Chapter 117: The Purchase Did Not Include a Boyfriend

Caldwell found Dove in the doorway and sent his son away from the corridor. Thorne stayed beside her while Edrik waited inside. The bar they had made meant Hollis couldn’t simply wander in, but nobody wanted to eat dinner listening to him complain through a wall.

"You promised privacy," Dove reminded Caldwell. "I would like to try some." He said he would speak to Hollis. She held up the bread she had brought from the table. "Lovely. Start now, while this is still warm."

Hollis lingered across the yard while his father spoke to the worker. Dove closed their door in his face and went back to her bread. She was beginning to think the gorilla needed a hobby, preferably several miles away. Edrik offered a few suggestions. Thorne told him to save the unpleasant ones until she’d finished chewing.

That got a laugh out of her, finally. She leaned against Thorne while Edrik cut the last of the bread into three pieces. The smallest landed on her plate. Dove swapped it with the bear’s, watched him pretend to be wounded, then shared hers with him anyway. Hollis could spoil his own evening. He wasn’t having the rest of hers.

Her pool wash on Day Fifty-Seven woke her enough to follow the smell of ham into the front room. Thorne had made breakfast with their bread, eggs traded through the kitchen, and thick slices of meat. Edrik moved his chair over as she approached. She sat close enough to steal something from either plate, which seemed like excellent planning.

"I cut yours bigger," Edrik told her when she glanced at his toast. Dove reached for it anyway, just to see his face. He caught her fingers, kissed them, and passed the toast over. Thorne set down the coffee with a sigh that suggested they were both being very difficult before breakfast.

"You’ll spoil her," Thorne said, despite having just put the larger mug beside her plate. Dove looked between them and took a satisfied bite. If they wanted to argue about which one was worse, she would happily eat the evidence. Sprout chose that moment to announce the day’s delivery.

Dove checked the delivery while chewing and nearly choked. Edrik offered his coffee without asking what was funny. She accepted it, wondering how to explain that she would be spending the morning selling condoms to men who already needed very little encouragement.

Sprout had supplied six sealed packs, in clearly labeled sizes. It wanted four sold and had put a privacy screen on the reward shelf. Dove read the item list twice, then looked at her men, still arguing over the stolen toast. Of course this was the morning it chose.

"Don’t you dare make a comment," she told Sprout.

"Product education can improve sales."

"Then explain the label. Leave my bedroom out of it."

She put the packs on the counter beside soap and owned household goods, pricing them in ordinary trade items like anything else. Men noticed immediately. One asked whether buying a pack came with a demonstration.

Dove smiled. "For you? Read the back. You look like you need the instructions."

Thorne’s growl ended the man’s laughter. Edrik watched him choose another stall with the satisfied expression of someone who liked Dove doing the threatening herself.

Another customer asked a practical question about the sizes. She answered it without embarrassing him, and he bought two packs with sealed coffee and clean towels. The next buyer took one for cooking oil. A driver bought the fourth with a jar of honey, looking relieved that nobody made him announce why he wanted it.

She put the honey aside for supper. The privacy screen stayed unbought, and the two remaining packs stayed on the counter. If anyone asked for a demonstration again, she was charging him for wasting her time.

At lunch, a visitor leaned across the counter to look down Dove’s sweater. She stepped back and told him where her face was. He grinned and leaned farther, as though she’d invited him closer.

Edrik punched him once. The man hit the pavement beside the empty stool, knocking it over on his way down. Conversation along the covered walkway stopped. Dove watched the bear look down at him with the same calm face he’d worn while passing her toast.

"She told you," Edrik said, then picked up the stool.

The man’s friend dragged him clear, conscious and clutching his jaw. Dove wasn’t sorry, but she put a hand against Edrik’s chest before he could follow. "He’s leaving. Stay with me."

He looked at her hand, then her face, and stayed. Her heart was beating hard enough for Sprout to become deeply annoying, so she shut its notice and fixed the crooked price card herself.

Thorne brought her lunch without making her explain whether she felt shaken or pleased. Both, apparently, which was inconvenient. She ate with his knee pressed against hers and Edrik close enough to steal a bite when she offered it.

An older customer waited until the walkway cleared to ask for something that would help his wife’s sore feet. Dove showed him the clean socks she’d acquired in trade. He tested the soft fabric between his fingers, then bought a pair without asking whether he’d get to see her bedroom.

He paid the ordinary price and left looking relieved. Thorne watched her fold the remaining pair.

"What?" she asked.

"He asked about his wife and actually waited for an answer," Thorne said. Dove set the spare socks aside. "I nearly offered him a discount out of shock. Don’t tell anyone, I’ve got a reputation to ruin."

Dove saved the request about the socks. She liked having something useful to look for, something that might make another woman’s day better without becoming somebody else’s demand on hers.

After practice, she returned the two unsold packs for two normal coins. Sprout settled the usual sales, exercise, and Favor rewards. She stored the honey, then put Edrik’s chair beside hers instead of across the table. Edrik noticed without making her explain in front of passing workers. His knee touched hers, and she left it there while they ate big bowls of chicken, rice, and vegetables.

Thorne asked about the road west. Dove wanted another day to check fresh reports and settle their goods, then she intended to leave. The good meals and steady customers weren’t enough to make Hollis stop being somebody else’s excuse.

Hollis passed the covered pavement while she was laughing at something Edrik said. He stared at the bear’s hand resting beside hers, then walked into the office without greeting anyone.

Dove followed a minute later to ask Caldwell about their remaining room payment. The office door stood partly open. Through it she heard Hollis asking for the key to the staff corridor behind the rooms. Their inside bars would still hold, but he wanted another way to wait outside her window.

The worker hesitated. Dove could see the key ring on the desk between them, close enough for Hollis to reach. She stepped into the doorway before either man could decide her silence meant she hadn’t heard.