“What?” I demanded.
He slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. “I wish you’d see yourself the way the rest of us see you.”
I hugged him and smiled. “I’m working on it, honey.”
He moved his hand down to my butt and gave it a pat as he teased, “Work faster.”
Within ten minutes I had already found two dresses, a pair of pumps, a handbag with a matching leather notebook, and three pairs of earrings to buy.
“I thought you said you just wanted to window shop,” Cash said.
“What? It’s only a few things,” I replied, innocently.
“Then I think we should get you out of here before you really become dangerous.”
“You heard Claire. Friends and family discount, baby. That means I’m notspendingmoney, I’msavingmoney.”
“That’s not how math works,” he replied.
“Maybe not regular dumb old boring math, but that’s definitely how girl math works.”
As we made our way to the checkout counter, only one customer was in front of us. It was Lauren and she appeared to be in some sort of disagreement with Marci at the register.
“This could all be cleared up if you’d just call Claire,” Lauren said. “We’re dear friends.”
“As I said, Ms. Hurley is on an important overseas call and cannot be disturbed at this time. You can either pay for the items you’ve selected, or I’d be more than happy to hold them for you if you want to come back later.”
“I don’t want to come back later. I’m here now and would like to pay now, so if you could just apply my discount to the total purchase price that would be great.”
“I’ve explained that I don’t have authorization or instruction to grant you a discount.”
I let out a quiet gagging noise only Cash could hear.
“This is ridiculous. First of all, you clearly heard Claire when she instructed to give her friends a discount.” Lauren motioned to me and her. “Besides, and I didn’t want to have tosay this, but honestly, I shouldn’t have to payanythingfor this stuff.” Lauren looked to me for support. “Right?”
I shrugged.
“Ms. Hurley authorized a discount for her,” Marci said, motioning to me. “Not for you. I don’t know who you are, and because I don’t own the store, I can’t just give discounts.”
“Right.” Lauren huffed. “I’m only one of the most important and influential influencers on social media today. I know you’re familiar with my work, so don’t act like you’re not. One positive post from me about this place and it’ll be packed with every local celeb. One negative word, and Claire won’t be able to get a job at the Discount Dress Depot.”
“Was that a threat?” I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.
Lauren turned to face me. “Still butting in where you’re not needed, I see.”
“Still bullying people, I see,” I lobbed back. “Why don’t you pay for your stuff and be on your way?”
“I swear, I will tell everyone—”
“What?” I asked. “That you tried to bully your way into something you didn’t deserve and when you were told ‘no,’ you stomped your foot like a petulant child? Good luck with that. Jesus, you’re still just as much of a bitch as you were in high school.”
“I’m only trying to help these people,” Lauren seethed. “Do you know how many followers I have?”
“I don’t know, Lauren. More than Charles Manson but less than Hitler?”
Lauren’s face blotched red. “What did you say?”
“You heard her,” Claire’s voice rang out as she stormed up to the counter. “And now you can hear it from me. Place those items on the counter and get out of my shop before I drag you out by your cheap hair extensions, you social media whore.”
