Chapter 1 - THE FOURTEEN-DOLLAR BLANKET
Diane shoved Rachel into the checkout counter hard enough to make the card reader jump.
Rachel’s hip struck first.
Then her forearm.
Her other hand flew beneath her eight-month pregnant belly as she fought to keep her balance.
The gray baby blanket remained crushed against her chest.
Fourteen dollars.
That was what the fight was supposedly about.
“My son’s money isn’t for your spoiled little parasite shopping,” Diane hissed.
For one second Rachel forgot they were standing in the middle of a crowded supermarket in Westerville, Ohio.
She forgot the cashier staring at them.
Forgot the cart filled with milk, bread, prenatal vitamins, and the ingredients for chicken soup.
She heard only parasite.
Her unborn daughter.
A baby Diane had spent seven months calling my little princess whenever other people were listening.
Rachel straightened.
“I paid for this.”
Diane grabbed her sleeve again.
“With money Caleb earns.”
“No.”
Rachel’s voice shook.
“I paid with my card.”
“That’s marriage money.”
Diane yanked her sideways.
Then a man in a dark-green store polo appeared beside them.
He caught Diane’s wrist and pulled her hand firmly away from Rachel.
“Step away from her.”
Diane recoiled.
The manager stared at her.
Something changed in his expression.
“I remember you.”
Diane stopped moving.
Rachel noticed.
The fury disappeared first.
Then the color.
“What are you talking about?” Diane asked.
The manager’s name tag read MARK.
He placed himself between them.
“You’ve been in here before.”
“So?”
“A lot.”
Diane lifted her chin.
“I shop here.”
Mark’s eyes moved to the gray blanket in Rachel’s arms.
Then back to Diane.
“No. You return things here.”
Rachel frowned.
Diane immediately stepped toward the shopping cart.
Rachel pulled the blanket tighter against her chest.
Diane reached for it.
Rachel knocked her hand away.
“What exactly did you do with my baby’s things?”
Diane looked at her.
For months Rachel had been losing things.
A set of bottles from the nursery closet.
Two sleepers her coworker gave her.
A diaper bag.
The tiny knitted cardigan Caleb’s aunt mailed from Vermont.
Every time, Diane had an explanation.
You probably put it somewhere.
Pregnancy brain.
Maybe Caleb moved it.
You bought too much anyway.
Mark walked behind the register and opened a narrow drawer.
He pulled out an old return slip.
Diane’s face tightened.
“This is private.”
Mark ignored her.
He held the paper where Rachel could see only part of it.
“I remember because your husband came back the next day looking for everything she returned.”
Rachel stared at him.
“My husband?”
“Tall guy. Caleb?”
“Yes.”
“He wanted to know whether the merchandise was still in the store.”
Rachel forgot Diane for a moment.
Caleb knew?
Mark continued.
“He said some nursery things disappeared from his house.”
Rachel looked at Diane.
Her mother-in-law was no longer watching Mark.
She was staring at Rachel’s phone.
Rachel pulled it from her cardigan pocket.
“I’m calling Caleb.”
That was when Diane panicked.
She backed into the cart.
Then, before Rachel could dial, Diane shoved one hand deep inside her purse and clamped both hands around something hidden there.
Mark noticed.
So did Rachel.
“What’s in your purse?”
“Nothing.”
“Then show me.”
Diane pulled the purse against her body.
May you like
Rachel stared at the woman who had just shoved her into a checkout counter over a fourteen-dollar blanket.
And suddenly the blanket felt like the least important thing Diane had tried to take.
