs in my face though.

“That I can’t do, but tell me what you need and I’ll tell you what I think. I’ve furnished more houses than I can count.”

I tell her what I need for a dining room table—for it to be stable and nothing too fussy—and she points out one that is actually perfect, so I drag her around the store doing the same with beds, couches, outside furniture and even lamps.

“I hope you don’t mind me prying,” she says while we wait for one of the employees to finish scanning everything I chose, and I can’t help but tense a little.

Every time someone has said those words to me or something similar they’ve asked about my parents, and yeah I know I’ve come a long way, Icantalk about them now, but only when I’ve had time to prepare myself for it.

Safe to say I am not prepared right now.

“But did you really file a restraining order against Mary Anne Clemson?”

“Oh.” I can’t help but react with incredible relief. Then I snort. “Yes, I really did. And it worked,” I whisper the last part.

“Good,” she says with an evil smile. “She’s a bitch of the worst kind, and I bet she had it coming too.”

She startles a chuckle out of me.

“She absolutely is, and she did, believe you me.”

“But her boy, CJ, he’s a dear. You better make an honest man out of him, you hear?” Now she’s looking at me like she’s ready to throw down, and I can’t say I mind. I like that CJ has that even if he doesn’t know it.

“That’s the plan, ma’am.”

“Good. Now I have to go back home. You take care.” She’s gone before I can decide if I want to ask her name or not, but oh well, if it’s important, I’ll meet her again eventually.

I’m leaningagainst the SUV with Rich next to me, both of us devouring the breakfast burritos we just bought and waiting for CJ to get out of work.

During his shift he managed to tell me he wanted us to go directly to the ranch and told me exactly what clothes to pack for him, so we don’t even have to stop by his place.

I’m not an expert, not by any stretch, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a great shift for him, and I’m hoping against all hope that it’s not because of the pictures of us that went viral yesterday afternoon.

He looks tired and serious when he walks out, and he barelymanages a smile when I hold up the bag with the burrito place’s logo on it.

“Thanks,” he says when I hand it to him. “Can we just go?” he asks softly and nods at the car. We climb in and are on the road to the highway in no time.

“Are you okay?” I ask softly.

“Yeah, just—” He stops suddenly to take a deep breath and then releases it on a harsh sob. “We lost a little boy yesterday,” he says, the words barely intelligible.

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