35.

Since my car had ended up in the bottom of a ravine, totaled, and there had been little time to buy a new car, Annette led the way to her Jeep.

We were off to the mall and that was that.

However, no sooner had we opened the door to the apartment building and climbed down the steps, a man with a long white box approached us. He was a young man with acne that covered his face. "Excuse me, madam's, do you know where I can find a Mrs. Sgt. Gary I Gordon?"

Who was this young man and what did he want?

Annette immediately asked, "An who wants to know?"

The kid looked at the box, "I have a delivery from a Sgt. Gary I Gordon."

Oh!
I raised my hand, "That's me. Did he send me another gun?"

The kid's eyes widened.

He handed me the box quickly, "Sign here." Where the clipboard came from was a mystery to me. Annette snatched it and gave her autograph while I shook the white box.

It wasn't heavy enough to be another gun.

I peeked under the white lid and saw flowers. Flowers? Puzzled, I handed the lid to Annette who oooed and awed. I only got flowers when he was in trouble or thought he needed to get me in a good mood.

There was a single red rose in the box with a card.

I lifted the card out and read it.

Working late, I'll see you tomorrow night. Love you, G

I grinned at the G.

Annette snatched the card from me and read it, she then cooed, "Awww." She looked to the flower boy, "Ain't that just the sweetest thing you ever saw?"

I took out the red rose and smelled the red flower quite pleased with myself for no apparent reason. It was a pretty flower.

"Do red roses mean love or something?"

She shrugged, "Hell if I know. Mike brings me candy."

The Mall…

I had spent enough money in Victoria's Secret enough that Annette had decided to pull me out of the store. It was an amazing store. Had Annette not drug me out I would have spent even more money.

Then it was off to the Kabana Jewelry store.

I loved the Kabana stuff , which was full of opals and diamonds with different color gold. Very unique. I wandered along the counters looking down at the bright and beautiful opals and tried to decide which ones I liked the most.

Which ones were the most beautiful.

It was a very hard decision.

"Angela?"

I looked over my shoulder.

Annette pointed out somewhere in the mall, "I'm going to go use a payphone and call Mike. I'll be back."

Ok, yeah sure.

I nodded and looked back at the jewelry in wonder. Case by sparkling case. Until I came to the end. The old women watched me like hawks. When I raised my hand one stiffly walked over to me, "Can I help you?"

Immediately I began to point out a bracelet, a few toe rings, and some earrings. "Could you take those out for me and then I want to know if you could enlarge that solid gold men's ring."

She didn't look so thrilled. But she began to open cases, while doing so she asked, "Did you want a mirror?"

A mirror?

No…I already knew I was buying everything. She just didn't realize it, I shook my head and explained it to her, "No ma'am. I want to buy all that and then I need help picking a man's ring."

From her expression one would have thought Tom Cruise came through the door. I sudden got a huge smile from her, it was like I was her new best friend.

Shopping was so much fun.

An hour later…

Just where had Annette wandered off to? I had found the phones after spending a good amount of money on pretty shiny stuff. Annette was not on the phone.

Where would she have gone?

My eyes scanned the busy mall in curiosity. The crowd had grown with high schools letting out. Even though I was not scared, I was slightly upset. Especially since I didn't have the car keys.

But, I was an adult.

I was a grown woman.

Just because Annette was not where she said she would be was no reason for me to loose my mind. She was probably just in the bathroom. That's what I told myself. She was on Chemo and had probably just run to go to the bathroom.

I took a calming breath, held my numerous bags closer, and turned to head toward the bathrooms , which were within eyesight.

I turned and saw a man I had not seen in forever.

It was Gordon's brother Greg.

They looked so similar and so different. His eyes were not as warm as Gordon's, they were just blue. They had no sparkle. No soul. His hair was blonde, not gold, just blonde and cut trim. He was shorter then Gordon and tipping towards three hundred pounds. He was packed in a suit and had splashed on enough aftershave my eyes began to water.

I looked him over and wondered just why I had been afraid of him. Other then him smacking me around…I couldn't bring myself to step back, to be afraid of him. Actually, when I thought about how I felt seeing him so close I felt more angry then anything else.

I narrowed my eyes and didn't recognize my voice as my own. It was hard and close to bitchy, "What are you doing here?"

What angered me even more was he looked me over.

The man, a married man, looked me over as if I were a piece of meat. I was his brother's wife! I was someone he refused to help! Now he was looking at me like I was attractive? Oh…if Gordon were only here.

"I need to speak with you about your upcoming testimony."

Oh! So that's why he was bugging me.

I shook my head, "No. You can talk to my lawyer like everyone else."

He reached for me and I quickly stepped away from him.

He may have been bigger then me, but I was willing to bet money I was quicker. He followed me and called my name, "Angela." Which just further pissed me off. He had no right to even speak my name! He grabbed my arm and didn't let go.

In fact, he pulled me to a stop and I almost fell on the floor from the force. There was definitely going to be a bruise. That just made my pissitivity level rise! I turned on my heel and tried to pull my arm out of his grip.

It wouldn't come free, he held onto me too tight.

"I'll scream and then I'll call Gordon and he'll kick your ass!"

He didn't care.

He yanked me forward and it hurt my arm. "No, you'll listen to me. I spent years working my way up and I won't let two screw-ups ruin it for me. If Gordon brings me down, I'll ruin his career in the Army. You tell him that."

I tried to pry my arm free and he tightened his grip.

There was no way in hell I was telling Gordon that, so I expressed myself in the same way I had to the cop. "Kiss my ass."

Anger flashed behind his blue eyes and I knew he wanted to hit me. I could see how much he wanted to hit me. Instead, he drug me towards the bathroom. Towards the long hall that lead to the bathroom. A long hall that would give us privacy.

Not what I wanted.

I tried to pull my arm, smack him with my bags, I even kicked off my flip-flops in an attempt to get traction on the floor to stop him. It didn't work.

He physically drug me into the hall.

Did no one see me? Or did they just not care?

He got halfway down the hall and shoved me into the wall. He leant close, too close. "You tell that to Gordon or I will break every last one of your talented fingers."

I wasn't sure how to respond and I never got to. The man tensed up and then fell in a heap at my feet.

Behind him stood Annette, a taser in hand.

She calmly handed it to me, "Hold this please. Don't worry, he ain't dead, just got a lil shock."

I took the device and saw she had it on the highest setting. Then looked as she took his wallet from his pocket and took the man's cash out.

"Annette!" I scolded.

Without shame she told me, "Well he should have learned not to pick on innocent lil women." She then stood and dumped his wallet in a trashbin. I was almost inclined to take it out…almost.