Lies, Deceptions, And Misunderstandings

27. Purchases

As Craig entered the car, and shut the door, Carissa looked him up and down.

"Not bad, not bad. Wow, you make a cute girl. I told you, you would be."

As they sped off, she continued, "and it will only get better as I teach you. I really like your hair, babe. The length, anyways. Why is it still wet, and she could have shaped it better in the back. It looks like she didn't finish. I'll have to talk to her about it tomorrow. Maybe I need to fire her. Oh well, you'll be back for a different do very soon, anyways."

"Carissa?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a request. Can we stop by the department store? There's something I want to get for later."

"Sure, what are you wanting?"

"I want it to be a surprise. Is that okay?"

"Ohhh, I like the sound of that. Sure."

Carissa made several turns before finly pulling in to the parking lot of a big box department store. She stopped in front of the entrance so Craig could hop out.

Instead of immediately exiting the vehicle, he paused and looked at Carissa.

"My wallet. It was in my pants pocket."

"Oh yeah . . . right," she replied, realizing he was telling her he needed money.

She handed him a credit card and told him not to go crazy.

Craig took the card and nervously exited the vehicle. While she pulled away to find a parking spot, he hurried into the store and quickly located a pair of men's jeans, a tee shirt, running shoes, hair ties, makeup remover cream, and nail polish remover wipes.

He then paid for the purchases at the self-checkout and made a beeline for the men's room.

There he quickly changed into the clothes, cleaned his face of all makeup, and removed the nail polish. He then rolled his new long hair up in to the best man bun he could and secured it with a hair tie.

Exiting the men's room he got a cart and returned to the men's clothing department, where he began to select clothing to replace all he lost when Carissa had his suitcase disposed of and more.

Eight pairs of jeans went into the cart, along with twelve tee shirts, nine button up shirts, eight polos, four pairs of slacks, three pairs of shorts, three belts, several mulit-packs of underwear, several packs of socks, another pair of running shoes, boat shoes, four pairs of  various leather shoes, a two hundred dollar pair of suede oxfords, a pair of slides, a bath robe, a wallet, and a pair of sunglasses.

Craig stopped and turned back around . . . two, no three, ok six different pairs of sunglasses went into the cart.

He told himself Carissa owed him and she was gonna pay dearly.

Craig chose two large suitcases, which he put in the cart, then proceeded to load up on boy's clothes in Taylor's sizes. He also picked out Taylor a brand new baseball glove, the new Samsung smartwatch Taylor had been wanting forever, the latest video game console with two controllers and five hundred dollars worth of gift cards that would allow them to purchase digital copies of several video games for the console.

At the electronics counter, Craig purchased two of Samsung's newest flagship phones, along with six months of prepaid service for each of them.

After completing this purchase, Craig headed back to the self checkout area, where he purchased and then placed all the clothes and other items into the suitcases.

After tucking the console box under his arm, he exited the store at the other end of the building from where he entered, pulling the overstuffed suitcases behind him.

He placed a pair of the sunglasses on his face and with a smile he entered the Uber he had summoned before checking out.

The Uber driver took Craig to his house where he dropped off all the items and retrieved his spare car key while his Uber ride waited.

Returning to the salon, the driver dropped Craig off around back by his car. Craig paid for the ride with Carissa's credit card and left the man a very generous tip, also on the card.

Craig then hopped in his car and sped off towards Carissa's house. He figured he'd have just enough time to retrieve Taylor and get back home before Carissa realized what was going on.

He reasoned that right about now, she should be wondering what was taking so long and probably about to head into the store to look for him.

Did I really think this through? He asked himself. Once she figures out what I did, she'll be at my house, screaming and yelling and creating a scene. What will I do then? She's gonna make my life and Taylor's life a living hell. Even worse than it would have been if I'd gone along with her sh!t. Okay, maybe not quite that bad but still. Although with everything I know about her now, I have ammo. I can destroy her life if she tri--

Craig never saw the red light he was speeding through at that moment and never finished his thought, because, in the middle of the intersection,  he slammed into the side of a car that was coming from his right, while another car coming from his left slammed into him, striking his door and launching him out the open window.

Three hours later, as Craig lay in the hospital on life support, Carissa sat on the sofa in her living room, wondering where Craig could have disappeared to and fuming over the more than thirty-three hundred dollars of new charges she was, at that moment, just discovering on her debit card.

The television was on, but she wasn't paying it any attention. How could she?

Thirty-three hundred dollars?
What was he thinking and what was he now up to, she angerly wondered.

Kaylee and Taylor entered the room and Taylor was just about to ask if Carissa had heard from his brother yet, when the news broadcast started and the lead story was about a horrific three vehicle accident that occurred just a few blocks from Carissa's house.

Taylor stopped to watch when he heard the newscaster say, "one driver sustained life threatening injuries," and he saw flashing red, blue and white lights on the screen, reflected off of a mangled mess of vehicles.

"Ho-ly crap," Taylor exclaimed. "That looks horrible. I'm glad none of us were involved in that. I bet somebody died in that accident."

Carissa and Kaylee immediately turned their attention towards the television. The cars were so destroyed, none of them recognized Craig's car as being one of the vehicles involved in the mess.

Just as the news broadcaster was moving on to another story, Carissa's phone rang.

The caller on the other end of the line called out Carissa's full name and asked if that was who they were talking to.

"Yes, why?"

"Well ma'am, there's been an automobile accident and we have one of the victims we've been trying to contact the family of. The best we've been able to determine is that we believe he is the owner of the vehicle he was driving, but there was no identification on him or information on any next of kin that we can find. Your debit card was found in his pocket. Did you loan your debit card to anyone recently?"

"Yes," Carissa hesitantly replied, starting to realize Craig was in the accident they just saw on the television.

"Who?"

"Craig Perkio."

"Ma'am, have you heard from him recently?"

"I haven't seen him in over three hours. Where is he?"

"We believe this is him, here in the ICU at Grady Memorial Hospital. We are going to need you to verify his identity. You need to get here as fast as possible."

Carissa was in shock as she ended the call. Taylor, having heard Carissa say his brother's name, was now staring at her.

"Where is he? Is he on his way?"

"I think he's at the hospital, we have to hurry."

"The hospital? Why? What's going on?"

"Kaylee, you and Taylor get in the car. I'll explain on the way."