Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(54)

It could have just been me, but the longer Miranda went without telling me, the more upset I got. “Baby, I heard what she said on the phone. I know you didn’t want to tell me.”

She looked up at me, seemingly astonished that I’d heard and waited so long to admit it. “I’m so sorry. She doesn’t mean it, Ty. She’s just actin’ out, and when I see her she’s goin’ to get it.”

I placed both of my hands on the table and looked down at them. “Let’s just stop. If she’s doing all this to get to me, it’s working. I think we need to act like it isn’t. She’s lashing out because I hurt her, we know that. So I say we take a chance and act like it doesn’t bother us. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll stop acting the way she has been. It’s about attention. If we take that away, she’s got nothing.”

Miranda raised her eyebrow and I could tell she was wondering where I’d come up with such an idea. “If you think it’s worth a shot?”

“What else do we have to lose? She can’t hate us anymore, can she?” When I said it I realized that it was causing me to lose my appetite. We were both losing hope, and as far away as we’d tried to distance ourselves, the problem wasn’t going to go away.

“Alright. When we get back we’ll pretend that we don’t care anymore. No more exercises, no more pleadin’. We’ll just act like she isn’t there and see what happens.”

“It won’t be easy, baby, but I think it’s worth a try.” I looked up at the waitress who was approaching our table. “Let’s try to enjoy the rest of our weekend. We don’t get to do this that often, and aside from Izzy, we’re having a good time.”

Miranda reached across the table and ignored the waitress for a second. “We are, Ty.”

I didn’t know how hard she was trying, but neither of us discussed Izzy for the rest of the morning. We decided to go shopping at some outlet stores, since it was drizzling a little bit and not the kind of weather to sit on the beach and relax.

There was only one problem with our shopping plan.

Me.

I hated to shop. It was so redundant and boring that I had to do things to pass the time. Usually it was things that would embarrass my wife, so much so that she’d promise to never bring me again. In lieu of her forgetting, I decided to make it a shopping day that she’d never forget.

The first store we went in was a kitchen store. Miranda was looking for some kind of pasta machine for her mother. While she searched, I began browsing the isles. Of course, a clerk came up to me instead of her. “Can I help you find something?”

I spotted my wife one isle over, giving me that look like I better not do what she thought I was going to. I smiled back and turned my attention to the clerk. “Yes, my wife and I are looking for a special kind of apron. It’s plastic.”

She guided me over to where the aprons were and started pointing to some. “We have these. Did you need it to be water proof?”

I could hardly contain myself. After bringing my hand up to my chin and pretending to ponder on her question, I straightened my face and looked right at her. “Actually, not just water proof. We’re into bondage and it can get real messy. I need it to be urine and feces proof as well.”

Her mouth dropped, and it took everything I had in me to keep a straight face. I felt a tugging on my arm and turned to see that I was being pulled out of the store. Once the doors shut, I got smacked in the chest and the evil eye. “Seriously?”

“Baby, did you see her face?” I couldn’t contain myself.

“Yes. She was repulsed. Why must you do this every single time I take you anywhere?” She started walking in front of me, and I hurried to catch up.

“Come on. It was funny.”

Miranda turned and looked right at me. She was annoyed, as usual. “Can we please shop like two grown adults?”

I put up my hands. “Fine! You’re no fun.”

She shook her head and started walking toward the next shop. Deciding not to push my luck, I did behave in the next few stores. We stopped and grabbed a bite to eat and had two more stores to go in. I was exhausted and tired of carrying the slew of bags around. All I wanted to do was stop at a drive thru and take my wife back to the hotel. We had a perfectly good room waiting to be used, and we were out in the rain, shopping.

Finally we came to the last store of the day. It was a clothing store, and I just couldn’t contain myself any longer. First, Miranda was shopping for some special bra. I located a clerk, grabbed the skimpiest little outfit they sold, and held it up to my chest. “Excuse me, is there somewhere I can try this on?”

The woman, who looked to be in her sixties, appeared to be appalled. She tightened her lips and guided me to the fitting room without saying a single word to me. I made sure to thank her for helping me, which made her even more angry.

I came back out a couple minutes later and caught the eyes of my wife. She looked in my hand and then back at me as I approached the same woman that had helped me. I handed her the undergarment with a straight face. “It just wasn’t what I was looking for. Do you have anything with the nipples cut out? That’s what my lover likes, and I find it so hard to find them in my size.”

Miranda came over to where I was standing and grabbed me by the back of the pants. I waved to the lady while being pulled out of the store backwards. She had bags in both of her arms, but refused to ask me for help. I was laughing so loudly that people were beginning to watch us. She got me to the car before I was shoved against it. Her finger was up in my face, and I couldn’t stop laughing at her.