“White gold or platinum for sure. I’ve never seen her in yellow gold. ”
“Got it. Let’s walk over here. I have a few rings I’d like to show you. ”
As I followed her, I glanced up and out the window and saw Whitley walking toward the jewelry store.
Holy fuck! What in the hell is she doing? Is she coming into the store?
“Holy shit! Anna! It’s Whitley!” I shouted.
Anna jumped. “What? Oh my God. Um…hide!”
I just looked at her. “Where?”
She grabbed me by the shirt, practically dragged me down the counter, and then yanked me behind it. She pushed me down right as I heard the door to the store open.
“Whitley! Oh my gosh, what brings you back so soon?” Anna said in an overly chipper voice.
I could just see Whit’s face now, wondering what in the fuck was wrong with Anna. I couldn’t help it, but I let out a chuckle—which was followed by a grunt when Anna kicked me with her fucking high-heel shoe.
“Hi, Anna. It’s so nice to see you again. Well, I got a picture that I wanted to see about putting into that locket I bought the other day. It’s for my boyfriend’s niece. It’s her birthday this weekend. ”
I could practically hear the smile in her voice. I grinned, thinking about Kate’s face when she opened the gift.
“I see. Okay, well, I’d be more than happy to do that for you. Do you have the picture with you?”
“Yep, I sure do. I just printed it off and decided to take a walk up here. I just don’t think I could work with something so small. I wasn’t sure if you guys would do that or not. ”
Anna giggled. “You guys—yep, you are so from the North. ”
Both girls laughed. Then, I heard Anna gasp.
“Oh, Whitley, this is a great picture of you and Layton!”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Fuck! She’s not supposed to know about me!
Now, it was my turn. I hit Anna on the leg, and she let out a yelp.
“Are you okay, Anna? What happened?”
Anna leaned down and rubbed her leg before she gave me another kick. “Oh, nothing. Lack of bananas or something. Pain in my leg…among other things. ”
I thumbed her leg, and she kicked me again—this time, harder.
“Oh, well, is this something I should just drop off and come back by later to get?” Whitley asked.
“No! Oh no, I can do this right now. Won’t take me any time. ”
I leaned my head back and cursed to myself. Just then, the girl who had been cleaning the glass walked behind the counter. She quickly looked down at me and then back up at Whitley.
“Um…would you like to see the garden I’ve been working on out front? I remember you were asking about what type of flowers you could plant since you weren’t familiar with the Texas weather,” she said to Whitley.
Just then, the other girl came walking out from back and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me sitting on the floor. I put my finger up to my lips for her to be quiet, and she was just about to say something when the other girl grabbed her by the arm and started off toward the back again.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Just forgot I’ve got to talk to Jane about something. Maybe another time on those flowers. ”
I slowly let out the breath I had been holding in.
“Okay…sounds good,” Whitley called out.