“Here you go then.” She said handing him back some bright colored Euros. I quickly tried to convert the amount in my head and was shocked with the result. I must have done my math wrong.
His smile was wide.
“Thank you so much Diana.”
“You’re welcome Don. Don’t spend it all in one place.” She joked.
“I won’t.” he said. As he disappeared Diana dumped her full cup of coffee into a potted plant.
We walked out of the store. Diana put her bags in the back of the car.
“Did you seriously just tip him a thousand dollars? We were only in there an hour.” I asked.
“Yes, I did. He’s always really nice to me and goes out of his way to help me.”
“Oh, that makes so much sense.” I said sarcastically.
She laughed. “Come on lets go across the street to Coach.”
“Alright.” I said even though I would just rather go home.
She grabbed my hand.
“This can be tricky. Italians are insane drivers so don’t let go of me.” She warned me.
“I’ve noticed.” I said.
Before I could protest she was dragging me into the chaos.
Taxi’s honked at us. Natives yelled words that didn’t sound so polite. Tourists laughed at us like we were crazy. If they only knew what I knew.
We finally made it to the safety of the side walk.
“That was scary.” I said breathing heavily.
“I think it’s fun.” Diana said beaming.
“It probably is fun for you. If you get hit you can get up and walk away unscathed. I on the other hand, would get seriously hurt or worse, I’d be dead.” I said.
She laughed. “I see your point. If a hair on your head is out of place when Jonathon sees you next I’m dead. So it’s probably better that we don’t do that again.” She said as man held the door to Coach open for us.
I walked in ahead of her. The Coach store was decorated with black and white.
“What colors do you like?” Diana asked me.
“I really like the colors in peacock’s feathers. They’re also my favorite animal.”
“Ooh . . . I know the perfect purse for you.” She said.
I was confused, as she ran off to the back right side of the store. I began in the direction I’d seen her go.
Before I had taken ten steps she was at my side.
In her hands she held a medium hobo style purse. The most beautiful purse I had ever seen.
“They just came out with this design. It is of course called the Peacock.” She said with a swish of her hand.
The bag was gorgeous. Turquoise, orange, cerulean, dark green, light green, and a rich dark purple.
“It’s so beautiful!” I gasped. “Oh good, you love it. I was beginning to think you didn’t like purses the way you scoffed at the Gucci ones.” She said breathing a sigh of relief.
“I did not scoff.” I said defending myself.
“Kylie, you looked like you wanted to burn a hole through them.” She said. We looked at each other and laughed.
I took the bag from her.
“I have to have this.” I said hugging it to my chest not about to let it go.
“Okay. Let’s go get the wallet and school bag. Ooh and the key chain. It has real peacock feathers.” She sing - songed as she danced back to where she’d gotten the bag. Diana was one happy person.
Diana ended up buying me all four, the purse, wallet, school bag, and key chain. She was so happy to see me have a decent reaction to a purse, it was hilarious. I took my boxed and bagged items from the check out lady.
We walked down the street a little ways and crossed it to our final destination. Louis Vuitton.
The store was decorated in dark and light browns. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling over the center of the store.
“Kylie, I must get you a proper luggage set.”
“Diana that’s really not necessary.” I said.
“Kylie everyone must have a Louis Vuitton luggage set. I don’t know what I’d do without mine. The world will end if you don’t have one.”
“Way to over exaggerate Diana.” I mumbled.
“Thank you.” She giggled covering her mouth.
“Really Diana I don’t need any luggage. After all, where am I going to go that I’ll need to pack?”
She smiled, “You never know with us. Last Christmas we spent a month in Ireland.”
I just shook my head.
Diana strolled up to a man working in the store.
“I need a luggage set. A full set not those stinchy things you try to pull off as a set.”
“Yes, Miss Pulmer.” He said dropping what he was doing and scurrying away like a helpless mouse.
“See anything else you want?” asked Diana.
“Nope.” I said.
“Oh! I know what else you must have.” She exclaimed disappearing before I had time to protest. Um okay?
I stood awkwardly in the middle of the store. I saw Diana’s blond head bob its way to me. Diana was short only about five feet three inches and moved like a dancer.
“You must have this perfume.” She said. She sprayed a little on me.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I said sneezing. The perfume smelled really sophisticated, but young and playful at the same time.
The man returned the moment I finished sneezing.
“Miss the bags are at the front waiting for you to check out. Would you like the perfume too?”
“Yes, please.” Diana said.
“I’ll take that for you and get it boxed.”
“Thank you, Frank.” She said. He disappeared towards the front of the store.
“You know everybody.”
“Yeah I know. The wonders of photographic memory. But soon they’ll die and I’ll have a whole other set of humans to memorize.” She said sadly.
I thought about that. It had to be difficult knowing everyone you encountered would die but you wouldn’t. It would make getting close to somebody impossible.
I went and stood by the door waiting for Diana while she checked out. I still thought it was stupid of her to buy me luggage.
She came towards me carrying a small bag. She handed it to me. I looked inside, it was just the perfume. Phew, I thought maybe she had gotten some more of the ridiculously priced items.
