“Mom, I don’t want that one. I want this one.” Oren points at the t-shirt he wants, and I roll my eyes because I’m going to get both, and I don’t care. I grab the t-shirt size I think we need and lay it against Oren’s back, just to be sure. Nodding to myself I throw one of each into the cart and turn to check out more.
Myles wanders over to the pants section and as I watch he speaks with Oren about jeans, a pair of dress pants and joggers. Smiling at the way they are interacting with each other, I amble over to the underwear section.
I pile in socks, undies…oh, I load in slides, moccasins, sneakers, and I find Uggs. Way to go me! I can’t help but smile to myself when I see the huge pile of clothing and footwear in the cart.
Looking around for Myles and Oren, I frown when I don’t see them. Pushing the cart, I maneuvered around a few aisles before I saw Myles stepping away from a woman who kept grabbing his arm.
“Hey, you, get your hands off my husband.” Yeah, I give the attitude to her. Myles smirks until I notice Oren is not with him. “Where is Oren?” I snap at him, which in turn makes him look around frantically.
“Fuck! OREN!” Myles shouts as he dumps his cart and rushes down the aisle.
I turn to the woman who is still standing, admiring my man. “If my son has been abducted because you have distracted my man I will sue you, and don’t think I won’t because I’m a lawyer—Janice!” I state aggressively I might add, as I noticed she has her badge showing with her name clearly stated.
Janice rushes away, and I dump the carts and hunt for Oren. Shouting as I search aisles for Oren to respond. I can hear Myles shouting from further in front of me.
“MAYLEE!” I hear bellowed, and I run toward the sound, coming to a grinding halt when I see Myles standing with his hands on his hips and his head hanging. But what surprises me is Oren who is holding a little girl's hand, who is crying her eyes out I have to add.
“What’s going on, Oren?” I ask quietly, trying my best not to upset the girl more, but to find out what’s happening here.
Oren gives me a serious look as he replies. “Mom, this is Della, and she’s lost her momma.”
Ah, I see now. Oren’s instinct to protect has come to the fore again. Just like when he punches or kicks because he thinks it’s the way to help someone. “Oh,” I replied and side-eyed Myles who turned his back to us, but I didn’t miss the fact he’s smirking.
Crouching down to Della I give her a small smile. “Come on, Della, let’s all go to the customer service area and see if they can put out a call for your momma.”
Della looks at Oren, and Oren gives her a smile and a nod. But I notice Della is hanging onto Oren’s hand like he is a lifesaver.
Thirty minutes later we have Della back with her momma, who was distraught, and it was understandable. It wasn’t that long ago that we thought Oren had gone missing.
Myles is giving Oren a lecture on not going missing and if he finds another little girl like Della to bring her to us, and not go wandering away to find her momma.
Just as I think we can get out of here and go home Janice turns up again. Now, she’s pissing me off as she is totally blanking me standing next to Myles and Oren.
Oren doesn’t like what he senses and gives the woman a nasty look. I am about to say something when Oren stamps his foot, gaining Myles and the woman’s attention. “Go away. Mom is going to take me home.” Oren grabs my hand and pulls for me to follow, which I do, giving Myles a look down my nose before heading outside to our vehicle. It’s not long before Myles arrives laden with bags from the shopping we did. Not sure when the carts were retrieved, and the contents paid for, but at the minute I don’t care either.
Once home, we get the bags unpacked and I get a load into the washing machine. I’m sure Oren is going to want to wear some of his new clothes quickly, and I’m going to make sure they are ready for him ASAP.
Opening the letter from the school regarding the anti-bullying policy. Putting it into a nutshell, it states that bullying will not be tolerated. Procedures for students, parents and staff for reporting, even anonymously, which I’m not sure should be legal, because let's be honest someone could easily use that just because they don’t like someone else. They are committed to investigate all reports and documenting accordingly. They are creating disciplinary and remedial actions to be applied. They also give the parents the right to appeal any outcome of any investigations.
I’m going to take this to my boss and see if he thinks it is a good policy or not. If not, where it needs amending. But to be fair, I think they have covered what was needed. Time will tell whether they implement the policy as it should be implemented.
Folding the policy and placing it back in the envelope, I tap it onto the palm of the opposite hand before laying it on the table for Myles to read when he comes back from Whitney’s.
The one thing we love about living next door to Whitney and Clem is that they help us, and we help them. Plus they both adore Oren and spend a lot of time with him. He feels like a communal son the way we all do things for and with him.
The door opens, and Myles along with Oren walk inside. They both give me the same cheeky grin before pouncing on me with—dammit—ice cubes. Ah, down my neck one slides, and it has me screeching. The laughter they are both rolling with has me stating they will pay for this. Yeah, you guessed, they stopped laughing and made a run for it.
I head next door to my bestie and plan revenge!
Whitney and I take every bottle of shaving foam from the shelf and look around to see who may be watching. We’ve already got the other supplies we needed.
“You ready, Lee?” Whitney whispers, and I give her a conspiratorial nod.
Heading to the register to pay I giggle. “You know this looks suspicious, right?”
Whitney laughs, “Yeah, but who cares. Let them think what they like.”
Now, I have to tell you Whitney doesn’t look so carefree about other people’s thoughts when the woman on the register asks if she is so hairy she needs all this shaving foam. But it’s the way her eyes flick to Whitney’s nether regions that does it for me. I burst out laughing and leave Whitney to pay and get herself out of the store.
