And more important, was Antonio a Morgan? Jack showed her a picture on his phone with the cracked screen and sure enough it was the Antonio she’d just met. She took his phone and said, “That’s him. How do you know him, Jack?”
Her best friend stared at her like she was crazy and said, “The Morgans are world-wide celebrities with local connections. How did you not know?”
She’d never connected the magazine covers in the front of the store to actual real life people she’d meet in the aisles. Clearly she should have. She trembled, but covered it by placing the truck on the shelf. “He’s never been in my store.”
Jack lined the teddy bears up. “You live in an alternate universe.” They’d just finished the first aisle when high heels clipped behind her. Jack glanced over his shoulder and said, “Oh, look…Linda wants you.”
Now shewasin a surreal universe…her stepsister had no use for her. Charlotte joined her stepsister in the main aisle as some older customers pushed their carts passed them. Linda was tall, skinny, and had piercing blue eyes. Mickey's were brown like her mother's but way softer, and she was ten pounds heavier than Nancy wished. “Charlotte?”
This was about to turn into an accusation, she could tell by the tone. Charlotte tensed. “Yes, Linda.”
Linda tapped her foot like her mother but the heel made more of a clink because of the metal tip. “Security footage shows you talking to Antonio Morgan.”
Her heart raced. Linda shouldn’t intimidate her but Charlotte didn’t like confrontation. She lifted her chin. “I had no idea who he was. Jack literally just told me.”
Linda rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t. What did he want?”
Good. Charlotte took a deep breath, realizing she’d diffused the situation, and pushed her hands in her back pockets, her right touching Antonio’s phone. “Water, and directions to the gas station.”
Linda leaned in and Charlotte feared she knew about the phone. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“How?” She braced against anything mean and shrugged. “I don’t have a phone. Too expensive.”
Linda glanced at the ceiling like she did when she wanted to pronounce Charlotte a total disaster and then stared straight at her. “Right. Well, did you notice anything interesting about him?”
Charlotte met Linda’s eyes and was certain she’d hate her words. “He likes to read Albert Camus.”
Linda didn’t even blink. Most people did, but Linda, she had a gaze that made the skin jump when she stared at someone too long. She’d inherited her mother’s ability to pin with a look. “Boring. Anything else?”
Her mind raced to things about Antonio that he’d be okay sharing. Common knowledge stuff. “He’s here on family business. Today he said he was late and in a hurry.”
Linda tapped her cheek like she’d just said something interesting. Charlotte’s stomach churned when Linda asked, “Family business in Pittsburgh?”
Oh no. That wasn’t common knowledge, but she lifted her shoulders and said, “I don’t know. He didn’t explain.”
Her stepsister turned to flounce off while she waved at her and said, “Useless as always, Charlotte.”
Her heels clicked on the linoleum and Charlotte went back to straighten the next aisle with Jack. He asked, “What did she want?”
The phone in her back pocket beeped as she picked up a ball and said, “To talk about Antonio.”
His gaze narrowed. “What’s that?”
She cringed and put the ball back in the bin as she avoided her friend and said, “Nothing.”
Jack's muscles were a wall that blocked out the world…he made her feel goosebumps like they were the only people in the universe. “Do you have a phone?”
Her hair stood on end. “What? No.”
Another beep went off and she couldn’t look away from Jack’s blue hues when he pressed his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, you do.”
Right. Jack was the only person she’d even think about telling the truth to. She swallowed. “It’s not mine exactly. It’s Antonio's.”
Charlotte removed it from her pocket and showed him.
He took the phone out of its black leather case and whistled when he read the model number. He put it together and handed it back. “How do you have that?”
She tucked it out of sight in her pocket so her stepfamily didn’t see it. “He lent it to me. I’m to give it back this weekend.”
