When they finally got into town, they went to the local market. Not the one they met at. They both agreed to protest that store if they could help it.
“Don’t worry about paying for food, just worry about the rent, okay?”
“Why?” she asked as they grabbed a cart and started to walk around the store.
“You’ll get there one day when you can pay for the groceries. And get what you want, okay?” Daniel said.
Violet stopped at the front of the store, taking it all in. “You mean . . . food, any . . . food?”
“Yeah, I mean, within reasons,” Daniel laughed taking out his list he made last week. He tried to get the fact that he had held onto that piece of paper longer than he had known this girl.
Violet asked to see the list and looked it over. “This is very basic.”
“You don’t need fancy stuff every day, I do try to save some money,” he joked.
She didn’t find that as a joke. Her excitement was replaced with guilt. Daniel had walked around, searching for the items on his list. Violet watched from a distance. She carefully watched his feet, the wheels on his cart. She looked up and saw where the cameras were.
It was always a habit for her. She always looked out for the workers, and cameras, and anything else that could catch her. She saw a few items that made her mouth watered, but she knew what she could and could not hide in her coat.
As Daniel walked around, he almost forgot that he had brought Violet with him. He started to go up and down the walkways. “Violet?” he asked, looking around.
He came around a corner, and saw her at the end, looking around like that first time they met. She didn’t see him as she slipped something into her pockets. Daniel's mouth hung open, and he felt like crying.
“Hey Violet,” Daniel called, rolling his cart up to her.
“Hey Doc,” she smiled as if nothing was wrong.
“So . . . what did you slip in your pockets there?” he asked crossing his arms.
Her face went pale, “What are you talking about-“
“Cut it out, Violet, I saw you,” he told her, walking around the cart. She looked to the floor. “Violet, what did I tell you?”
“About what?”
“I said I would pay for the food,” he whispered, not wanting to make a scene for her.
“But you said you’re trying to save money.”
He looked confused, and then remembered his joke from earlier. He shook his hand and tried to level his height with hers. “Violet . . . that was . . . I didn’t mean anything about that. Violet, you are okay, you pick out whatever you want. Don’t worry about the money.”
“Why?”
“Why?” he laughed. “Why what?”
“Why don’t I have to worry about money?” she asked, eyebrows narrows.
“Because . . . because you just don’t have to. I’m trying to get you on your feet. Just. . . just don’t steal, please? I’ll pay for whatever.”
“And I don’t-“
“For fuck’s sake, no, no, no,” he said. “You don’t have to fuck me to get food.”
An older woman walked by as he said that. Violet started laughing so hard that her stomach was aching. Daniel’s face was red, his ears were burning. He shook his head, but the woman just stared with wide eyes and slowly backed away.
“I was going to say, I don’t have to pay for it, but that was a lot better answer,” Violet laughed.
He grumbled. “I was . . . never mind, just get some meals and . . . ugh, whatever.”
He was starting to get a pounding headache but smiled when he saw Violet putting meals into the cart. It quickly filled up. She had never had the freedom to do this before. She never got to fill a cart up before. Even when she was a kid, the carts would never fill up. Her mother would tell her to put things back and not to touch anything. Her older half-sister would punch her would Violet made a comment about wanting some candy. She remembered each punch.
But when they entered the candy area, Violet smiled. She grabbed six bags of Jellybeans and looked up to Daniel as she threw them all in the cart. “Can we?”
“Yeah, sure,” Daniel shrugged, picking up one of the bags. “Mixed flavors? Don’t they have those bags were they’re separated by colors?”
Violet quickly grabbed the yellow ones and the pink ones. “These?”
“Yeah, I guess . . .I thought you just liked the yellow ones?”
“You like cherry.”
They smiled and headed to the front to pay.
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