I went out the door and was hit with a cool breeze. I wrapped my jacket around my body tighter. I looked up at the sky. It was sunset.
We walked past two stores before I stopped in my tracks. I saw the most beautiful clothing and shoes.
“Are you coming Kylie?” asked Diana turning around to see what had happened to me.
“Can we go in here?” I asked.
“Aqua? Yeah I don’t see why not.” She shrugged.
I went in and instantly felt like I was in heaven.
I heard Diana come in behind me.
“Do you really not mind buying me stuff?” I asked still in awe. I’m sure my eyes were bugging out.
“No, I love buying other people stuff.” She said.
“Okay, be prepared. I will be getting a lot in here.” I said looking around.
I moved to a fuzzy pair of snow boots. The faux fur was light green, light blue, and white. Then there was a black pair. I loved them both. Then I saw a pair of cowboy boots in metallic green, light blue, and silver. There was another pair of cowboy boots in metallic green and bronze. I wanted them all.
“May I help you?” asked a sales lady.
“Yes you can. I want all four of these in eight and a half. I don’t know how you translate that here.” I added. “I’ll get those right away.” She said turning away in her short little black heels. I saw a pair of pumps in all different colors.
“And these in every color.” I said to her. She turned and looked. “Okay.” She said before disappearing into the back alcove of the store, where it said employees only.
“I didn’t know
you liked shoes so much.” Diana said.
“I love them!” I squealed like a five year old girl.
“Ooh.” I said noticing an aqua scarf. “I must have this.” I said picking it up.
I also picked up several different sweaters in all different colors a lime green, orange, robin’s egg blue, turquoise, and lavender. I also got plain aqua and earth green shirts. I picked three pairs of jeans. One with fake peacock feathers on the front of them. They were my favorite pair of the three. I found a cerulean jacket and added it to the pile. I also picked up and aqua belt and lavender belt. An orange jacket caught my eye and I added it to the pile.
I looked around the store. I didn’t see anything else I wanted.
“I’m ready.” I said. Diana stared at me dumbfounded.
“I was beginning to think you didn’t like shopping. Clearly, I was wrong.” She laughed. I stared at the pile of clothes in my arms. Had I really picked up all of this stuff?
“I really like they’re stuff.” I said defending myself.
“I can tell,” Diana said pulling out her wallet.
I carried the stuff to the checkout.
“Are you sure you don’t mind buying me all of this stuff?”
“Of course not Kylie. It’s fun.”
“Okay.” I said putting the stuff down on the counter.
“Is this all?” asked the checkout lady.
“No, a lady is coming with shoes,” Diana said pulling out a credit card.
“Alright, I’ll start ringing this stuff up.” She grabbed the cerulean jacket and scanned the price tag.
I glanced around the corner searching for the shoe lady. The lady came carrying nineteen boxes of shoes. Was she insane?
“Thank you.” I said as she put them down on the floor. “But it was unnecessary to carry them all at once. “You could’ve hurt yourself.” I scolded.
“No problem at all.” She said. Whatever.
It seemed like if you had enough money these people would bend over backwards for you.
The checkout lady finished.
I took some of the bags from her. I struggled to get a hold on them for I also had my two Coach bags. Diana took the three bags I couldn’t manage.
“Thanks.” I said. “No problem.” she said following me out of the store.
“Not only for carrying my bags; but for getting me this stuff. You didn’t have to do this for me. You didn’t have to buy me a thing. But I feel so much better like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. All my stress is gone.”
“Once again, no problem and your welcome. About the stress thing, shopping is a known stress reliever and you’ve had tons of stress. I don’t know how you’ve managed.” Diana said her teeth sparkling.
“Me either.”
She pulled out her car keys and unlocked the car. Diana opened the trunk and put the three Aqua bags in. I then put in the six bags I was carrying, three Aqua, and three Coach bags. As Diana was closing the trunk her cell phone began ringing. She pulled out her iPhone.
“It’s Jonathon.” She said to me as she answered the phone. I went and got in the car while she talked. I was getting cold, I was sure Diana couldn’t feel the penetrating cold.
She climbed in the car starting the engine her phone conversation over.
“Jonathon said that after Patrick came to stay with your mom he went grocery shopping. So, we don’t need to do that anymore.” She said pulling away from the curb in front of Gucci and heading towards Louis Vuitton.
She pulled right up to the front. A man was waiting out front with the luggage set. Diana rolled down the window on my side. The cold air rushed in making my face go numb.
“Put what you can in the trunk. The rest back there.” She said motioning to the back seats.
“Yes, ma’am.” He said.
It didn’t take him long to load the suitcases.
“Thanks,” said Diana leaning over me to give him a rolled up bill.
“It is my pleasure, miss.” He said taking the money and disappearing back into Louis Vuitton.
Diana pulled away from the curb and began to head home. We didn’t say anything all the way back to the house. But it wasn’t awkward silence like with my mom, it was comfortable.
