Free My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron Page B

some maneuvering and
    lane-switching to find the place, but I did.
    The great thing about Bull Moose was
    that they had not only CDs, but records and
    old movies, and all the people who worked
    there knew what they were talking about.
    When I walked in, I let out a breath I hadn’t
    known I’d been holding. Ah. I loved the
    comforting rows of cases, all ordered by
    genre and artist. Yes, most music could be
    purchased online, but you couldn’t
    duplicate the experience of going to a store
    and browsing yourself.
    “Can I help you, little lady?” Jesus. H.
    Christ. I paused with my hand on a
    Radiohead CD that I didn’t currently own
    and turned to make sure he wasn’t a
    hallucination.
    “No, thank you. I can pick out my own
    music.” That was a lie. I’d recently
    discovered The Black Keys, and I was hoping
    to find more bands like them, but I was
    never going to ask Dusty. Not in a million
    years. “Are you stalking me? Because,
    seriously, it’s getting ridiculous.”
    “Maybe you’re the one who’s stalking
    me. I was here first.
    You came into my store.” I finally
    noticed he had a lanyard around his neck
    like the other guys who worked here.
    “Oh, so this is your store? Do you own
    it?”
    “Nope, but I do work here. And I’ve
    been going to Yellowfield House longer than
    you, too. So I was here first.”
    “I don’t give a shit,” I said, putting the
    CD back. Even my music sanctuary had been
    invaded.
    “So you’re into music,” Dusty said,
    straightening some of the CDs, as if he was
    pretending to work. “What kind?”
    “Taylor Swift,” I said, just to throw him.
    Granted, I had listened to plenty of her stuff
    and some of it wasn’t so bad.
    But he didn’t know that.
    “Well, we have a wide range of T Swift’s
    music for your listening pleasure.” He
    gestured toward the pop section. “I’m
    partial to her earlier work, but her newest
    album is getting great reviews.” I waited to
    see if he was being sarcastic.
    “Can you just let me browse without
    being harassed? I get it enough at Renee’s,
    and I don’t need it from everyone else.”
    Wow, I did not mean to be that honest.
    What was it with me today? I seemed to be
    vocalizing everything I was thinking
    whether I meant to or not.
    “Wow, easy, Red.” He put his hands up
    as if I’d held a gun to his head. “Just trying
    to be a good employee and help a
    customer, but if you want to be left alone,
    you got it.” He turned around and left
    before I could say anything else. I saw him
    talking to a few of the other guys and
    pointing at me.
    What fresh hell was this?
    He came back a few minutes later as I
    was searching through the alt-rock section.
    “Okay, so I’ve told everyone not to
    approach you unless you approach them
    first, so the store is yours, Joscelyn.” He
    waved his arms to indicate everything.
    “Thanks.” It sounded like a question.
    “Anytime.” One last grin and he was
    gone, off to the back of the store and
    through a door marked Employees Only.
    And I was left alone for the rest of my time
    in the store.
    I found a couple CDs, but didn’t look as
    close as I wanted because I felt like all eyes
    were on me, even though every time I
    looked up, one or more of the employees
    were giving me looks like I was going to run
    over and stab them or something. God only
    knew what he had told them so they’d
    leave me alone. Then again, I probably
    didn’t want to know.
    When I got back from my little Bull
    Moose trip, there were several cars parked
    in the driveway, so I had to settle for
    parking in the street.
    “Hey, Miss
    I’m-not-going-to-text-my-sister-back.”
    Renee’s voice was the first thing I heard
    when I walked through the door and hung
    my coat up. Renee hopped up from the
    couch and came over to glare at me.
    “I was busy.”
    “Doing what?” She crossed her arms and
    leaned against the wall. I pushed past her
    and went downstairs to put my stuff away.
    Of course she followed