“Long enough to feed Loretta, figure out Uber, and head for Granny’s place,” Jax calculated.
“She doesn’t have a credit card for Uber.”
“Loretta does. Go eat lunch with them. I’m going to touch base with Roark. If you see they’re heading for trouble, let me know. We can be there in an hour.”
“Yeah, drag Gator Man outta his funk and put him to work. I’m on that, boss.” Reuben clicked off.
Jax wasn’t Reuben’s boss anymore. He wasn’t anyone’s boss. They were all having difficulty adjusting to civilian life and domesticity.
That didn’t mean he wanted to return to the military and blow things up. But nine to five didn’t suit any of them.
He started researching elder fraud. It didn’t hurt to keep his hand in.
* * *
“You havea good eye for what works for you,” the salesperson cooed as Loretta emerged from the dressing room.
Evie translated that toYou look like a Goth rocker from a 90s horror flick, but I have bills to pay.
Well-attuned to lies, Loretta turned to Evie for confirmation of her choice.
Evie held up a silky T-shirt with sparkles. “I’d go with red and black, or maybe even more daring, pink and black, for the wow factor. But you know me, I like color. And if you want torn jeans, we can buy them at the thrift store.” And donate the enormous difference in price.
Evie found tight black capris with sparkly blue designs at the hem and added them to the stack. “No one will have anything like these.”
“They won’t go with red or pink.” Loretta marched determinedly to the shirt rack for her size. “This will. This rocks.” She pulled out a glittery blue tank top.
Evie mentally punched the air. The kid was finally becoming a kid and not a boarding school escapee. “Not colorful, but it goes with your dark hair.” And Loretta’s pansy-blue, indigo-child eyes, another place Evie wasn’t going in front of the sales clerk.
After a little more trial and error, Loretta emerged from the shop with two casual school outfits and one nice Sunday dress—in navy, with silver stars.
“Shoes. I need shoes now.” Loretta skipped eagerly along the shopping street.
“Food. I need food now. We’ll look up shoe styles and stores while we eat.” Evie led her to a café she’d already looked up, one high on organics and low on grease. This parenting business wasn’t too difficult with Google as friend.
“Combat boots!” Loretta crowed over her chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun, scrolling through a website. “In red!”
“Kiss is dead, or should be,” Evie muttered, doing a hasty search. “High tops, in any color you want. They won’t weigh you down if you have to run.”
“Didn’t think of that.” Loretta went back to scrolling.
“Hey look, the grouch has found us.” Evie waved at Reuben, looking very cosmopolitan in his blazer and man bun.
He placed his order at the to-go counter, then sauntered over to join them. “You win. Old ladies ain’t me.”
“Whereas old ladies are my bread and butter. The bad guysstealingfrom old ladies are you. We’re learning.” Evie nibbled at her tomato and mozzarella panini. She needed to buy some of this yummy cheese to use at home. “We’re buying shoes first. Can you stand it?”
“They got my size? I been told my military dress ain’t socially acceptable.” Reuben swiped Loretta’s untouched water glass and drained it.
Evie showed him the website for the discount store where Loretta had found the shoes she wanted. “I think there’s an outlet nearby.”
“Yeah, that works. I’m not dishing out my savings for pricey stuff.” He nodded at Loretta. “You’re a smart bubble witch. At those prices, you can have a pair in every color.”
Loretta beamed. The kid needed family to help her learn normal—well, as normal as Evie and Company could be.
When Reuben’s lunch was ready, they paid their bill and, carrying Loretta’s bags, ambled to the van. As he drove them to the shopping center containing the shoe store, Evie scrolled through the notes and photos he’d taken. Granny’s fake identity addresses were unexceptional to the point of boring. They still had time to explore more. Or go to Granny’s.
An hour later, they emerged from the shoe store carrying three more bags.