We pulled into the driveway. Jonathon was sitting on the hood of his car. Apparently he had switched the motor cycle for the mustang. He hopped down and was instantly at my side opening the car door for me, ever the gentleman.
His smile was huge. He pulled me into a romantic hug.
“I missed you.” He said.
“I missed you too.” I said kissing him on the lips right in front of Diana. Again, there was the spark that made me tingle all over with pleasure.
“Did you have fun?” he asked.
“Loads.” I said brightly.
I extracted myself from him and headed to the trunk. He followed after me.
“Diana, I told you to buy Kylie stuff not yourself.” Jonathon said jokingly.
“Oh I did. All of that is hers including the luggage. This is mine.” She said motioning to the small four bag pile. I blushed embarrassed.
Jonathon grabbed a couple of bags looking around. When I turned around to look at him again he was gone. I glanced back and Diana was gone too.
Instantly they were back. They had only been gone ten seconds tops.
“Show offs.” I muttered. They both laughed as they grabbed more bags and disappeared again. They’re laughter hanging in the air.
They returned. Diana took in the last load leaving Jonathon and me alone.
Chapter Thirteen: Home
He kissed me on the lips again. I felt the spark ignite all through my body. My soul felt lighter and happier.
“I really missed you.” I said again.
“I really missed you too. Now that I’ve found you I don’t want to be without you.” He said smiling his eyes twinkling.
“I don’t want to be without you either.”
We walked towards the house side by side.
“How was my mom?” I asked casually even though I was cringing on the inside.
“She was uh . . . hungry and angry.” He said.
“Why was she angry?” I asked starting up the stairs.
Jonathon slowed to match my pace and gave me a significant look.
“Oh, me,” I said looking down at my shoes.
. “I’m sorry. She’ll go back to being her normal self. I promessa.” He said stopping and pulling me to him.
His strong arms comforted me. I felt protected.
“I’m okay.” I said, trying to convince myself more than to reassure him.
“Are you sure? I know this has to be hard.”
“Mhmm. I’m sure.”
We started back up the ancient stone steps again. My stomach chose now to growl.
“I got you some food,” Jonathon said, clearly proud of himself.
“Yeah, Diana told me,” I said.
“I can make you something,” He offered.
“You can cook?” I asked disbelieving.
“Well, no, not really. But I can try,” He said brightly.
“I’m perfectly capable of cooking myself something,” I said.
“I’ll watch and learn. Maybe one day I can cook for you.” He said holding the front door open to me. I walked in heading straight to the kitchen.
My stomach growled again, embarrassing me. With a house full of vampires, with scarily good hearing nothing went unnoticed.
Joseph was on the couch watching television. I could hear Danny and Mason arguing upstairs.
“Hungry human in the house. Watch out Jonathon she might turn on you and eat you.” Seph joked.
“Shut up Joseph,” said Jonathon. Jonathon was the most serious of the entire family; he had almost no sense of humor.
“Ah. Come on Jonathon you’re such a party pooper. I was just having fun,” said Seph.
Jonathon ignored him and kept on walking.
I stood in the kitchen dumb
founded and surprised. There was enough food to feed the people of Russia. But then what was I supposed to cook this food in?
“Um . . . Jonathon do you guys have any pots and pans?” I asked looking around the mountains of food.
“Yes, we do. We use it for show when business people come by.” He said opening a few cabinets and revealing pots and pans.
“Excellent.” I said.
I began un- bagging the food.
I glanced over my shoulder at Jonathon.
“Can you help me?”
“Oh, yes I can.” He said shaking his head as if to snap himself back into reality. He moved towards the island. He grabbed a paper bag and began unloading the contents. There was so much food I was in shock. Jonathon must have purchased everything in the store.
After a good fifteen minutes everything was unloaded and sorted on the granite counter top. I began by putting the refrigerated and freezer items in first. Then I put everything else in cabinets by my own specifications. It took another good fifteen to twenty minutes to do that. I was very meticulous. I stood with my hands on my hips staring around the kitchen. Yep, everything was where it needed to be.
My stomach growled again even louder. It sounded like there was a monster in my stomach.
I took out a skillet and placed it on one of the burners on the stainless steel oven. I’d go simple and make an egg sandwich.
After I finished I grabbed my plate and headed to the table. Jonathon was already sitting there waiting for me.
“You work like a robot.” He said jokingly.
“Do not.” I said taking a bite if egg sandwich.
“Are you kidding me? I thought you were going to hyperventilate if you didn’t put that sandwich together to your liking.” He said. I blushed a deep shade of red; I felt my face become extremely warm.
“So, I haven’t seen any coffins. Where are you hiding them?” I asked jokingly but truly curious.
I heard a big booming laugh come from the living room.
“Coffins! Good one!” Seph yelled still struggling to control his laughter in the other room. I noticed Jonathon was laughing too. At the look on my face he stopped. I was horrified and ready to cry.
“Oh, you were serious.” He said trying to hide a grin that was concealing a laugh ready to escape his lips. At this comment Seph started laughing again. Great, I was so happy I could bring so much laughter to the family.
Fallen (Fallen Series Book 1) Page 11
