She laughed. “Morgan and Shannon are obviously watching you for Vince. Shannon specifically. She is trying to get back in his good graces ever since he found out Morgan had been pushing people around for her. So she’ll sell you out faster than you can think. If she sees a ton of food going into your room, she will have questions. And she’ll whisper everything she sees to Vince. We have to be smart about it.” She jiggled the bag. “This way, we can sneak most of your groceries past them like its clothing. You buying a lot of high end clothing wouldn’t raise any red flags, just her jealousy. If we keep the snacks on top, and then hide the rest we should be fine” She opened the bag and wiggled it again. “We can fit a lot of things in here.”
I looked from her to the bag and then laughed. “You’re a genius.” I bumped her hip, and she chuckled.
“I know.” She winked as she kept walking. “Let’s shop.” We went through store after store, grabbing bags and random things. But I came to a stop in front of one toy store. My mom kept walking for a few steps before she stopped and turned around. “Babe? What’s up?” She came back and turned to the store. “What do you want from a teddy building store?”
I bit my lip. “Do you think spirits can be heard by technology?” I looked at her and she frowned.
“I don’t honestly know why?”
“Because I think this place has an insert where you can record a voice…”
She frowned, but I saw when she figured out where I was going. “You want to see if you can record Carl’s voice into a teddy bear for Carly?”
I nodded. “But I don’t know if it will work.” My mother looked around and pointed down the washroom hallway. “What?”
“There is only one way to find out.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway until we walked past the washrooms and out a back door, which she put a bag in to keep the door from locking us out. “Call him.”
“But I don’t have the insert.”
“Babe… they use phone calls and voicemails all the time. Call him, record him on your phone to see if it works and then, if it does, we replay it in the store. Bingo, bango we have a teddy bear for Carly.”
I laughed. “Bingo bango? Seriously?”
“Just do it.”
“Fine.” I laughed again and closed my eyes. “Grandma, I need Carl here to try something for Carly.”
“What’s wrong?” Carl sounded a little panicked. I opened my eyes to see him look around. “You called me to an alley?” He looked confused as he focused on me.
I shook my head. “I want to try something.”
“What?”
I pulled out my phone and held it out to him. “I want to see if your voice will register on my phone for a teddy bear for Carly.”
His face fell. “I don’t think it will, Amy.”
“Can we try?” I clicked on the voice recording app I had. “If it doesn’t work, fine, but if it does.” He closed his eyes, but then nodded.
“Of course.” He sighed and stepped closer.
Two hours later, we were pulling back into the driveway and I was exhausted. I was running on a few hours of sleep and breakfast was my last meal. I was hungry and annoyed at everything.
We parked, and I heard a door open, and I wanted to cry. “No.”
My mom looked over her shoulder and I saw her slump. “Deal with this now, or else you won’t have peace.”
I sighed as I hopped out. “Hey Brandon.” I looked at his father. “Alpha Vince.” I turned to my mom. “Do you need my mom?”
Vince shook his head. “No, we are here to talk to you.” He looked at my mom. “Hey Ainsley.” She nodded.
“Hey Vince.” She opened the back door.
“Mom, you can just drop everything inside.” I walked over to hand her my key, but she smiled and jingled her own. I just nodded and turned back to Vince. “What’s up?”
He looked over the bags my mom was bringing into the house. “You went shopping?”
I nodded and smiled. “I haven’t been able to have a shopping date with my mom for a few years. We figured we would do it today.”
