“Come over here, Charlotte. I want to see what you bought.”
This man never did what I expected him to. I was ready to explain myself and had the words ready to go, but his request to look at my purchases caught me off guard.
I picked up my bags from where I’d set them on the dining room table and made my way into the living room, sitting down in the chair across from Tobin.
“Go on,” he urged when I didn’t know what to do next. “I want to see what you bought.”
“Oh, okay.” I pulled the first bag between my feet and pulled out the jeans that fit like a glove. “Uh, so, I got these jeans.”
I held them up and looked at Tobin for the first time since I sat down. He glanced at the jeans for only a second before returning to me.
“Why did you buy those? Do you need new jeans?” Though his questions could have come out accusatory and demeaning, they didn’t. He wanted to hear my answers.
“Well, they fit really well, and your mom said they looked fantastic on me. It’s hard to find jeans that fit me cause I’m so short and petite.”
All that was true, but it felt disingenuous.
“That makes sense.” He nodded. “But do you need them?”
I shook my head. “No, and I wouldn’t normally spend one hundred and fifty dollars on jeans.”
“Wow. That is quite a lot of money for one pair of pants.”
“I know. I’ll return them. They’re too much and I have plenty of other jeans I can wear.”
“I think that’s a wise decision,” he said. “What else did you buy?”
Next out of the bag was the sweater I tried on with the jeans. It was dark purple and had a draped neckline that added some interest in the chest area, camouflaging my lack of boobs. I held it up and waited for his reaction.
“That’s pretty. Is that why you bought it?”
“Yes. I thought it went well with the jeans. But I also don’t need this and will return it.” I tried to hide the hint of sadness in my voice, but it was hard. The outfit was really cute, and I was hoping to wear it on a date with Tobin in the fall.
“How much was the sweater?” he asked.
I sighed. “Too much. Seventy-five dollars.”
“So, if you return both you’ll get back two hundred and twenty-five dollars?” he asked, clearly shocked at the total. I didn’t blame him.
“Plus tax,” I added. “I don’t normally spend so much money on clothes.”
His forehead furrowed and he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Why did you buy these, then? If you normally wouldn’t have spent that much, what made you do it today?”
I thought carefully about how I wanted to word what I said next so I didn’t sound like I was shifting the blame, but I took too long.
“Charlotte.” That one word spoke volumes and the warning note in his voice had me rushing to answer.
My words tumbled out, all smushed together and running into each other. “I’m not trying to blame your mother because I’m a grown woman and I should have been more firm, but she picked the outfit out after I told her I was just going to browse in that store and then pushed me to try it on and then told me it was perfect for me and I should treat myself. Then she brought the owner of the store over, who she’s apparently friends with, and they both told me I should buy it, and I was too embarrassed to tell them I couldn’t afford it. Especially after your mom told the woman I was the owner of a successful marketing business and the woman seemed interested in hiring me, and I just didn’t know what to do.”
I slapped my hands over my eyes, not wanting to see Tobin’s reaction to my diarrhea of the mouth and sucked in air once I finished.
“Charlotte,” he called, softly, “look at me.”
I peeked through my fingers and found him watching me with a soft grin, so I let out the breath I was holding and lowered my hands.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I really like your mother, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.”
“She likes you, too, and you wouldn’t have disappointed her. But you also shouldn’t have to disclose personal financial information to get someone to stop pressuring you into doing something you’ve said no to. I’ll be speaking to her and my father about that.”
Oh, no.
“I don’t want to cause problems between you two,” I cried. “Please don’t say anything.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you tell her you didn’t want to shop at that store?”
I could only nod in response.
“And did you tell her and her friend that you didn’t want to purchase that outfit?”
I nodded again but added, “I don’t want her to be mad at me, though.”
He leaned forward and softened his gaze again. “Charlotte, you are not causing problems and she will not be mad. She peer-pressured you into doing something you didn’t want to do and made you break one of your rules. When she finds out, she’s going to feel terrible.”
“She knows. I told her when we were talking in the truck when we got back.”
“Then I’m sure she’s probably already confessed to my father, and it’s been handled, or will be shortly.”
I looked at him, aghast at the thought that Allison was, right this very minute, being punished for my bad choices.
“Don’t look so worried. My mother is known to be pushy when she thinks she’s right. I don’t get in their business, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the main things that gets her in trouble.” He paused, then redirected us back to my bags of bad decisions. “What else did you buy? Keep going.”
I put the jeans and sweater back in their bag and pulled over another. In it was a super cute dress I found on clearance for only twenty dollars and a pair of tights that was also on sale. I showed Tobin both and explained how they were a good deal. The last bag held an assortment of small items from the same boutique that stocked Kenny’s goat milk products.
“I spent about thirty dollars in this store on a few different things.” Tobin nodded but didn’t comment further. “I got this magnet for your fridge that says ‘Coffee then Cows’. And I got one for Kenny that says ‘Relax I’ve Goat This’.”
I held each one up for a second and then put them both back in the bag.
“Then I got you these socks with cows on them. I don’t know if you’ll ever wear them, and that’s okay, but I thought they were funny.” I held them out towards him. “See, it’s a bunch of cows and it says ‘Herd That’. Isn’t it funny?”
Tobin didn’t laugh so I put them away and brought out the last item.
“And I know it’s stupid because Kenny would sell me this at cost but I like to support her business and pay retail prices so she makes a few dollars off me.”
“Is that one of Kenny’s scrubs?” he asked, quietly. He was sitting back, his arms crossed over his chest, and he looked more annoyed than before.
“Yeah. I’m almost out at home.” I offered my lame excuse and then put the jar back in the bag.
“And all that was only thirty bucks?”