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Maddie ignored the slight pang in her chest.
She wanted Saff towantto go. But that confirmed it. Whatever small amount of feelings had formed in her throughout their time together, Saff definitely didn’t share them. That much was abundantly clear.
“Great,” Maddie replied, trying her best to match Saff’s indifferent tone. “Then we’ll go our separate ways like none of this ever happened.”
The words had the intended effect. Saff said nothing more after that. She didn’t even so much as speak a single word for the next two hours that they walked. And that’s exactly what Maddie needed. She needed to stop hearing her voice. She needed to stop thinking about her—aboutthem—and the unreciprocated feelings that had formed.
She needed to think of only herself.
And that’s what she did for the rest of the walk. Until finally, Saff did speak again.
“We’re here.”
***
Maddie navigated her way down the aisle of the small sporting goods store, crossing her cane back and forth on the floor in front of her. Somewhere close by, she could hear items shifting as Saff presumably went through them.
“What kind of clothes do you want?” Saff muttered.
Maddie had thought about that and everything else she’d need during the last leg of their walk. “A hoodie,” she answered, letting her fingers graze a rack of clothes on her left. “And pants. Hiking pants or something if they have them. If they don’t, then sweats.”
She stopped beside the rack her left hand was on and leaned her cane against her hip, letting both hands run down the clothesthat hung there. The fabric felt thick, and when she moved her hand up to the top, she could feel a hood.
She pulled it off the rack and held it up against her chest, running her hand down to check how low the bottom hung against her. It stopped above her hips.
She returned it to the rack, feeling for a larger size.
“There’s hiking pants and sweats over here,” Saff said from behind her. “You want both?”
Maddie picked a larger hoodie off the rack as she muttered, “Sure.”
Repeating the process, she held it up against her and checked the length. This one went down past her hips and an inch or two onto her thighs. It might have been a little too big, but that was better than the alternative.
She tucked it beneath her arm and continued ambling around the store.
“I grabbed some other stuff I thought you might want,” Saff said, coming up beside her.
“Thanks,” Maddie replied flatly, running her hand along the nearest shelf.
“Is that the hoodie you want?” Saff asked.
Maddie paused and lowered her hand, resting it against the hanger tucked beneath her arm. “Yeah, I guess. It feels fine.”
Saff fell quiet, then Maddie heard her shuffling through some items nearby. After a moment, she returned, clearing her throat. And for a second, Maddie swore she sounded slightly awkward or nervous in some way.
“Here,” she said, touching an item to Maddie's hand. “It's the same. Just—a little different.”
She was about to ask why she needed a different one if it was basically the same, but she didn't really care that much. She also trusted Saff enough to take what she thought was best.
“Okay,” she replied, letting go of the one beneath her arm and replacing it with the one in Saff’s hand.
“There's a grocery store in the building next to us,” Saff said. “I want to go there next and see what's left.”
Maddie nodded and held her hand out as Saff quickly hooked her arm around it, then led them outside. She pushed her sunglasses back onto her face just as they stepped out into the bright light. The heat of the sun beat down on the side of her face, contrasted by a cool breeze that wafted through her loose strands of hair.
Saff turned them to the left, striding for the next store. And this time Maddie decided to stay by her side, rather than go searching on her own. There wasn't anything left that she really needed, anyway.
Every so often, Saff would stop them and remove her backpack to load something in. Then once or twice she loaded something into Maddie’s backpack as well.