The phone store smelled faintly like plastic and new electronics, which felt oddly comforting after the lingering scent of smoke that still seemed embedded somewhere in my brain.
I stood at the counter while the employee tapped away at the screen, trying to get my replacement phone activated under Ky’s plan.
“Can I just charge it to the card on file?” I asked, hoping this part would be easy.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t do that without permission from the account holder.” The store employee gave me an apologetic smile. “But if you have a card with you…”
Of course.
Right. That made sense.
My pulse ticked up anyway.
“Okay,” I said, trying to sound normal. “That’s fine. I’ll just call my brother really quick so he can talk to you.” I turned toward Theo. “Can I borrow your phone to call Ky?”
But before I could reach for it, Theo handed the girl behind the desk his black Amex, saying, “Here, just charge it to this.”
“Oh. You really don’t need to do that,” I hurried to say, myeyes going wide as I watched the employee take the card. “I’m sure Ky wouldn’t mind helping me out.”
“Consider it another job perk.” He shrugged like this was nothing more than grabbing the check at dinner. “I need to be able to contact you while I’m at work, so you having a working phone is really for me.” His mouth curved slightly. “Plus, how else are you going to send me all those cute photos and videos of Charlotte?”
I blinked. “You don’t mind the videos?”
“I love them,” he said easily. “All the little updates make my day. It’s nice seeing the small moments I miss.”
“Well,” I said, warmth spreading through my chest at that. “Thank goodness for cloud storage. Otherwise, I would’ve lost all of those memories.”
That thought alone was enough to make my stomach drop.
Next, we headed to a giant superstore that sold everything from groceries to garden hoses. I moved through the aisles in a daze, grabbing shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, makeup wipes, mascara, and a hair dryer. The mundane things that you usually acquire over time instead of all at once in one big, expensive chunk.
By the time we reached self-checkout, I was silently calculating how high the bill would be and how many paychecks it would take to pay off my credit card bill.
But before I could even open my new digital wallet to pay for all the supplies that made me feel put together, Theo reached around me and tapped his card against the reader.
Approved.
“Hey.” I looked up at him, attempting a scowl. “I was going to pay for that.”
He gave me an innocent look, and with a shrug, he simply said, “Oops.”
“Are you going to try and tell me that me having basichygiene items is somehow essential to my job? That you don’t want your daughter’s nanny looking unkempt when we go out in public?”
He chuckled. “I mean, if you need an excuse, I’ll say it.”
Then, softer, he reached out and lightly brushed his fingers through a strand of my hair near my temple.
“But honestly, I kind of like your hair a little wild.”
My stomach dipped deliciously from the unexpected touch.
“Careful,” I muttered, trying to keep my cheeks from turning too red. “That almost sounded like flirting.”
To which he only smiled as he put his card back in his wallet once more.
We finished the rest of our errands around four o’clock. By the time we got back to Theo’s house, my brain was tired from all the decisions I had to make today. But instead of going upstairs to take a nap like I wanted, I pulled out my new phone and started making the calls I’d been avoiding all day.
My mom answered on the second ring.