"Well, she better be sophisticated. Because I have no bloody idea what I’m doing with this computer that we’re about to purchase," George laughed.
"How long are you planning on staying, then?" Alec inquired.
I looked at him and tried to gauge his tone. Was he being sincere? Or did he want to know when he would be rid of me? I couldn’t tell. I knew from last night that he apparently didn’t trust me. Luckily, Helen answered.
"Hopefully, for a while…" She looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back, and George gave me a thumbs up.
"A few weeks, maybe a few months. It just depends," I explained, with no emotion.
"On what? Don’t you have some hot shot job back in L.A.?" Alec’s tone was definitely irritated. He wasn’t curious. He wanted to know how long he’d have to put up with me. He went from playful to annoyed so quickly. How was that possible?
"Alec, please! Be polite," Helen scolded.
"I’m sorry, I just have a hard time believing that a beautiful woman would want to stay here voluntarily, when she probably has so much going for her back home. There has to be a reason." He was being feisty. I turned red at the word “beautiful”, but it was essentially used to insult me, so my blush quickly faded into slight anger. Well, if he wanted feisty, I would give him feisty. I turned to face him.
"For your information, I absolutely love it here, and I’ve loved it from the moment I arrived. I consider myself lucky to be here. And no, I don’t have a job to go back to in L.A., which is probably a good thing, because I’m now realizing it was a really shitty job to begin with. I’m glad to be done with it." I purposely left out the Harry situation; that could be explained later, if he was lucky enough to get to know me, that is. At this point, I wasn’t sure if he deserved to get to know me.
Everyone fell silent, and Alec nodded slowly. Helen looked at George, and I could tell what they were thinking. Tommy had told them the full story. I mean, not the full story, but I’d told Tommy that my husband had left me and, in reality, that was the truth; the only truth about why I was here. We all rode the rest of the way in silence. I’d never picked out a CD, so the road against the tires gave us the only soundtrack for our trip into town.
The road started to accumulate more cars, and the scenery became less rural. I started to see chain grocery stores and hotels. I guessed this was Welsh suburbia. We drove further into Swansea. I started to see small villages with restaurants, and pretty soon we were in traffic. Tremendously light traffic by Los Angeles standards, but nevertheless, we were at a standstill. I realized I had no idea where Helen and George were from.
"Are you from Swansea?" I asked them, facing Helen so as to block out Alec. If he was going to be rude, he had no business being a part of the conversation. George answered.
"Oh no, we’re actually both from Cardiff. But we’ve been running the Parc for twenty-nine years, since we were married. My uncle Thomas, who was born and raised in Swansea like my father, heard about an opening here, so he got me a position as part of the kitchen staff. You see, back then it was much busier. We had over fifty guests some nights! I worked my way up, and Helen helped with various tasks. The owner passed twenty years ago and naturally we took over."
"Our three daughters were raised here, in the house we own down the street from the Parc," Helen explained. George had mentioned his oldest daughter last night.
"Where are your daughters now?" I wondered if they were still around.
"Oh, they flew the coop as soon as they turned eighteen!" Helen chuckled. "Diana is our oldest. She’s actually in New York City. She works for various magazines as a freelance writer. She’s twenty-seven. Catharine is twenty-five, and she’s currently in France as an au pair. And our youngest, Grace, is studying history in York, England."
"We raised three very independent women," George chirped, like any proud papa would. I smiled. I could tell they both loved their daughters very much.
"Do you see them often?"
"We see Grace and Catharine more than Diana, because they’re in Europe.
"We certainly don’t see them enough," Helen sniffed. "I would’ve loved it if they had stayed in Swansea, but I also understand the need to find your place in this world. They certainly have the travel bug."
"I get that," I offered. "I’d love to meet them one day."
