Page 40 of Unconditional

The woman looked at the image and grinned, already walking in the other direction.“Oh, sure!We don’t have that brand, unfortunately, you’d have to go toUltaorSephorafor that, but we have a pretty good dupe.”

I had no idea what language she was speaking, but I followed her anyway.

“You were in the wrong section.Serums are in skincare.”She turned suddenly down another aisle, pointing her finger at the individual sections like a librarian searching for a book.“Ah, here!This should do the trick.”

She handed me a small box that was in fact a different brand, but was labeled ‘hyaluronic serum.’A small sense of relief settled on my shoulders, and I let them relax some.“Thank you,” I said as sincerely as I could muster.

She hummed.“No problem.Anything else your lady might need?”

I shook my head and we made our way to the counter, but once we got there, I found myself looking—for what was probably the first time in a very, very long time—at the assortment of candies and sweets.I grabbed a few I chocolate bars and a fresh pack of my favorite gum and dropped it on the counter.

“She must be special,” the woman said, scanning in my items.

I shrugged, feeling a little itchy in my own skin.“I just don’t like seeing her upset.”

The cashier smiled coyly.“That’s how it starts.Before you know it, you’ll be spoiling her rotten.”At whatever she saw on my face, she choked out a laugh.“It’s not a bad thing!I think it’s very precious to find that one person we never want to see sad.Hold onto it.”

When I couldn’t come up with anything to say, she gave me my total then passed me my receipt.I left the pharmacy feeling more lost than when I had entered it, an odd tingling in my chest when Misely was right where I left her, a small smile tugging at her lips as I approached.

twenty-eight

Misely

Taloncameoutofthe store with a single bag, climbing into the van with a grimace.

“Everything okay?”I asked, taking the bag as he passed it to me.He started the van and nodded, pulling out of his parking space and back out onto the road.

Aimlessly, one of my hands dove into the bag in search of snacks while the other turned the radio down.Pulling something out at random, I let out a small gasp at the box in my palm.

“You…you replaced my serum?”I looked at him dumbfounded, mesmerized by the color that crawled up his cheeks.At his micro-shrug, my heart began a dance in my chest I wasn’t familiar with.I said his name, trying to understand.“Why?”

“You seemed pretty upset.I don’t want you to be…well, upset.”

Words escaped me.I was baffled.Befuddled.Flabbergasted, if you will.Such a small thing, this thing he did for me.Pulling off the road to some pharmacy in who-knows-where, going off course, uprooting his plans to purchase me a new bottle of one of my go-to serums…

Maybe it wasn’t such a small thing.Not for Talon, who was very much a by-the-script kind of guy.Talon, who had been so frustrated every time our trip went off the rails or any time his routine was messed with.No, I’d guess this wasn’t a small thing for him, whether he recognized it or not.And maybe it wasn’t such a small thing for me either, by the way my heart slammed against my rib cage.

The thoughts in my head were a whirlwind of confusion, and I didn’t have the bandwidth to sort them out right at that moment.So, I murmured a soft thank you and reveled at his further blushing cheeks instead.

Just under two hours later, Talon pulled into the lot of a motel.The sun had yet to set, and with how close we were to our final destination I was surprised that Talon hadn’t just kept driving until we made it, but I didn’t ask.

I had other questions on the tip of my tongue that I had been holding back all day.We hadn’t spoken about Kyle again since that morning, or what Talon was planning on doing.But there was a new weight on my chest since our conversation, urging me to push him to switch teams.I could do it.I knew I could.

Maybe I was romanticizing his feelings toward me, that was fine.That I could deal with.Shit, I’d survived it with James and literally everyone else in my life, I could survive it again.But I couldn’t deal with anyone else being hurt because of Kyle MacArthur.After spending the last week with Talon, I was convinced that he was more like Milo than he thought, in the ways that mattered.

Maybe he hid behind some bullshit mask of cruelty, but that wasn’t the truth.He’d revealed to me that he still bore the pain of a fifteen-year-old boy who’d lost his parents and suffered at the hands of an abuser.He bore the pain of a father who’d been forced to make an impossible decision, and now faced having to protect that child at all costs.He’d tried to protect his siblings before, and I was confident that I could convince him to do it again.If this was going to be our last night alone together, I had to make it count.

He carried the lion’s share of our bags and urged me to go inside.Making my way over to the inner most bed, I swung my computer bag off my shoulder and stretched.

“I need to check my e-mail.I didn’t have any service earlier and I missed my call with Benji.”Anxiety bled into my voice as I said this.Talon must’ve heard it because he gave me an empathetic look before nodding and turning his attention back to his own belongings.

I set my laptop up at the dingy coffee bar and stood in front of it, needing to be on my feet for a few minutes.It had been too long since I’d gone for a run and my muscles were aching from their sheer lack of use.

Barbara had sent me numerous Zoom invites and three separate e-mails.The first was in regard to our originally scheduled call—the one I had missed.The second was a follow up to my absence.And the third was her telling me she hopes everything is all right and that they will try to reach me again tomorrow.She finally mentioned Benji in the last one, in an attempt to prepare me for the fact that the boy was very displeased with me.

My heart sunk.This had been what I was trying to avoid.In my experience, cases like Benji’s were like walking on eggshells.You had to take great care and be mindful.The experiences he’d already had in life were going to be with him forever, and I really just wanted to ensure that when he reflected on his experiences undermycare, he felt as though it made a positive difference.He’d been dealt enough hardship.

“Everything okay?”Talon asked, eyeing me over his book.Looks like he was trying to get caught up on the things he missed today too.

---