I could see why she would want to do that.
She stared down at the floor. “Seeing you hurt and knowing how it happened makes it difficult to ignore everything in that box.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare apologize. It’s my shit to deal with.” She sighed and picked up a bag. “I promise to be a better friend moving forward and I started that by buying you stuff. Well, I didn’t buy it. I used Bram’s card with his permission.”
“You didn’t have to buy me anything.”
“Yeah, I did. You don’t have anything. Not even any clothes, and I’m sure you don’t want to keep borrowing mine.” She gestured to what I was wearing.
I pulled on the baggy shirt. “I figured these were yours. Did you change my clothes?”
She nodded. “I’d already seen your tits. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
I felt the urge to smile.
“My mom helped, though. She washed the blood off your skin and brushed the tangles out of your hair.”
I really wasn’t in a mindset to care who saw me naked. So I defaulted to what I thought I was supposed to do or say in that moment. I thanked her and asked her to pass along my thanks to her mother as well.
“Well, anyways, you needed stuff,” she said as she looked into the bag she’d picked up. “I let Bram know earlier and he gave me his card. He told me to get everything I thought you would need. I enjoyed the retail therapy even though I had two tagalongs. And those two had an opinion about everything. Mostly Roe. Reid only chimed in a few times.”
Just as she finished speaking, Wyatt came in with a lot of bags hanging from his arms. He set them down under the TV and walked right back out.
“Roe and Reid were with you?” I asked.
“Unfortunately,” she grumbled. “They overheard me talking to Bram before Noble showed up. Roe said there were some things he wanted to go out and get for you, too. He and Reid followed me from store to store. They vetoed so many cute outfits I picked out. I couldn’t even buy you a damn toothbrush without someone saying something. The input on toiletries was helpful, I supposed. They knew about some of the products you used.”
I wondered if they had seen what I used in my bathroom when the three of them stayed over. Looking back, I had left some stuff on the vanity after I showered.
Mac sighed dramatically. “I was finally able to get free of them toward the end. I picked out intimate things then, like bras and underwear.” A mischievous smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. “And I may have gone back and grabbed some of the outfits they turned down. Every girl has the right to dress sexy. I know that’s far from your mind now, but you might feel differently later and there will be a couple of outfits waiting for you.”
Only worries seemed to occupy my mind. I wondered if her shopping trip had been a waste. What if I didn’t get to wear everything she had bought? What if I wasn’t here that much longer? Despite my heavy thoughts, I still thanked her.
Mac stood and started picking up bags. “I’m going to put all your toiletries away in the bathroom.”
As she left the room, Wyatt came in with more bags. “Roe and Reid are back. They’re coming in with the rest.”
The rest?
Just as Wyatt finished adding to the pile of bags on the floor under the TV, Roe came in, arms full of bags as well. He set down them all with the rest, except for one bag that had a well known label on it.
Roe brought that one bag over to me and sat in Bram’s chair. “I’m sorry that took a while.”
Mac came back into the room and looked over all the bags on the floor. “I’m surprised I beat you back. Where did you two go?”
Roe pulled out a small box with a picture of a phone on it out of the bag. “I wanted to get Lottie a phone. I realized this morning when I went to text her that she didn’t have her old one.” He spoke as he took a brand new phone out of the box andpowered it on. It was matte black, unlike my previous, which was pink.
“You didn’t have to do that.” I may have grown up with money, but I understood phones weren’t cheap.
He held out the phone to me. “How else will I talk to you when I’m not with you?”
“Sounds like he did it for selfish reasons,” Wyatt said as he watched us. “So don’t feel guilty and just accept it.”
I took the phone and ran my thumb over the back, liking its color.
“I was going to get the same color as your other one, but Wyatt told me to get the black instead,” Roe said.
