"Just shine like you always do."
Gwenn Davidson has always known she was adopted, but after clearing up her stuff for her first move out of her parent's house, she finds an old blanket gifted to her by her birth mother that triggers an avalanche of...
THE SCRATCH OF HANGERS dragged against metal racks brought Gwenn back to reality. Meredith hummed suggestively at a pair of plaid brown pants. She raised it into the air, scrutinizing every stitch and hem before pressing it to Gwenn's waist.
"What do you think, darling?" her mother asked. "There's been a wave going on for this type of style."
Gwenn wouldn't know. Her brain was full of school, screaming kids, and lots of Ronan King. Perhaps Aura would gasp and go on a whole spiel of the style, though Gwenn had never seen her best friend in plaid. The last style of pants she wore were baggy jeans with the tightest crop top. Gwenn would never dare wear something like that; it didn't go well with her body, or so she believed.
"They look nice, Mom," she replied. Meredith hummed again, and then folded the pants over her arm.
Gwenn followed her to another rack. Her hands went through item after item, scanning with those blue eyes like she were a machine looking for flaws. She found many of them. Shoppers walked about the store, piling up their items or putting back hangers into their respective place. Even Gwenn held a black long-sleeved shirt she found on sale hanging from her fingers.
Her mother had called the night prior begging for Gwenn to go shopping with her. She had a weekday off for the first time in months, and her father had to have a meeting on that given day. Gwenn had smiled into her pillow, twisting her old baby blanket between her fingers, as she agreed to go out with her instead.
"So, darling," her mother began, inspecting a white dress. "Care to tell me what's the situation with your boss's son?"
Gwenn startled at once, frozen in place as her mother feigned indifference by focusing her protruding gaze at the article of clothing in her hand. Multiple moments ran through her mind: Ronan picking her up in his truck, driving her away from the gala, falling asleep with him under the stars, even leaving town together for Las Alas.
"What is there to talk about?" she stammered through her sentence. This time Meredith met her eyes. That sky blue sparked like an incoming storm restrained by her will, yet still threatening to come out.
"Wallace had a choice of words at the gala," Meredith reminded. Gwenn almost lost her footing as they moved across the store. The struck deal echoed in her ears like a hiss. She suppressed a shiver.
"You mean Wolf?"
Her mother scoffed. "I refuse to call him such a stupid name. Now, he did say he saw you two together. And don't bullshit me, Gwenn. I already get enough of that working with the men around me."
Gwenn tightened her fingers around her hanger. The cold metal bit into her skin, and she welcomed the distraction. "I meant what I said at the gala, Mom," she tried gently.
Meredith considered her for a moment. She clenched her jaw, then strutted towards the cash register. A decent line greeted them as they went to the end of it.
"Gwenn," her mother said, her tone like a warning brewing from beneath her skin.
She blinked her eyes at her, and suddenly she was five years old, listening to her mother instruct her how the world worked for women like them. "You're a girl, my darling. Others won't see you like a human being, but you're not gonna let them do that to you. So you take charge, you take control. Don't let anyone else tell you what you can or can't do in your life."
"Whatever it is you're doing with that Ronan, you better drop it," Meredith demanded. They stepped forward, closer to the register. "He's not the right man for you."
A part of Gwenn wanted to say she wasn't meeting Ronan for romantic reasons, but another side was defensive. Ronan might've been the moody guy covered in ink, but he dropped everything to go be with her, despite the amount of things demanding attention from his life. He was so careful, and so genuine.
How could he not be the right man?
She almost gasped at the thought. Her cheeks burned as an aching flutter traveled from her chest down to the lower part of her stomach. She swallowed down the chaos going on, and faced her mother.
"Mom, Ronan is just my boss's son. I don't know him more than that." The words tasted like bile as she said them, but they were necessary. "I just said hi that one time Wolf saw us."
Her mother remained quiet. It was their turn to pay for their items, and Meredith took the black shirt from her grasp. Her eyebrows furrowed at it, and waved her off when Gwenn told her she'd buy it with her own money. The elderly woman rang their items up, and Meredith swiped her card like it was second nature.
By the time they walked out of the clothing store, bags in each of their arms, her mother resumed their conversation. "I meant what I said, Gwenn. He's not the right man for you." The scalding sun made both of their blonde hairs gleam as they walked back to Meredith's car. Gwenn bit down on her lip when her mother met her eyes. "You're such a beautiful, good girl. You deserve a real gentleman beside you."
"Mom, I only said hi," Gwenn tried again. "And besides, he's not like you paint him to be. It's not like he's...I don't know, snorting cocaine in the bathrooms at school or something. He seems nice."
They stood before each other, battling in the harshest staring contest they've ever had. Gwenn felt like ducking beneath the weight of her mother's gaze, but Meredith sighed before she could.
"When you bring a man home, he better be worthy," Meredith said. Then she turned to her white car, unlocking the trunk to place all of their bags. Gwenn wanted to keep defending Ronan, to tell her mother what a great man he was, but her mother changed the topic. "I feel like eating Thai. What do you think?"
Without much fight left in her, Gwenn sighed. "Sure, Mom, let's go."
Meredith smiled, and they climbed inside the glinting car. The engine roared to life easily, the radio starting to sing a soft pop song through the speakers. Her mother adjusted the AC before pulling out of the spot.
Her phone buzzed in her lap, and she dug her teeth into her lip to keep from smiling.
Ronan: You. Me. MNTR. Tomorrow. I'm not taking a no for an answer.
"No phones today," her mother complained. Gwenn almost yelped. "It's our day. Now, do you know a Thai restaurant you want to go to, or should we go to my favorite here?"
Gwenn dropped her phone inside her purse, her heart dancing in her chest. "Let's go to your usual. I don't mind."
That eased her mother's mood significantly, and they zoomed through the highway to get to the center of Lockfell together.
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