seat and closed my eyes. “I’m losing it,” I muttered.
Within seconds, Tyler laid his hand on my knee. “Hey. Your reactions are normal. You've been betrayed by your own father and his lifelong business partners. That's a very big deal. Thinking you see them lurking would happen to anyone.”
I couldn’t even tell him that this was the second time it had happened to me today. “Does stuff like that happen to you?” I asked.
“Mine's more concentrated at night. I learned to keep it together during the day. But at night I can't sleep.”
Ah ha. Now it all made sense. He admitted that casually, but I sensed he was dealing with more than just insomnia at night, but I wasn’t going to push. Tyler telling me anything that personal was a huge fucking deal. That must be one of the reasons he didn’t want me to sleep in his bed.
At first I assumed it was because he didn’t want any form of commitment, but the longer I knew him, the less I thought so. He was a very loyal person. And he was the one who’d pushed to date me.
Instead of asking him questions, I just reached over and grabbed his hand. I wished I could help him if he was struggling. But him saying anything at all was a start.
We passed the stand-alone pharmacy, and I sat up straighter. “Oh! I just realized I didn’t get everything I need.” This was going to be my only chance to get a pregnancy test and vitamins.
“Should I turn around?” he asked.
“No, we can just stop in the Pine Hills Family Pharmacy.”
Once he parked the car, he immediately put his hand on the car handle and started to get out of the car. I grabbed his hand and turned to face him. “Listen, I can go in here by myself. I don't need a guard, you can watch from out here.”
He opened his mouth to protest.
“I need feminine hygiene products,” I blurted out
He hesitated, and I saw my opening.
If he followed me in, I wouldn't be able to get the pregnancy test or the vitamins. I tried again, saying, “besides, it would be embarrassing to pick out that kind of stuff with you watching.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a great deal of resignation. “Just don't take too long or I'll come in after you.”
I squeezed his arm. “I'll be quick.” I hurried into the small pharmacy. Just like many things in a small town, it wasn't like any of the pharmacies in Chicago. There were no bright fluorescent lights, no endless rows featuring over the counter medicines, no photo development area. There were wooden floors and paneled walls, and small displays of the basics.
Even the shopping baskets were woven instead of plastic. I grabbed one and grasped it tightly.
I found the pregnancy tests. I didn’t have time to look up which was the best, so I took the three most expensive ones. I found the prenatal vitamins, and again, chose a thirty-day supply of the most expensive.
So that I wasn’t quite so obvious, I also grabbed a giant box of feminine products and a bag of chips and a pack of gum.
I was so nervous about hiding this purchase from Tyler that I didn’t even think about being found by Carl or Christopher, not even one time.
I walked briskly toward the checkout.
“Ava?” someone called out.
I froze. Someone was behind me. Already on high alert, my heart thundered in my chest. But I wasn’t going to run screaming, just because I was imagining a bad guy lurking everywhere I went.
I turned slowly. Surely this wasn’t some goon who’d come to snatch me from Pine Hills, not in this obscure little building. If it was, I was not going quietly.
I sagged all at once, almost dropping my basket.
It wasn’t someone coming to kidnap me. But it was Mrs. Smith, the ancient secretary from Tyler’s office.
Fuck. With a quick glance down, I carefully arranged the feminine products, the chips and the gum so that they covered the pregnancy tests and the vitamins.
Of all the times for me to run into her. “Hello, Mrs. Smith. How are you?”
“I’m good sweetie. Just getting my blood pressure medicine refilled.” She opened her mouth to say more, but then we both heard the pharmacist call out. “Mrs. Smith, we’ve got your prescription.”
She patted my arm, and finally ambled away.
I exhaled, but didn’t waste any time getting to the checkout.
Of course there was no self-checkout in this small pharmacy.
I felt like