Live with Grace -EDITING

Ch. 8 Observation

The truck grew silent. Natalie guessed she dropped a bomb.

"Married? Does he live here?" Charlie spoke up, breaking the silence, his voice giving away his shock.

"No, it's complicated," she offered, not wanting to give too many details.

"Okay, so you don't live with your husband and it's complicated. Oh ... and you're from Florida. I've got the whole picture," Sigh sarcastically added.

She didn't respond. His last comment actually annoyed her. Why did she have to tell him anything? She had no obligation to him what-so-ever.

Natalie chose to opt out of the conversation and looked out the window. She anticipated each turn, counting the minutes until she could get out of the truck. Why did men like Sigh have to exist? She just needed to be left alone, but he was determined to push and pry until he won.

And with his charm, Natalie was afraid he'd eventually win.

Charlie finally pulled into the parking spot and Natalie opened the door before Sigh could even climb out of the truck.

"Thank you for the ride," Natalie told Charlie.

"You're welcome. Do you need a ride home?" Charlie asked her.

"Oh no. I'll find a way home," she answered, walking ahead of both men, towards the store. She disappeared inside before they even reached the sidewalk.

"Married?" Sigh couldn't hide his shock.

"Yeah. She's never mentioned that before," Charlie added.

Natalie sat in the back room for a few minutes, trying to recompose herself before she went back out onto the floor. She knew Sigh would be out there and she wanted to make sure she was ready to mentally spar with him.

She sucked in a deep breath, straightened her shirt, checked out her hair in the mirror by the door and walked out with her head high.

She didn't immediately see Sigh and found herself darting down the aisles to make it behind the safety of the front counter.

'Why are you hiding from him?' she asked herself. She was being silly, hiding from a grown man. She'd have to face him again anyway, since she assumed he intended to pay for his things.

More time passed and he still hadn't come into sight. She peaked around some of the aisles. A man in a dark leather jacket and baseball hat was down the magazine aisle. He looked up when she peered around the corner then quickly went back to his reading.

Too quickly, as if he didn't want to be caught doing something.

'That was odd," she thought. She hoped the man didn't intend on stealing the magazine he was reading. She was too distracted by Sigh to deal with that right now.

She went back to the counter, grabbing a pair of scissors to break down the box she just opened.

She held the scissors open and dug one end into the top half of the box. As she slid the scissors down, she focused on the man in the magazine aisle. He turned his back towards her, just as Sigh was approaching the same aisle. Natalie's skin tingled with awareness as she watched Sigh comb through the magazines. He was a really attractive man. The blue tee shirt he wore fit every muscle perfectly, as if it was tailored to his body. The other man in the aisle didn't react to Sigh, but rather continued to watch Natalie. When their eyes met, he looked away again.

When the scissors came deeply across the top of her thumb, Natalie didn't notice at first, her attention on the man in the magazine aisle.

It was when she looked down and saw lots of blood, that her brain registered the cut. Natalie let out a cry of pain and bent below the counter to grab the paper towels. She dropped to the floor, trying to hold her thumb tight, wadding the paper towels around her finger.

Charlie, Sigh and the manager came rushing towards her.

"What happened?" they said together, as they registered the blood and paper towels.

All three men stood over her, each of them trying to devise a plan of action but none of them stepping forward to help. Sigh went into action first.

"It's okay. Let me look at your finger," Sigh calmly told her, attempting to coax her.

She pushed him off.

"I'm fine," she answered, attempting to stand. The man in the aisle was getting the distraction he needed to steal. She needed to stop him.

"Natalie, let me look at your hand," Sigh's voice was stern and he brought her back down to the floor with him.

"Sigh, I'm fine. I need to check on -"

"SIT DOWN! You're not fine," Sigh's strict voice confused her for a moment. She obliged.

She let go of the bloody paper towel so Sigh could inspect. All three guys let out an "Oh" sound when they saw the cut.

"Oh honey, you got yourself good," Sigh told her, "I think we should bring you to the hospital. You'll probably need a couple of stitches."

"No!" Natalie replied, "No hospitals. Now let go of me dammit. I'll be fine," she yanked her hand away from him and this time successfully stood up.

"Natalie, you've gotta get this checked out," he tried to reason with her, following after her.

"I'm fine. It's not that bad. Let me get it cleaned up. If someone could man the register? It just took me off guard," she calmly told them.

"If you're worried about money Natalie, it's fine," Charlie tried to tell her as she pushed her way past all of them.

"Mr. Kohl, it's fine. There's no need for the hospital. Please just give me a few minutes to get it cleaned and bandaged and I'll be back out," she called after herself as she tried to get out of the scene she had created.

Natalie pushed the doors into the back room with her back, spying Sigh coming after her. Agh, this man just wouldn't give up.

"I'm fine. Jesus. I'm a big girl," she scolded, as he reached out to hold the door open for her.

"Natalie, you need stitches," he told her as he reached down to take her hand into his and inspect it again.

She tried to yank it out from his grasp, but his hand was much stronger than hers.

"Jesus. You just don't understand what back off means do you," she started. She was frustrated and feeling cornered. She had created a scene, which Charlene had always advised her not to do.

"I don't back off. Not when someone's hurt," Sigh lectured her.

"I'm not hurt. Now give me back my hand. I'm fine."

She pulled out a taped together first aide kit, sifted through its contents for ointment, cleaner and something to wrap it with.

"Do you want me to wrap it up?" he asked her, knowing what her answer was.

"No. Leave!"

"I've gotta grab a couple of things anyway. Then we can leave. Charlie and I can bring you home," Sigh explained as he walked back to the door.

"I'm fine. You can go."

"No you're not," he told her, walking out the door before she could reply again.

She had to trust, for once, that they would do just as they said and bring her home.