“Tsk! You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Both Avery and I turn and see a middle age woman with a mouth pursed like she just sucked on a lemon and a glare filled with judgment. The woman sizes me up with disgust and turns her hate-filled eyes toward Avery.
“What kind of example is that to a child? Staying with someone who puts those kinds of marks on you? I should call the police right now and report you!”
I’m shocked stupid that anyone would hurl such bile at a complete stranger but when I dart a glance at Avery and see all the blood drain from her face as she starts to shake and tears flood into her eyes, my shock turns to fury. I crowd the biddy, towering above her until she’s forced to start backpedaling down the aisle away from the girls. I lean down real close and growl into her startled face.
“I didn’t put those bruises on her. She did leave the one who did and fuck you for trying to shame her for them. I suggest you mind your own fucking business before I decide to make it mine.”
The woman scurries away with a huff of indignation and I stand there with my arms crossed glaring until she leaves the aisle. When I turn around, I curse under my breath at the damage that’s been done. All the smiles are gone and Avery has slipped her dark sunglasses on to cover her eyes. She keeps her head down and only answers my questions with short one or two-word answers as we finish the shopping. Chloe picks up on the mood and keeps sending her mom sad little looks as we check out.
I send them both to get in the Bronco as I load the back with all that we bought, trying to figure out what I can do to bring their smiles back. I’m driving us to the butcher we like to get our meat from when I spot a big, free-standing book store and quickly change lanes and drive into the lot.
Avery darts a look my way but with her dark sunglasses covering most of her face, I can’t get a read on her so I just grunt out, “Need some books.”
We all go in and I herd them to the back where the children’s section is. Zack and I unloaded her car so I know Chloe doesn’t have many toys to play with and I plan to change that right now. I wave Avery off when she tries to get Chloe to look at educational books.
“Go ahead, grab everything you want. Everything, Avery.” I growl at her, knowing she’ll balk at the cost. “Chloe and I need to inspect the toy section.”
When Chloe yells “Yay!” and dashes off I get a small smile from Avery and a nod of agreement. The toy section is filled with overpriced, high-end brands but I don’t give a shit. The three of us have more money than we’ll ever be able to spend thanks to the investments Zack set us up with back when we were first deployed. We trusted him with our paychecks and he made us all a fortune with crypto. I grab a clerk with a tablet and every single thing Chloe shows an interest in gets added to the virtual cart as well as a few things that catch my eye. By the time I nod to the wide-eyed, grinning clerk that we’re done and hand over my credit card, I’ve ordered almost everything in the toy section to be delivered as soon as possible.
Avery comes over with a small stack of workbooks and picture books and I can see from the sales sticker on them that she only chose books from the clearance racks so I make her go back through them with us and let Chloe choose. The kid goes heavy on the ponies, fairies, and teddy bear stories but I nod my approval when she holds up a few superhero books as well.
“Ryker! Please, I…I don’t have the money for all of these!” Avery whispers to me nervously while twisting her fingers as I point out shelves full of art supplies.
I turn to face her head on and reach out to slide her dark glasses from her face so I can see her eyes and the tired smudges under them that go with the bruising.
“Consider it an advance on your pay then. She’s happy, Avery, and so am I to give her that.”
I see her melt a little at my words but then she straightens up. “Fine, but I want the cost taken out of my first pay. I mean it!”
I hand her back her glasses and grunt, “Sure.”
Avery
The Hasselback potatoes are browning nicely in the oven. The fresh green beans and sliced red peppers are ready to go in the steamer and the marinated steaks are ready to be seared as soon as Easton, Ryker, and Zack get here. Chloe sits at the counter practicing her printing in one of the new workbooks I got for her but every now and then, she sends longing looks at the German chocolate fudge cake I baked and frosted that sits nearby.
As I lean against the counter watching her, I probe gently with the pads of my fingers around my bruised eye. It’s turned a sickening greenish-yellow but thankfully, most of the swelling has gone down. The bruises on my torso, unfortunately, are a vivid wash of black, blue, and purple and I know from experience that it’ll take a lot longer for them to go away. My hand falls to my side as I take stock of things.
Today has been a really good day. Shopping with Ryker was…eye-opening and also a lot of fun until…I shove that woman’s harsh words aside. I don’t need guilt from a stranger when I have enough from myself. I’ve never grocery shopped like that before with an unlimited budget. I mean, I’ve bought groceries before but it was always just the bare minimum of needs after my parents died and thenhedecided on exactly what went into the cart the few times we shopped together before he took that task away completely.
I squeeze my eyes closed for a minute at how stupid I was. There were so many red flags that I overlooked. Young, dumb, and all alone in the world, I just let him take care of me, never realizing that it wasn’t care. It was control. I didn’t even know that there were men like Easton, Ryker, and Zack in the world. I went from high school boys I was never really interested in, to having a husband. He was my first and only…everything. My whole life revolved around pleasing him and then trying to balance that and caring for Chloe after she was born. A balance I failed at and was punished for over and over again.
“Hello! How was your day?” Easton asks as he walks in and breaks me from my dark thoughts.
A quick glance at the clock tells me he’s home earlier tonight so I reach for the switch to turn on the steamer and then turn to pull the steaks from the fridge.
“Good, thanks. How was your day?”
When I turn around with the tray of marinated steaks, I see him looking down at Chloe and I frown. She’s pushed her workbook over to him and she taps her pencil on the work she’s doing and then gives him a ‘what the heck’ look.
I groan out, “Chloe…” but Easton holds up a hand, silencing me without even looking my way.
“Show me,” he tells her and she leans over and makes a lowercase h that looks more like an n and then looks back up to him.
“Ah, I see. You need to start from the top at the upper line. Draw straight down and then make the hump.”
Her head goes back down to the paper and her pencil drags across the paper with her little tongue poking out and her brow wrinkled in concentration. When she’s done, she grins up at him and he nods and taps the paper again with a finger.
