Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love - Kim Fielding Page 0,33
Alexander?” Teddy asked when they arrived at the shoe section.
Tish blinked. “Who?”
Romeo shot Teddy a triumphant look, clearly pleased to have proof that he wasn’t the only person on the planet who’d never heard of Joyce. “We thought we’d be meeting her today,” Romeo explained to Tish.
“Oh. I don’t know anything about that. Sorry. My boss just told me to get you guys outfitted.”
“Outfitted for what?”
She grinned. “Adventure!”
With that completely unenlightening explanation, she helped Teddy and Romeo choose hiking boots and special hiking socks, which Teddy hadn’t even known were a thing. She then took them to pick out shirts and pants—not at all stylish, but they were moisture wicking, which she claimed was a benefit. They got thermal underwear, and knit caps and gloves, and puffy rainproof jackets in orange and gray. Wherever they were going with all this stuff, they’d be dressed as identical twins.
True to character, Romeo remained mum as their purchases accumulated, although he did look increasingly worried with each additional item. Finally, when Tish handed each of them a pair of sunglasses, he shook his head. “Um, these are pretty expensive.”
“I know, right?” she said with a laugh. “You guys are so lucky! My boss said top-of-the-line all the way.”
“But I can’t—”
“It’s all paid for, dude. Man, I wish someone would do that for me. I couldn’t afford a spree like this even with my employee discount.”
Romeo appeared relieved, an emotion Teddy shared. All these items would have made his credit card bleed. And Tish wasn’t through with them, as it turned out. She handed each a large blue daypack.
“Heavy,” Teddy observed as he took his.
“All kinds of gear in there. Filled water canteens. A bunch of nutrition bars. Sun protection. First aid kits. TP and a spade.” She shrugged. “Pretty much everything you’re gonna need.”
“Need for what?” Teddy chose not to speculate on why he might require toilet paper and something to dig with. It didn’t bear thinking of.
But Tish only grinned.
Teddy and Romeo used the dressing rooms to change into their new gear and stuffed their street clothes into a store shopping bag. Teddy felt ridiculous in his outfit, but of course Romeo looked stunning, as if a runway model had taken up a second job as wilderness guide. Then again, Romeo looked stunning in everything—including boxer shorts.
“Are you uncomfortable?” Tish tugged at Teddy’s collar. “Does something not fit right?”
“No, it’s all great.”
She bypassed the cash registers and piloted them back to the front door, where she shook their hands. “I hope you guys have an amazing time!”
Their stone-faced driver put the backpacks and street clothes into the trunk of the Rolls, then motioned Teddy and Romeo into the back seat. “Enjoy your breakfast, sirs.” And sure enough, while they’d been inside shopping, he’d somehow produced thermoses of coffee and bento boxes stuffed with sliced fruit and a delicious egg-sausage-and-veggie concoction. Whatever Joyce had planned for them, at least it didn’t involve starvation.
It did, however, involve taking them even farther out of the city, into an area with lots of trees. Teddy eyed the hills suspiciously. He didn’t trust them. It was possible Joyce had a country home here, although that didn’t make much sense since the house they’d already visited was hardly urban. Even if rich people needed more than one country house, the homes in this area looked decidedly modest. Older farmhouses, mostly, some of them with horses grazing behind white picket fences.
The driver turned onto a tree-lined roadway that led not to a house but a park with picnic tables and the type of bathroom that probably housed a lot of spiders. “Here we are,” the driver announced before getting out of the car.
Teddy and Romeo exchanged bewildered looks. “What the hell?” said Teddy.
“Is Joyce an outdoorsy person?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Maybe...we’re supposed to find flowers appropriate for our vase?” Romeo obviously doubted his own hypothesis; after squinting, he shook his head. “Not too many flowers in February.”
“I think we should get out of the car. Then we’ll find out what’s going on.”
But neither of them made an immediate move. The plush interior of the Rolls was comfortable and safe. Outside lay the unknown. And lots of green stuff.
They might have remained there forever, but the driver opened Romeo’s door. “The sun sets before 5:30 tonight. You should get going.”
Sunset? That was ominous.
They got out and put on their new jackets and backpacks. The driver handed Teddy a compass and Romeo a laminated paper. “If you follow these directions properly,