“Sorry Aiden, but no. Chips are expensive andunhealthy.”
“Uncle Braden lets me get them,” he muttered, rolling hiseyes.
I normally would have scolded him, but I said nothing, that prickly feeling back full tilt. I swung around, catching someone’s back as they rounded the aisle and disappeared. I told myself I was just being paranoid, and continued to push my cartforward.
Aiden sulked as we made our way to the checkout. While we waited in the line, my ears caught the sound of my name. I looked over, seeing Melanie Clayton and Kristen Landry standing in front of the magazine rack. I’d gone to high school with both of them and still had to endure Kristen’s presence during Aiden’s soccergames.
Suddenly, it made perfect sense—why I felt like someone was watching me, because they definitely were, and they weren’t being discreet about it atall.
In high school, they alternated between being outright cruel to me and overly sweet. It depended on when Brock was around, really. If he was there—they were nice. Fake nice, but nice. If he wasn’t there, they gossiped and tittered about me. They were adeptly skilled at making me feel like a social pariah. Still were,apparently.
It was Kristen’s second time this week trying to cut me back down to size. She hadn’t been too thrilled to see Travis at the game on Sunday, because he’d been with me. I’d forgotten all about their brief fling together until thatmoment.
But, the way Travis had reacted to her made her comments bounce offme.
“I couldn’t believe it myself when I saw,” Kristen was saying. She glanced up, caught me looking at them, and smirked before turning her head. “I mean,Becky Miller? Why her?” she lowered her voice a fraction, but I could still hear her. That was the point, though. That was always the point with thosetwo.
“I know, I don’t get it,” Melanie tittered, shaking her head. I looked away, flooded with embarrassment and anger. “Clearly, she’s just a gold-digger.”
“That’ll be a hundred and thirty-five dollars and thirty-eight cents,” the cashier said. I pulled my card out of my wallet and paid. Moving my cart toward the end of the conveyer, I started putting the groceriesaway.
“Maybe it’s a pity thing,” Kristen mused, peering at me again with consideration, watching while I loaded up the bags with my purchases. “He always did like charity work.” I stiffened,aggravated.
I was tired of petty immature women who made me feel terrible about myself and I was sick to death of being the subject matter of choice for gossip. If Aiden wasn’t with me, I would have stomped over and given them both a piece of my mind, but I was trying to teach him to ignore bullies and rude comments. No matter where you lived, there was always at least one person who felt the need to rain on other people’sparades.
Melanie and Kristen’s hostility didn’t change the fact that Travis and I were together. Their lack of approval meant very little to me, and I knew with his career, I’d need to do my best to tune themout.
When I turned to tell Aiden to follow me, he wasn’t waiting beside the cart. He was marching over to Melanie and Kristen. “You aren’t nice!” he scolded them, his brow furrowed with anger, his little hands clenched tightly in fists that he held at his sides. “Travis doesn’t pity us, but I bet he’d pity you! You’re horrible and—and you’reUGLY!”
“Aiden, come here,” I told him sternly, flushing at the attention we were receiving from the other shoppers. “It’s not nice to call peoplenames.”
“They’re calling you names and saying mean things!” Aiden pointed out hotly. Several shoppers glanced over, watching the scene unfold with hungry eyes. I stood taller, lifting mychin.
“Wedon’t call people names, andwedon’t say mean things. If they decide that’s how they want to treat other people, they will find themselves very lonely one day. That won’t be us, bud,” I said, not caring that everyone else could hear me as well. Melanie and Kristen gawked at me, but I barely spared them a secondglance.
Aiden’s shoulders sagged as he walked back to me. He turned to face Melanie and Kristen. “I’m sorry for calling you ugly, but you’re stillhorrible.”
“Aiden!”
“I’m sorry for calling you horribleto yourface.”
“Good enough,” I sighed. “Let’sgo.”
Kristen gasped, completely affronted. I shot her a look that conveyed exactly what I thought of her before we walked out of thestore.
I pushed the cart through the parking lot with one hand while I rested the other on Aiden’s shoulder. He sniffled, looking up at me with wide blue eyes full ofhurt.
“I hate how mean people are,” he said, his voice heavy withsadness.
“You can’t focus on how mean people can be,” I told him gently. “You have to focus on the good. There are some real jerks in this town, Aiden, but you’ll encounter people like that wherever you go. So long as you surround yourself with good people, you’ll be okay…and there are a lot of good people in this towntoo.”
“What about you?” he asked me, still looking at me like I held all of the answers to life’s complicated questions. “Doesn’t it make yousad?”
A few years ago, Melanie and Kristen’s words might have destroyed me. Every year, my skin thickened a little more and I cared less and less about the opinions of people who didn’t like me. It wasn’t always easy to let the comments roll off my back, but I’d gotten better at it, especially the last littlewhile.
“Sometimes,” I answered truthfully. “But at the end of the day, I know I’m blessed.” I stopped walking and pulled him against my side, kissing him loudly on the top of thehead.
Aiden laughed, his arms wrapping around my waist. He hugged me tightly, staying that way for a moment longer than he typicallydid.
