Chapter Twenty Seven
“What do you think about this?” I hold the sweater up.
“It’s nice…for your grandma,” Lori replies.
“My grandma wears vintage Dior, I’ll have you know.”
“Then why the hell am I not out shopping with her instead? You need to hook me up.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s too busy to shop. She has a jam packed social life.”
“It’s such a shame that you don’t take after her.”
“Have you finished insulting me yet?”
“It depends if you pick out any more ugly sweaters.”
“If you need me I’ll be over there with my real friends.”
“The shoes?”
“Yep.”
She laughs. “I’ll come with you. I want to check out the new Manolo’s.”
Fifteen minutes later, she’s still checking them out. “Can you please pay me some attention?”
“No,” I reply as I continue to scroll through instagram. “I told you ten minutes ago that I prefer the black ones.”
“But the blue ones bring out my eyes.”
“So get the blue ones.”
“But the black ones are…shit.”
I look up from my phone. “Then what’s the dilemma? Get the blue ones.”
“Don’t turn around,” she whispers calmly. “But Mason just walked in.”
Of course I do the complete opposite. He’s only a couple of steps into the store but has already been stopped by a blonde sales assistant. I quickly duck down behind a display table and begin to flatten my hair.
“What are you doing?” Lori asks.
I pull her down to my level. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’ve gone crazy.”
“I’m hiding.”
“But why?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Because I don’t want to see him.”
“Jeez, I knew you didn’t want to see him but I didn’t think you were this serious about it.”
“Well I am. Why is he even here?” I gasp. “Do you think he’s following me? First he showed up to our house and now this.”
“Maybe he’s following me.” She winks.
“You’re not helping.”
“I was joking and no, I don’t think he’s following you. We live in the same city with the same stores. Besides, if he wanted you followed then he would pay somebody else to do it.”
“We need to leave.”
“How? We’re trapped.”
“We can crawl out.”
“I’m wearing a skirt, I’m not crawling anywhere.”
“Okay, I’ll see you back at the house.”
“Soph, just wait a second. Would it really be a big deal if you had to talk to him?”
“I’ve already seen him once today. That’s three times in as many days. This isn’t part of the plan.”
“Well he might leave soon. There’s no need to go all Mission Impossible on my ass.”
“Or he might catch us hiding and that would be one hundred times worse.”
“Are you ladies okay?” A store assistant asks as she walks by.
“Great, thanks,” I reply.
“Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, um, no. We’re fine. We’re just…admiring the floor.”
“The floor?”
“Yeah, we’re redesigning our kitchen and wanted to…”
“We’re hiding from someone,” Lori interrupts.
“I thought so. The hot guy who just walked in?”
“Yeah so you can either join us or move along.”
“He’s still at the front of the store being hit on by Candace. Good luck.” She smiles as she walks away.
“Why did you tell her the truth?” I whisper angrily.
“She was drawing attention to us. I got rid of her, didn’t I?”
“Why do I have a feeling that you’ve done this before?”
“Oh, this ain’t my first rodeo.”
“I wish I’d never agreed to any of this. Why can’t I just go back in time and say no to Emily?”
“Because unfortunately we live in the real world so you need to put on your big girl panties and deal with it.”
I roll my eyes. “Why is he here? This is a women’s store.”
“Maybe he’s buying something for his mistress.”
“Even if he is seeing somebody, would she still be classed as his mistress even though he’s separated from Emily?”
“I guess so. He’s still married.”
“Hmmm. Will you check to see if he’s left yet?”
She stands up slowly then ducks straight back down. “Oh my god.”
“What? He’s coming over here, isn’t he? Kill me now.”
“He’s with a woman.”
I feel a twang of something in my chest. Disappointment? Anger? Jealousy? “Who is it?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?”
“Well maybe it’s Emily.”
“It’s not. I’ve seen photos of her online.”
“I want to see.” I reach up and pull a hat off the display table. It’s a huge floppy one which will probably end up drawing more attention to me but at least it covers most of my face. I adjust it then slowly rise up until I can see them. They’re mid conversation and looking through a rail of dresses. I’m full on staring at them when the mystery woman turns around. I quickly look down and busy myself with the accessories on the display table. I could work here for all she knows. When I dare to glance back up, they’re making their way out of the store. Thank god. I crouch back down just to be safe. “They’re leaving,” I tell Lori.
“Good. Did you know who the woman was?”
“No. I’ve never seen her before.”
“Well at least you know that he likes blondes. You should have taken a video of them and been done with it.”
“A video of them doing what? Shopping? We don’t know who she was. It might have been one of his friends.”
“Or it might have been his long-term mistress. Maybe she’s the reason why they broke up and why Emily wants to take his money. Maybe he deserves it.”
I shake my head. “I don’t believe that.”
“Why not? You’ve only know him for forty eight hours.”
“It’s hard to explain. It’s just a gut feeling.”
She pulls the hat off of me. “What happened to the old Sophia? You’re usually the cynical one. I’m not used to playing bad cop.”
She’s right, and maybe she’s right about Mason too but for the first time in a long time, I’m choosing to see the good in people and it scares me just as much as it excites me.