Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“What are you doing, Mindy?”
“Telling God’s truth,” she says.
“Yeah, ‘cos God is all about slander and criticism.” I step around Mindy and put myself between her and Taylor. “It’s time to go.”
She narrows her eyes and flares her nostrils at me before stomping away. I watch her leave the store because there’s no way I’m turning my back on that woman again. She’s a menace.
“Whatever she told you, ignore it,” I bark at Taylor.
“She told me you fucked her, then ignored her.”
“My dick was confused. My brain caught up a little too late.”
Taylor’s lips twitch. I reach out to run my finger down her dainty nose and over her lips. “You have so much that she will never have, muffin.”
Her eyelids lower and then open again. They’re glassy with tears that she isn’t allowing to fall. “Like what?”
“Decency. Kindness. Prettiness that shines through from the inside.”
Taylor shrugs off my compliments and lifts a bundle of clothes. “You don’t know me, Maverick.”
I cup her cheek and look into her hazel eyes which are so much like mine, it’s like looking into the mirror. “I’m a good judge of character, muffin.”
“You weren’t with her.” She stares me down, waiting for me to fumble an excuse or justification.
“Yeah, well, I’m older and wiser now, and I can see through the shiny packaging to what’s in here.” I press my hand against her heart, feeling it beat beneath my palm.
Taylor stares into the corner, breathing in through her nose and holding it. When she looks back, she’s slipped a mask over her real expression.
“Is this too much?” She holds up the clothes in her arms, trying to change the subject.
I scan what she’s chosen. It’s less than a third of what I picked out for her. “What about the rest?”
She shrugs again.
“Did you not like the other stuff?”
“I liked it…but it’s too much.”
I leave her and head for the fitting room, gathering everything she left behind from the rail outside. The sneakers and the cowboy boots are on the floor. When I have everything bundled into my arms, I stride past her. “Come on.”
At the counter, the store’s owner stares at the pile, surprised. “You want all of this.”
“Yep,” I say.
“Well, alrighty then.” She begins to ring everything through, and I take the bundle from Taylor, adding it on top. By the time the woman finishes ringing everything up, there are three huge bags filled with clothes and shoes. Then I remember something Clint told me.
“What about underwear? We forgot underwear.”
Taylor blushes and stares at the ground. The woman behind the counter jumps on what I’ve said, her eyes shining with dollar signs.
“Come with me.” She leaves the bags and hurries around to lead Taylor over to the section filled with bras and panties. If Taylor looked uncomfortable before, she looks absolutely terrified now.
I’m no underwear expert, but I know what I like. I stride over and pick out a pretty white bra and pantie set. “How about this in your size?” I ask Taylor. She stares at me like she wishes the ground would swallow her whole.
“I’ll need to measure you,” the woman says. She helpfully takes Taylor by the elbow and directs her to the fitting room again. Twenty minutes later, Taylor emerges with five new sets and a pack of simple white cotton underwear that will probably be my favorite.
When we’ve paid up, we make our way back to the truck and fill the trunk with our purchases. “Want to get some toiletries? Or baking equipment?”
Taylor shakes her head, but I know she’s still hurting from Mindy’s stupid, thoughtless words. I pull her into my arms, wrapping her in a firm embrace. She’s rigid at first, but it doesn’t take long for her to relax against me. “I don’t want to cry,” she whispers. “You’re going to make me.”
“It’s okay to cry, muffin. But it isn’t okay to let people like Mindy get under your skin. Nothing she said was worth a single one of your tears. She’s a worthless person, lashing out because you have what she wants.”
“And what’s that?”
“Me.” I grin at her upturned face, and she swats away my flippant comment. “A beautiful heart.”
“Now you’re really going to make me cry.”
I wipe away a tear that does escape with my thumb and press it to my lips. It’s warm and salty. “I know what it’s like to hear bad things and want to take them inside you like they’re the truth. My dad had a special vocabulary for me that centered around me being a worthless piece of shit. You can’t let people like that get to you.”
She nods, and I smile encouragingly. “No more tears, muffin. I want to buy you something special.”
“You’ve just spent more money on me than my dad has in my whole life.”
I want to ask why, but it’s not a conversation for the sidewalk. And she hasn’t pushed me to say any more about my father. “Something sweet. Your favorite chocolate?”