Page 4 of My Girlfriend is Not the Father

Lucy gulped. I’m going in.

Chapter 2

Jade

Was this place actually serious? Jade shuffled the sauces and crouched to see if anyone had stuffed sriracha behind the BBQ. Nope. Not behind the mustards, relish, chilli sauce, nothing. What in the actual fu—

‘Um, hi.’

A timid voice cut into Jade’s not-so-timid internal monologue about the moral failings of the supply chain bosses who had somehow not procured the best condiment on earth.

A doe-eyed, pink-cheeked woman with long, wavy chestnut-brown hair stared at Jade. Her neon pink shirt caught Jade’s attention. Rainbow letters spelling ‘Queer AF’ paraded across her chest. Jade’s eyes lingered. On the cute message, of course. Not on the way the fabric hugged her full curves. Or … mostly on the message.

The woman jerked her thumb behind her shoulder. ‘The guy up front, he told me where to find you.’

Jade stood up straight, towering over the woman by a good six inches in her own estimate.

‘I mean, I asked him where to find you.’

Hmmm. Now I’m intrigued.

The woman cleared her throat. ‘Sorry, um, did you find a wallet?’

Jade’s frown from the sriracha debacle switched into a grin. Lucy. Once she said ‘wallet’, it only took Jade a moment to connect that this woman was the same one on the driver’s licence she peeked at earlier. ‘The rainbow one? Yeah, I did.’

‘Oh my God, you’re seriously an angel.’ Lucy folded her hands in front of her chest. ‘I was freaking out! Ugh, I can’t believe I left it here. I thought for sure someone would’ve stolen it, and holy extra-chunky guacamole replacing everything would have been such a massive pain in the booty.’

Jade propped the plastic grocery carrier on her hip. ‘The booty, huh? Wouldn’t want that.’ She took a bit too much pleasure in the pink that brushed Lucy’s cheeks. ‘Don’t worry. I only pocketed a fifty. I left everything else.’

‘Perfect, so you didn’t find the hundred-dollar bill. Good to know that my hiding spot still works.’

‘You have one of those too? I thought I was the only one.’ Jade had no actual bill-hiding spot, but this woman’s scattered, excited voice was doing something to her insides. Coming off a not-so-great day, and an even worse last two years, this was a refreshing breath of glittered air.

Lucy dodged an oncoming cart. ‘My dad always told me, keep a hidden twenty-dollar bill, and always have a quarter in case you need to make a call.’

‘Jesus, how old are you?’ Lucy looked to be in her early thirties like Jade, but one could never tell these days. ‘A quarter? I thought payphones were obsolete in the last twenty-five years.’

Lucy strummed her fingers on her cheek. ‘Clearly my anti-wrinkle cream is working.’

Jade switched the carrier to her other hip. ‘I have a confession to make.’

‘I knew it.’ Lucy twisted her mouth. ‘Were you going to hold a knife up to my wallet in a ransom pic?’

Oh boy. She’s really adorable. Stop this conversation immediately. ‘No. I peeked at your licence. I was going to find you on social media and shoot you a message that I turned it in at the counter, in case you didn’t remember where you lost it.’

‘You looked at my licence? So, you know what my middle name is?’

Jade chuckled. ‘Is that your actual middle name?’

‘Sunshine?’ Lucy nodded. ‘Sure is. My parents … they’re a unique bunch. Not sure how they thought Lucy would go with Sunshine, but here we are.’

‘Well, it’s definitely original.’

‘Not quite as original as your purple hair, though.’

Jade patted the side of her head. ‘Purple? This is called Midnight Amethyst, thank you very much.’

‘Well, it’s very cool.’ The playfulness in Lucy’s voice faltered to soft, and Jade lapped it up. Lucy dug the tip of her chequered Converse into the metal shelving.