Page 21 of Higher Ground
In the next aisle, she froze in her tracks. Body wash in a thousand shades of pastel lined one side, a variety of medications on the other. But it was the handful of small boxes in deep colours, navy blues and steel greys, that got her attention. High on the shelf to her right, the condoms screamed at her.
Did she need them? The old her would have laughed at the thought. But she wasn’t on the pill, and after everything between her and Byron, maybe she did. She could still hear the way he moaned her name through the wall and see the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. Plus, there was that weird thing her heart kept doing after he opened up to her in the kitchen. Didn’t matter what her head said, her heart was convinced itmeant something.
She chose not to overthink the condoms, considering that the worst-case scenario, if she did buy them, would simply be them not getting used. They could sit, hidden in the bottom of her suitcase, until the floodwaters receded and she moved to the city. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. And that way, they would be there if they did need them. AndGod, she hoped they did.
Without pausing to check the boxes, she grabbed a pack and tossed it into her now overflowing basket. She cringed at herself and raced towards the front of the store to pay.
“Emory?”
Her heart sank. She’d recognise that voice anywhere. It was the sound of all her hopes and dreams falling through the floor. It was the crashing of her heart, breaking into a million tiny pieces. The song of solo parenting and long nights in a town that still felt far from home.
Emory sucked in the deepest breath her lungs would allow and pushed her shoulders back. She tipped her chin up as she turned slowly towards the man who broke her heart, but not her soul.
“Jaxon.” Her tone was firm, all pleasantries for the man having fled along with him three years ago.
“I went by the cottage, but you weren’t there.”
Jaxon reached for her then, stepping forward with an arm outstretched. Emory shied away from his touch. She didn’t need his false concern, and she didn’t want it either.
“We evacuated for the flood. After it’s all safe, I’ll go back in to remove the rest of my stuff.” She shrugged her shoulders in a way she hoped screamed indifference. She wasn’t sad about leaving the cottage. In fact, she just hated that she would have to go back to clean it out. “Before the lease ends, don’t worry.”
Jaxon ignored her promise, looking around her feet. “Where’s Clayton?”
“He’s safe.”Thankfully,she didn’t add. Clayton didn’t know his father, considering Jaxon had left before he was born. She didn’t need to worry about their first meeting in the middle of a crowded supermarket when she was pressed for time. “Why are you here?”
“Same reason you are, I suppose. Stocking up before the flood.”
Emory couldn’t hold back the way her eyes rolled at how blasé he was acting. “Yes, but why are you herein town? Why are you back?”
“A guy can’t come back to his roots?” Jaxon held his arms out wide, nearly knocking over an old lady with the basket he flung around. She scowled at him and hurried on, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Either way, it was another good reminder for Emory that he really was a pathetic waste of space.
“Sure, but considering you’ve run away from yourrootstwice, it’s a little odd, don’t you think?”
He scoffed at her jab. “I have finally realised city life is not for me. And why should I waste my dime paying someone else’s mortgage in the city when I have a perfectly good house thatIown right here in Gardner Creek? I’m staying at the motel until I can move back in.”
Emory could read between the lines. His money was running dry, probably from all the overseas holidays and excessive parties. It wasn’t like she stalked him or anything, but any mother worth the title would keep an eye on what the father of her child was doing. Mostly, she was just trying to make sure he wasn’t planning to do exactly what it was he appeared to be doing. Coming back. The timing was gross, but if she could survive the flood, she’d head off for the city before Jaxon could try to wiggle his way into their lives.
“I thought I could meet Clayton,” Jaxon added. He dropped his arm and scuffed a foot along the floor. And Emory could at least give Jaxon credit for looking sincere, even if she didn’t believe it.
“Look, I have to go,” she said instead of answering him. “Things to do before the creek rises any higher. I’ve got a bridge to get across.”
Emory turned on her heel to head towards the checkout. Her basket flung around her, loose on her arm.
“Wait, where are you staying?” Jaxon called behind her.
“It’s not your business, Jaxon.”
“So why do you need condoms?”
Emory felt a cracking in her chest, followed by an intense heat in her cheeks. Ants crawled through her skin as half the people in the queue for the checkout stopped to look at her. With no gap between snacks and craft items in her basket, the deeppurple box sat on top of the bags of chips, ready for them all to see.
Closing her eyes, she did her best to shut out Jaxon’s pestering question and the curious glances everyone continued to throw her way.
When she opened her eyes, Jaxon was standing right in her face. “What bridge, Emory?”
She shook her head. He knew all her tells when she lied, it wasn’t even worth trying. She opted for silence instead.
“What bridge?”
