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“There’s a Fred Meyer up the way.”

“That might be more my speed.”

That was how they ended up there. She gazed longingly at a couple of the nightstands, because it would be a nice thing to have to put her books on. But she didn’t say anything. She found a section with some nice summer dresses, and some pairs of cute leggings, and she decided to try them on. She didn’t own any dresses. And she would’ve said that she didn’t want to show her legs, not in any circumstances, because they were usually knobby and not unlike a scarecrow’s.

But she was pleasantly surprised when she took in her reflection. She had filled out quite a bit, and she looked... feminine. She was clean, and while there was no real shape to her haircut, her blond hair was glossy now. Her blue eyes brighter.

The scab on her chin was healed.

Her skin looked clear and... She was smiling. She couldn’t even remember making the decision to smile.

She came out of the dressing room, and decided she was going to buy all of the things that she had. It was nearly one hundred dollars’ worth of things, quite a few items and a lot of it was on clearance. She swallowed hard. One hundred dollars was just so much money.

But she had earned it.

She didn’t see Daughtry, so she went to the check stand and paid for her clothes. When she still couldn’t find him, she crept out of the store and looked for his truck. And there she saw him. Loading some big things into the bed of the truck.

“Where were you?”

“I decided I had some purchases of my own to make,” he said.

She hopped up on the back tire and looked in the bed. The nightstand was in there. Her heart thumped painfully against her chest. There was also a bed-in-a-bag set, and a desk and a chair.

“What’s all this?”

“It’s for your room. I thought it was a little bit threadbare.”

“I’m not staying,” she said.

But now she thought maybe tomorrow wouldn’t be a great time to leave because he had just bought all this stuff, and that was pretty nice.

It hurt, though. And she couldn’t quite figure out why. He was a sucker. A sap. He was doing too much for her. And she hadn’t asked him to.

She got into the truck, and was annoyed at where her shoulder strap crossed her breasts. Because her chest felt so damned sore.

“Did you find some things?”

“Yes,” she said.

“You’re happy with—”

“Let’s listen to music,” she said.

And she let country songs fill the cab of the truck instead of words, because it was easier. Because she really wasn’t used to spending much time with anybody. She had done quite a bit of spending time with people these past weeks. Tonight there was only going to be more of it. That was her excuse. It wasn’t really to do with just how much Daughtry had affected her with his purchase.

She regretted, a little bit, not buying makeup as she got ready for the town hall meeting, but she put on a pair of white sneakers that she had bought, and a floral dress. And she looked... cute. She didn’t quite know what to do with that thought.

She had never really given much thought to being a woman. Except that it was an inconvenience. Because it made her a target in a very specific way. It made her physically weaker than she would like to be; it made things difficult.

Right then... she thought of what she had told him, all those weeks ago. She would go to a dance. Maybe there would be dancing at the party.

She swallowed hard, her throat getting tight.

You would think she should be used to all this by now. To being here. The things being... unusual. Different.

Whatever.

She stepped out of the bedroom, and when she saw Daughtry standing in the living room, she stopped dead in her tracks.