We drove onto a main street where shops lined the one-lane road. I saw teahouses, hardware stores, restaurants, inns, clothing stores, art stores, pubs, and anything else one could need in town. Alec kept going, past where I thought we would need to be stopping. I looked back, thinking maybe he missed a pull-off, but I quickly realized the computer store was on the outskirts of town, on the other side. Another few minutes went by before we pulled up to a huge electronics store called Maplin. It was as big as a Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
We hopped out. Alec tried to take my hand to help me out, but I refused. We walked towards the entrance. I looked around, and there was almost nothing around except for a Burger King. I felt a blast of air as we walked inside, and I was greeted with such bright lights I almost had to shield my eyes. A store employee greeted us.
"Hello, welcome to Maplin Electronics. What can I help you to find today?" The store associate was redheaded and freckly. I sympathized.
"We need to purchase a computer," George answered.
The store associate waited for George to continue. I guessed people were usually more specific.
"Ok… Do you need a desktop? Laptop? PC, or Mac?"
George looked at him helplessly. I stepped in.
"Probably a desktop PC, nothing too fancy. We don’t need a lot of memory or RAM, just something they can use for Twitter and email."
"Got it." He led us to the computer section, and pointed to a few different desktops. They all looked the same to me, but each one had different features. I could tell he was trying to sell us one of the more expensive models.
"Look, we don’t need all of that. We just need something easy, cheap and simple."
He then reluctantly took us over to the "university" section, most commonly used by poor students. I found the cheapest desktop they had, and pretty soon we were all checking out. Helen and George guffawed at each other when he totaled up the price, and they handed over their card reluctantly. I smiled, reassuring them that I knew what I was doing. If I was good at anything, it was shopping for good deals.
We walked back out and into the sunny parking lot. Alec opened up his truck and we piled in, this time with a big box on the floor beneath our feet.
"Charlotte, you were great in there," Helen mused. "We obviously have no idea what we’re doing!" She and George chuckled, and patted the box on the floor. "This is the most exciting purchase we’ve ever made! Thank you, thank you so much!" She hugged me as we drove off, and I felt all warm and tingly inside. I was so glad they were happy. I realized that seeing them happy made me happy too, and anything I could do to make them happy would suit me just fine.
"So… we're headed into town, right?" Alec had stayed silent the entire time in the store, only looking around nervously and sticking his hands in his pants pockets.
"I think so. Helen and I have some errands to run, and I believe Charlotte needed a coat and proper boots," George said, gesturing to my “impractical” brown booties. They weren’t heeled – I couldn’t do heels except for special occasions – but these were suede and they definitely were not practical for the wet weather here. "Alec, why don’t you show Charlotte where the shopping is, and Helen and I will meet up with you two afterwards, unless you have errands to run as well…" George trailed off. I saw a twinkle in his eye. That scoundrel; I knew exactly what he was up to. He smiled at us both before taking Helen’s hand and kissing it. They were a sickeningly cute couple.
"I need to run by the feed store to pick up some things for the horses. But other than that, I can show her around, I guess." Alec looked over at me with annoyance. I couldn’t believe his audacity. He was truly not holding back. I felt as thoug
h a "gentleman," as he so kindly referred to himself last night, should hide his feelings, but he did not. It was all out there in the open.
"I’m sure I can find my own way, but thank you for your kind offer," I added, derisively. I didn’t need his help anyhow. I was really good with directions. I could find my way around.
"No, dear, I insist Alec show you around. These streets can get kind of tricky. It’s best to go with a local," Helen quipped.
I sat there like a petulant child whose parents were fighting over me. On the one hand, Alec didn’t seem to want to take me, but Helen and George insisted. I felt like I was about to be forced into a play date I didn’t want to go on. I had no choice, though. I’d be stuck with Alec for a good couple of hours.
We pulled into a small parking lot in the center of town, and the white noise of a busy street echoed all around me. It felt nice to be in a highly populated area again, after being in such a rural area. Helen and George quickly scampered off before we could protest our arrangement. I looked over at Alec, who had his hands in his pockets, and I walked ahead of him towards the shops on the busy street. He could follow me if he wanted. I stopped in front of a shoe store and peered in. This might be OK, I thought, as I spotted some wellies in the window.
