Page 87 of The Restoration Program

The mother froze when she spotted Nicole on the front of the cart. “Oh, my god,” she breathed.

Nicole stiffened, unsure if she was about to be called a demon or praised for her bravery. Suddenly, the woman’s expression might have matched her son’s in its wonder.

“I’ve never seen a NüPrint before.” The woman fumbled for her phone and turned to Darlene. “Can I take a picture of her? My neighbors will never believe this!”

“Why are you asking me?” Darlene asked coldly. She tried to push forward, but the woman blocked her.

“Sorry, sorry.” The woman flashed Nicole a sheepish smile. “Just one picture, would that be alright?”

Meanwhile, her kid was still babbling questions about where he could get a doll like her. The overlapping voices made Nicole’s skin crawl.

“No, thanks.”

“It won’t take but a second.” The woman opened her camera app and pointed the phone at Nicole. “Can you move a little to the right? The bar is blocking you.”

“I saidno,” Nicole snapped.

That was all the warning she had before the woman reached for her. Luckily, Darlene snatched her wrist before she came anywhere near Nicole.

“What the hell, lady?” Darlene huffed.

“I’m not a prop for you to pose!” Nicole was on her feet in an instant, though there was nowhere to run. A tremble entered her body.

Her new stance apparently provided the perfect angle. The camera shutter went off. The woman quickly pocketed her phone, took her son by the shoulder, and began to lead him away like nothing had happened.

“Hello?” Nicole shouted, blood heating. The woman didn’t turn. “Nice fucking example you’re setting for your kid!”

The woman stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder as if she had been slapped. To Nicole’s ire, her eyes darted up to Darlene. “She should watch her language! How is anybody going to support this NüPrint business if people like her are so touchy?”

“Are you kidding me?” Darlene looked ready to close the distance and throttle her, but she white-knuckled the cart handle instead. “She has every right to be pissed off with the shit you just pulled!”

As the argument continued back and forth over her head, Nicole stood there with her chest heaving. She shook worse than ever. It dawned on her that fear wasn’t rattling her anymore.

She wasfurious.

“Karma’s a bitch!” Nicole shouted to be heard. “So I suggest you watch your back if you don’t want to end up just like me.”

If the woman wasn’t oozing inflamed self-entitlement before, she certainly was now. Within minutes, she had security breathing down Darlene’s neck. Although the idea that a ten-inch-tall person could threaten anyone was laughable, neither Nicole nor Darlene had any interest in arguing against leaving the department store.

Darlene ushered Nicole into her hands. With the argument at its end, Nicole’s adrenaline deflated. Tears pricked her eyes. Her hard blinks were obvious, but Darlene had the grace not to coddle her. She simply brushed her thumb over the back of Nicole’s hand comfortingly.

As they made their exit from the store, the stares and whispers came back with a vengeance. Sneers that saidlittle freak. Pouts that saidpoor thing. Every look weighed her down just the same. As angry as she wanted to be at them all, the fire had fizzled out.

Perhaps it would have been better for them—forher—if she hadn’t intruded on their normal.

“You were supposed to call me if you left the complex.”

Ryan’s presence was bizarrely overwhelming and comforting at the same time. He crouched before Nicole’s nest of blankets on the sofa.

She swore he spotted the familiar signs of her unleashed temper the moment he came home; he had made a beeline for her and cupped a gentle hand around her back. The whole afternoon had spilled out despite her intention to protect him from the truth.

“Sorry,” Nicole muttered, dodging his eyes. “We just got caught up in the moment.”

His thumb rubbed her arm. The pressure increased slightly when he looked over at Darlene, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa and watching worriedly.

“Are you insane?” he snapped.

She flinched. “Excuse me?”