A moment later she full out panicked when I pulled up to a drugstore. “Carter, I can’t go in like this.”
“I know.” I smiled softly as I unbuckled. “I’m just going to pop in and get you some supplies. I’ll be right back.”
“You’re going to buy me tampons?” She asked, entirely horrified.
“Is that what you’d prefer? Tampons?”
She turned beet red, and the only response I got was a groan from behind her hands. “This is not information I wantyouknowing.”
“Well, tough luck, Rookie.” I slid out of the car with a wink. “You need supplies, and I’m the only one with two shoes.” Ihadlooked for her other shoe, but it was nowhere to be found by the time I’d finally gotten her into the car.
Inside the drugstore though, it wasmewho was the rookie. I gripped the back of my neck, staring at the wall of period products feeling totally lost. I wasn’t particularly shy about buying this stuff, but I’d never had sisters, or any long-term girlfriends for that matter, so I didn’t really know the lingo all that well.
I reached for a box that said heavy flow, deciding this situation definitely called for proper reinforcements. Except Sara was relatively short, and as I compared the pictures on the box between the light and heavy options, it left me wondering, what if the big ones weretoobig to fit? Was that a thing? And if theyweretoo big—nope. Never mind. I shook my head, wondering what the hell was wrong with me.
Just to be safe, I grabbed one of everything. That left me balancing a precarious stack ofsuppliesin one hand, wet wipes and hand sanitizer in the other, while I grabbed our drinks out of the cooler. There was an entire wall of cold yellow Gatorademy favorite, but I didn’t hesitate as I grabbed one yellow and one blue.
It wasn’t until I reached the register, adding a bag of Sara’s favorite Sour Patch candy to the top of the pile, that I finally realized what a mess I was. The woman ringing me up eyed me warily, and I took inventory of myself, realizing I probably looked like a serial killer taking a midnight snack break.Fan-freaking-tastic.
Sara rifled through the bag as I dropped the blue Gatorade into my cupholder and the yellow one into hers. “This isa lotof stuff.” She finally commented.
“I wasn’t sure what to get.” I admitted. “Do you need anything else? I can go back in if I missed something.”
“No, this definitely,definitelycovers it.”
I reparked the car in a dark corner of the lot and slipped into the cool night air, so she could sort herself out. As I leaned against the trunk of my McLaren, the cold didn’t bother me at all becauseI was fuming. My blood was practically boiling as I considered five different ways to beat someone to a pulp, and the second I figured out who she was with, I was going to use them all. Over the years, I’d always tried to keep an eye out for her, and this was so beyond unacceptable, I couldn’t even wrap my brain around it.
“Better?” I asked quietly as I settled back into the car with the smell of hand sanitizer in the air.
“It’s as good as it’s gonna get until I get home.” She murmured, staring too hard at her hands in her lap.
“It’s not a big deal.” I pulled back out onto the road.
“It’s embarrassing.” She had a strange quality in her voice that made my stomach knot. “I’mdisgusting.”
“You don’t think that.” I said gently, not sure if I was asking her or telling her, but she was quiet, far too quiet. “Is that what your date said?” I finally asked, pulling into the Burrito Bell drive-through and rolling my window down.
“Welcome to Burrito Bell, home of the Bell…” A tired voice crackled through the static speakerphone with the specials as I looked at Sara, waiting for an answer.
“No questions, remember?” She huffed, shooting me a glare.
I gave her a pointed look, to the effect ofwe’re coming back to thisand turned to order our usual. “Four deluxe soft tacos, that’ll be all.” I said, already pulling forward towards the drive-through window. Two for her, two for me, except they were huge and she almost never finished the second one.
“What if I don’t want a soft taco?” Sara crossed her arms over her chest and threw me a defiant look as one brow shot up.
Yes.A sparkling ray of her glorious mischief was singing,let’s play.Whether she realized it or not, that was everything I needed to know—that she was going to be okay, despite whatever shitstorm she’d just been through.And tonight, I desperately needed to know that she’d be okay.
“Would you like something else?” I asked skeptically, the corner of my mouth quirking up as I suppressed a full-on grin.
“Maybe I do, but I didn’t get the chance to look at the menu.”She complained, her long lashes fluttering in a way that had me white-knuckling my steering wheel again.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” My eyes darted down to her seatbelt, checking that she was still buckled in—she was.
My grin broke free, and her eyes went wide with realization. “Carter, no.” She barely got the words out as I punched the pedal.
We accelerated past the first window, then the second, in a blur. Her scream was a delight to my ears as I drifted around the parking lot in a tight circle and came to a screeching stop in front of the ordering menu again.
“Carter!” she reprimanded me, but her scowl broke into a small grin that she immediately tried to cover, but I caught it anyway and threw my head back, barking a satisfied, throaty laugh. “I hate it when you do that.” She complained.