"Mind if I stop in here for a minute?" I asked just to be courteous, but continued on into the store before he replied. He seemed to be OK with it because he followed me in and sat on a chair with a couple of other men. I was checking out the rubber wellies when one of the store employees approached me.
"Can I help you, miss?"
"Yes, you can actually. Thank you. I’ve arrived in Wales totally unprepared, and I need a good outdoor shoe. It will have to be versatile, as I’m on a budget. I need something that is waterproof and also something I can clean easily because of the mud. I’m not doing any kind of hiking, so it doesn’t have to be fancy."
"Hmmm…" He looked around at the various selections on the wall. "Here, try this," he suggested, picking up a green wellie exactly like I’d worn horseback riding. "What size?"
"Seven. Thanks!"
"UK size?"
"Ummm…" I had no idea. I shrugged. He nodded and went to get the foot measure. I stepped into it.
"Ah, you’re a UK 5. I’ll be right back," and he went into the back to get a pair for me to try on.
I walked over to Alec. He was looking around, not paying attention. I wondered what he had planned for his day. Certainly not this, I was sure.
"Thanks for coming with me," I said quietly. "If you have stuff to do, you can go. I saw a clothing store a few doors down, so I can kill some time there. I can meet you back at the car in an hour or so."
"It’s fine, I don’t mind," he sighed. His tone clearly said otherwise.
"Really, I’ll be fine," I insisted. I couldn’t put up with his sour attitude any longer.
"It’s fine. I can’t leave you alone anyways. You’ll get lost."
Whatever.
The sales associate came back with a box and I tried on the boots, which fit perfectly. I paid for them and Alec and I left. We stayed silent as we walked along the street, towards the clothing store. I’d never been shopping with a man before. Harry had never accompanied me on any shopping trips; it wasn’t his thing. I wasn’t quite sure how to act. First of all, it really seemed like Alec did not want to be here. Second, he hadn’t said a word, so I had no idea what he was thinking. The only kind gesture he'd made was taking my shopping bag and carrying it for me. I guess that was awfully nice of him, I admitted to myself hesitantly.
"I was just going to pop in and grab a heavier jacket. I only brought this one," I said, pointing to the thin, fitted canvas military jacket I had on.
"Take your time."
As we got inside, he sat down in a chair near the entrance. I walked along the racks, caressing the heavy, wool coats. They all had classic silhouettes, and I slowly walked by, touching them. Every coat here was soft and luxurious. I picked through the rack until I found a navy blue pea coat. I tried it on. It was very plush and warm. It fit perfectly, framing my small shoulders and puffing out a bit mid-thigh. It was nice. I turned toward Alec, and he looked up at me.
"I hate it," he said bluntly. "That’ll get you nowhere when there’s a rainstorm. You need something waterproof."
"Well, I like it." I turned toward the mirror and turned around in a circle, admiring the fabric. I checked the price tag. OK, maybe not. Whoa. I slowly slipped it off and returned it to the rack. "That is WAY out of my price range." I walked over to Alec, who was smiling.
"I’m telling you, a parka is what you need. You don’t need this wool crap," he said, a little too loudly. The saleswoman glared at him. "Let me take you to another place down the road. You may be good at buying computers," he said as he stood, "but I am good at buying outdoor gear."
We walked outside. I felt that familiar sad tug I always got when I walked away from the perfect article of clothing, usually because it was way out of my budget. It was like the leather jacket I’d once found in New York City that cost more than my mortgage, or the red stilettos I passed up at Sak’s that cost the same amount as my first (used) car. I knew the smart financial decision was to walk away, but shopping had always been slightly addictive to me.
Alec took my hand as we quickly wound through the busy alleys, turning left, then right, then left, then left, then right. I could definitely see how I might get lost out here. Alec never once let go of my hand, which I appreciated because he was a very fast walker. I struggled to keep up. The streets got less crowded, and soon we were walking along a narrow, secluded back alley. We walked up to a nondescript door, and Alec pulled it open. A rush of warm air greeted us as we stepped inside. I looked around and realized we were in a giant sporting goods store. I wondered where the front door was, because surely this couldn’t be the front door.
