The awkward silence told Kylie that they'd recently halted the conversation when they heard them coming. Meaning they were keeping secrets.
Which frustrated the fire out of her, because after all, this was about her, wasn't it? She almost called them on it, too, but realized an argument might delay the trip into town. And Holiday needed her. So Kylie buried her frustration, vowing it would be unearthed, resuscitated, and dealt with full-force later on.
Holiday cut a glance to Kylie as if she'd read the emotional marathon happening inside her. After a few nods of uncomfortable greetings, Holiday glanced at Burnett. "You ready?"
On the ride to town, Holiday drove and hiccuped the whole way. Burnett fretted over her hiccups and kept a keen lookout as if he was worried Mario would drop in.
"We should call the doctor," Burnett said when Holiday let out another one.
"I'll just pick up some antacid or something," Holiday said.
When they entered the pharmacy, Kylie started to the feminine product aisle. Burnett started after her, but when he saw her walk up to the tampon rack, he turned around.
Kylie saw Holiday pull him with her to a different aisle.
Taking a deep sigh, Kylie went to look for the pregnancy tests. Feeling rushed, she scanned the different packages but was at a loss. There were numerous kinds, each offering a different promise.
Realizing she didn't have time to read them all, she grabbed two and then just to be sure she got the right one, she grabbed another. Checking to make sure no one was looking, she bolted to the pharmacy counter to pay for them. It wasn't until she saw the older man standing there that Kylie realized how hard this was going to be.
The man, an elderly preacher-looking type, was going to think that the tests were for her. Oh, just great.
She swallowed a big lump of embarrassment down her throat. Then, thinking of Holiday, she put the three boxes on the counter.
The man eyed her purchase, then looked up. Kylie could see the judgment in his old gray eyes as a frown marred his face. Lovely! She was getting judged for being pregnant and she was still a virgin.
"Do you know how to use these?" he asked in a very condescending voice.
Kylie felt her face flush red. "I ... will read the instructions."
"Would you like my assistant Angela to speak with you about ... anything?"
Like safe sex, Kylie bet he was thinking. "No," she blurted out. When the man just kept staring at her, she added, "Thank you."
He rang up the items slowly. Kylie's heart beat to a nice, steady rhythm of embarrassment. She opened her mouth to say: "These are for a friend." But what was the chance of him believing that?
"That will be forty-two and ninety-six."Kylie went for the bills Holiday gave her. "Shit," Kylie mumbled when she saw she didn't have enough.
"Excuse me?" the little old man said, now not only offended that she was pregnant but because of her language.
And he should be offended-by the language. She knew better than to curse in public. But face it, the man's opinion of her was already in the pits, what was one little word going to matter? But still, she offered, "Sorry."
"Do you want to buy these or not?"
She nodded. "Yes, it's just ... I don't think I need three. Just two."
Frowning, he looked down at the boxes. "Which one would you like to return?"
She took a deep breath, realizing somewhere along the line she'd stopped doing that.
Then, remembering her mom's credit card-to use only in case of emergencies-she pulled out Holiday's phone and then the little wallet. "Never mind, I'll take them all."
Tossing the card on the counter, she bit down on her lip. She wasn't sure this was the kind of emergency her mom was referring to, but getting away from this man's judging eyes seemed pretty important.
He studied the card carefully.
Friggin' great. Now he was suspecting her of credit card fraud.
"It's good!" Kylie said. "I swear."
He didn't look convinced. "Can I see an ID?"
She heard Burnett and Holiday somewhere a few aisles behind her. Biting her lip, she opened her wallet and let him see her driver's license. She had never seen anyone take so much time reading a license.
Fear that she was going to let Holiday down had her stomach clenching. "I'm kind of in a hurry," Kylie said.
Finally, he dropped her license and finished the transaction. She heard someone shift behind her, and her heart tightened. She glanced down to see shoes, praying they weren't going to be Burnett's tennis shoes.
It wasn't Burnett. A pair of dress shoes, the kind businesspeople wore, adorned the feet of the man standing behind her. Thank God.
The cashier pushed a receipt over to her. "Would you mind some informational pamphlets?" he asked.
"Fine." Kylie signed the receipt then watched him drop sex pamphlets in her bag with the pregnancy tests.
Little did he know, those pamphlets were outdated. She'd read those over a year ago.
When at last he handed her the bag, Kylie swung around to leave, but came to an abrupt stop when she saw the face of the man standing behind her.
"Oh, shit," Kylie said again.
Chapter Twenty
Holy hell! Of all the people in the world to have witnessed her buy three pregnancy tests, this was the absolute worst.
"They are for a friend," Kylie blurted out.
"What?" her grandfather asked, and his brow wrinkled with concern when he looked at her little white sack. Okay, so he obviously hadn't seen her purchases. But now he probably thought she was buying condoms or something. And with this size sack, she was stockpiling them, too.
All of a sudden, Kylie realized a concern bigger than her grandfather thinking she'd bought a bag of rubbers. If Burnett spotted her grandfather, there would be hell to pay.
"What are you doing here?" Kylie's nervous gaze zipped around praying she wouldn't spot Holiday or Burnett. She didn't.
"I wanted to bring you this." He pulled her the phone out of his shirt pocket. "And to make sure you believed that I wasn't behind the ploy to keep you from leaving. I gave my word to Burnett. I don't do that lightly. I will go now."
Kylie couldn't help it, she moved in for a hug and she clung to him a fraction of a second longer than she should.
For when she pulled back, she saw Burnett barreling down the aisle toward her.
Thankfully, her grandfather vanished.
"What the hell?" the cashier said behind her.
"This is why you wanted to come here!" Burnett bit out.
"Is there a problem?" the cashier asked, and then added, "Did you see..."