“Back before you know it.” He pulled away from me and left.
“Whoa,” a voice echoed from behind me.
I turned and looked at the girl behind the register, who still stared after Owen.
“Yeah.” I sighed. That pretty much summed up Owen.
“Your boyfriend?” The girl leaned forward over the counter. “He’s a killer.”
“Um, yeah.” I had to look away so I wouldn’t laugh at her word choice. I picked through the racks and grabbed a couple of shirts I thought would fit.
“American, huh?” She pursed her lips.
“Yep.” I smiled, but didn’t elaborate.
“Southern state, right?” She walked around the counter and rifled through some of the shirts before holding one out for me. “This will look nice with your eyes.”
“Thanks.” I added it to the pile in my arms. “Arkansas.”
Bad. I was a very bad liar. Even when I just said one word.
“I have a friend that moved to Florida. She works at a theme park.” She turned to look through a different rack. “She likes all the sun.”
“Florida is nice.” Florida is nice? That’s all I’ve got? “The beaches are beautiful.”
“Maybe I’ll get to visit her one day.” The girl held her hands out for the clothes in my arms. I took a quick glance at her name tag. Heather with curly-cues on each side of her name. “Here, I’ll go start you a dressing room.”
I almost objected but decided it might look weird. There was no way I was going to be caught with my pants down in a dressing room. I’d just have to stand in there and pretend.
As I expected the jeans weren’t in American sizes, so I had to do my best to eyeball the right size. After narrowing it down, I took two shirts and a pair of jeans to the front counter before going to look at the shoes. There were sandals, a few small slip-ons, and some athletic shoes. I opted for the athletic shoes even though they weren’t very attractive. I’d rather be able to run than look cute.
I added socks and underwear to my growing pile, but Owen still wasn’t back. Trying to not look worried was hard, so I ended up trying on sunglasses, picking out a shampoo, and eventually ended up by the paperback books. There wasn’t a large selection, but I read the back cover of one that actually caught my interest. It was a Christmas romance with a puppy on the front cover.
“Oooh. I read that one last year. You should definitely get it.” The accommodating cashier peeked over my shoulder. “I love happy endings.”
The door chimed and I looked up to see a petite blond woman enter the shop. She was breathtaking. Small delicate features, big brown eyes, and a shape that would leave men drooling in her wake. It was like looking at one of Shakespeare’s fairies brought to life.
“Can I help you?” Helpful Heather pounced on the new customer.
“Mm. Do you have the local paper? No one else on this block has one.” Her voice was low and sultry. She had a very upper crust London accent.
“Let me go check in the back.” The rapt clerk disappeared behind a curtain leaving me with the well-dressed woman.
I tried to not stare, but something about her made me uneasy. She caught me looking at her and smiled.
“Can you believe no one has the paper? I’m new and looking for a place to stay.” Her voice was friendly, it hit every note that it should, and every hair on my body stood on end anyway.
“I guess you could try looking online.”
“Oh, American!” She held out her hand. “I’m Jilly.”
Well, shit. Now I had to shake her hand. I guess if she tried to put me in a headlock I could just step on her.
“Taylor.” I held out my hand. Hopefully if someone was looking for me, they wouldn’t recognize my middle name.
“Pleasure to meet you.” Her eyes were so genuinely friendly, I was sure she was acting. She pointed at the book I had forgotten I was still holding. “I love that author. I buy everything of hers. She writes the best happy endings.”
“I’ve got one left, if you don’t mind a few bent corners.” Helpful Heather reappeared.
“Oh, that would be perfect. I just need the real estate section.” Jilly turned her bright smile on Heather. She paid for her paper and turned back to us at the door. “Nice to meet you, Taylor! Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Good luck with your house hunt.” I smiled, but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Maybe I was being paranoid. Okay, I was being paranoid, but that didn’t mean I was wrong to be suspicious.
She could be guilty of something that had nothing to do with me and I was just picking up on it. I looked back at the book in my hand and shrugged.
Well, I figured I could really use a happy ending at that point. I sat the book on my stack and looked back around the shop.
“Feel like you’re forgetting something?” Heather tilted her head in sympathy.
“I just can’t remember what I’m missing.” I shrugged my shoulders. If Owen didn’t show up soon to pay, I was going to look like a giant ass. It had been almost an hour since he’d left and I was starting to wonder. “Makeup! That’s what I’m missing.”
I could kill some time staring at the cosmetics. I tried not to grimace when I found the small section of makeup.
“Airline lose your luggage?” Helpful Heather asked.
“Can you believe it? And I had some really cute things to wear for…well, you know.” I tried to chuckle but it sounded demented. I really couldn’t lie.