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Her sigh of frustration reveals I’ve missed the mark. “Smart-ass. I want to know what town.”
“I can’t tell you that yet. I want to see if I can establish myself here first. Otherwise, I’ll be moving to somewhere new.”
“You know you’re more than welcome to come live with us and clean my house as your rent.” Her joke warms me and guilts me at once.
I rouse Ghost with a gentle pat followed by a tap on the nose. With the phone wedged against my shoulder, I extend an egg out to her, which she happily takes.
“I know you two don’t understand, but I don’t want to move out of the country. I get it doesn’t make sense that a single woman wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to travel the world, but there’s so much here I want to see and do yet. Maybe in a year or two, when I’ve saved enough money, I’ll come for an extended visit.”
“Don’t worry about saving money. Just let us know, and we’ll fly you over.”
My head thuds against the headrest, and I close my eyes. “I miss you, Caiti. I miss you both so much.” The thickness of my throat is impossible to conceal.
“I’m always a phone call away. And I’m going to talk to Eric about planning a visit to come see you whenever you’re ready to tell us where you are. Just be safe, okay?” Her own watery reply reflects how I feel inside.
“Always. Tell my brother I love him, and I’ll call him soon.”
“Love you too, sister! I better know where you are by next week, or I’m calling a search party!”
I scrub my hand over my brows. “Speakerphone? Really, Caiti?”
Eric’s voice comes at me again. “Don’t blame her. It was my idea since you won’t give up information any other way. I thought she could get it out of you somehow.”
“I told him he doesn’t know you at all if he thinks that’s true,” Caiti chimes in.
The welling tears warn me to wrap this up.
“I’ll call you both soon. Love, love.”
“Love you too!” Caiti replies.
“Love you.” My brother’s gruff voice spurs me to end the call before the dam breaks.
I toss my phone to the seat and leash Ghost for a quick potty break. She meanders around for only a minute before she does her business and lets me load her back into the car.
She settles back in her seat with a dramatic groan, and I reach for my phone to search for the nearest department store. I find one ten minutes away and set off on our quick trip across town.
I park easily near the middle in the half-filled lot. I gather my things and crack the windows for Ghost. The brisk morning air means I don’t have to worry about the car's interior heating. This will be a short trip. Leaving her in the car reminds me to add finding a dog sitter to my to-do list.
I tug the edges of my thin, plum coat around me as I rush inside. First stop, I need a caddy to carry my supplies. It’ll double as a basket while I shop so I can make sure everything fits and that it’s a good size.
After finding a mod
est plastic caddy, I speed shop through the cleaning aisle, selecting a range of products to get the job done. I ran a small cleaning business as a side job back home before everything went to shit, so this is familiar territory. I only hope I can pick up enough clients to bring in some cash to save for my first and last month’s rent somewhere in town. Hopefully, at a place that doesn’t require a credit check.
As I walk to the checkout lane, I pass by an aisle of dog toys. I can’t overlook the opportunity to bring Ghost a present, even if money is tight for the foreseeable future. She was uprooted from her home just as I was, and even though I packed most of her comfort items in the limited space of my car, I had to leave some behind.
I stumble on a red plush in the shape of a dog bone that brings a grin to my face. Stitched in white thread in the middle is the word Killer. After her interaction with the sexy stranger last night, it’s perfect.
The one-hundred-fifty-seven-dollar total at the register makes me cringe. I carefully extract and count the cash from a white envelope. I miss the days when I could simply swipe my card and not think about the total, but I don’t currently have a bank account set up. Tate and I abandoned our joint account with the demise of our relationship. I figured I’d be a more responsible consumer if I had to hold the cash in hand.
The dog toy states otherwise.
“You must have quite the mess to take care of.” The voice comes from behind me, followed by the happy squeal of a toddler that cinches my heart.
I give the woman behind me a polite smile. “It’s just inventory.”
Her perusal from my hair to my shoes sets flame to my skin.