"You’ll want a jacket from over here," he said, gesturing to what looked to be snow gear.
I nodded, and headed over. My stomach dropped. All of this stuff was so ugly. It was all black and grey. If I was going to invest in a puffy jacket, I wanted something a little cuter. Navy blue was my color of choice, or even teal, but black and grey made me seem so drab because of my pale skin. I conceded, and decided I would try a few on. My nightmare was confirmed. I chose a small, which was still too big on me. I looked like I was swimming in it. The ribbed puffs made me seem fifty pounds heavier than I actually was. I turned to face Alec.
"What do you think about this one?"
"It’s nice. A little big, but that’s OK, because you’ll want to layer. And if not, it’s not like you’re trying to impress anyone, right?" He smiled a cocky smile, and my stomach did another little flutter.
I tried on a few more, and much to my surprise, I found one that I actually kind of liked. It was made of some sort of reflective thermal blanket inside, so it was much less bulky than the others. It was long, coming down almost to my knees, and it cinched in at the waist so it gave me a shape, at least. It had a big hood (my favorite) and giant pockets in front. The best part was that I found a small in navy. I decided it was a sign, and I bought it. Alec liked it, too. He said it brought out my hazel eyes.
We walked out and I checked my new cheap watch. I’d picked it up near the cash register in the store, to be able to tell time. I relied on my phone in Los Angeles, and I needed a way to tell time when I was out and about here. It was blue rubber, waterproof, and it calculated my heart rate as well, which could only be helpful, in my mind.
We walked back onto the main street, and I was more aware of Alec holding my hand this time around. He seemed to want to protect me, or shield me. I knew he was just guiding me, and since I tended to walk slowly, he was pulling me along. He’d been pretty pleasant for the last hour or so. I couldn’t complain.
Alec turned quickly and walked down another small alley. Another nondescript door later, and we were in a farm store. I followed him around as he grabbed various items for the horses, none
of which I knew the name of. He was quick and efficient, barely stopping in the aisles as he grabbed what he needed. We walked up to the check stand and when the total came up on the screen, he threw down forty pounds.
"I don’t need change, thanks," he assured the sales associate. He took our bags, my hand, and walked out. It took all of four minutes. I still wanted to pick up a few more clothing items, such as a scarf and maybe another sweater. I kept an eye out for a clothing store.
As we walked hand in hand, I realized that we probably looked like a couple to others walking on the street. I looked up at him. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel. I mean, I was still technically married, and just nine days ago I'd been having sex with my husband. And now, here I was in Wales, holding the hand of a very tall, very handsome man with an accent. Alec unquestionably juxtaposed Harry, who was also tall but had light features, like his blue eyes and blond hair. Harry had rosy cheeks, whereas Alec was darker and tanned from working outside so much.
I stopped suddenly, looking into a small lingerie boutique. I used to love browsing lingerie boutiques, and this one was absolutely stunning. I peered into the window, unclasping my hand from Alec, and not caring about what he thought of me staring at a bunch of half-naked mannequins. I’d always had a thing for a beautifully crafted brassier or corset, and the underwear I actually owned unfortunately paled in comparison. I was all talk. I’d never actually wear anything like that. But it was fun to look at. In another lifetime, I would’ve been a great lingerie designer. I felt Alec watching me, and soon, he walked over.
"Listen, I’m sorry about last night."
"You should be." I turned to face him. He placed an arm beside me, leaning on the shop window and blocking me in. He was very close to me now. That feeling alone was enough to make me hyperventilate.
"I don’t normally drink that much," he explained, running his other hand through his hair and scrunching up his face in deep thought. "You bring something out in me. I can’t explain it." He looked down at me with bedroom-y eyes.
The Foretelling (Charlotte Bloom #1) Page 13
