I was right. Caleb was taking notes in his head. He remembered everything. It was probably the secret to his success in business . . . which just reminded me, yet again, of my curiosity as to why he was interested in me. Why, when we came from such polar opposite worlds?
He left me to do some shopping in another part of the store when I went to the travel section to find a weekender bag. I just wanted something inexpensive, but capable of holding all my purchases. An orange-and-gray woven bag in an Aztec print fit the bill perfectly. I knew I would put the thing to good future use as well. In my line of work, I always needed bags to carry around the plethora of crap I discovered for decorating.
Lastly, I cruised through the trial sizes of toiletries and selected the necessities: toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, a hairbrush, deodorant, body lotion, and some moisturizer for my face. A waterproof cosmetic bag to house everything and I was done.
My rather-filled shopping trolley was now ready for the checkout line. I texted Caleb from line as the attendant rang me up. I’m finished. Checking out now.
I headed for the Starbucks located inside the store as I looked over my receipt. All of my awesome loot had come to a grand total of 167 dollars. Not bad at all, I thought. I knew I’d get good use out of everything I’d bought, even if I hadn’t planned on shopping for any of it tonight. I stuffed the receipt into one of the bags and felt my phone vibrate with Caleb’s reply: Wait for me, please. In Electronics . . . almost done.
Ok. I’ve already paid. I’ll be in the Starbucks → front of the store. What would you like me to get for you?
He didn’t answer so I assumed he didn’t want anything.
“So I have a grande pumpkin-spice latte decaf for Brooke. That’ll be five twenty-five.”
I handed over my debit card to the barista, but he didn’t take it from me. His attention was focused on someone else behind me because he nodded and mouthed, “okay.”
Then I felt Caleb’s hand on my hip as he put an arm around me. “I’ve got this, and I’ll have a venti flat white,” he said, and handed over a solid black American Express card. I did a double take because I’d never seen one before. I don’t think the barista had, either, because he gave it a good stare as well. It dawned on me it must suck to have people speculating on how rich you were whenever you paid for something normal at a place like Starbucks with a black AmEx card. The problems of the rich . . .
I looked up at Caleb and smiled but he wouldn’t look at me. In fact, he’d lost the easygoing expression altogether and looked rather annoyed.
“Did you find what you went searching for?” I asked as we waited for our coffees.
“Yes,” he answered as he tapped out something on his phone. He put it in his pocket and then gave me his attention. “Why did you check out and pay without me?”
Huh? “I beg your pardon?” I wasn’t letting him pay for my knickers and toothpaste for Christ’s sake.
“It’s a simple question.” He didn’t look annoyed anymore but rather surprised if I had to put a name to it.
“Because I’d finished my shopping and it was time to pay for my things and leave the store. I didn’t think I needed permission to go through the checkout line, Caleb. In fact, I know I don’t.” His concern was confusing. “I texted so you would know where I was. You brought me here. I wasn’t planning on ditching you if you were worried.” I shook my head at him. “Why should you care that I’ve paid for my things?”
He laughed and smiled for me again, his earlier mood restored. “Forget it, beautiful. Let’s just say this is all a new experience for me and leave it at that, okay?”
“Shopping at Target not to your liking?” I asked, hoping he would tell me how he really felt.
He pulled me in closer and pressed his lips to my forehead. I felt his lips move across my skin and heard him whisper softly, “Everything about tonight has been to my liking.”
Thank God he was holding me up because I rather melted into a puddle of goo after that.
Deep. Fucking. Trouble.
Caleb