Tainted, Book One: Possessed

26. Let Me See

Kerry

"Let's try this again." Gigi stood behind the service desk and held out a piece of paper and a black pen. "You sign a contract and I give you a phone."

I looked at the paper and panicked.

"Where's Gemma?" I asked.

"Downstairs in the stockroom. She'll be back in a few minutes."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she didn't seem bothered. So I glared at Jax, but he was leaning an elbow on the counter and staring at his lady.

The store was empty this close to closing on a Thursday night, so I decided to do it. Taking a deep breath, I shoved the paper back.

"I can't read this," I muttered.

"I know, right?" She shrugged. "A lot of fine print and long words to tell you not to misuse a phone. No one ever reads these things. Just sign it."

She didn't get what I was trying to say, so I shrugged and let it go. I took the pen and slid the paper back.

"Where?"

"Right here." She pointed to a long line at the bottom of the sheet.

I bent down, then paused and looked up at her.

"Does it have to be joined-up letters?"

"What? Oh, you mean cursive? No, you can print. As long as it's your name written by your hand, it's fine."

Sweat beaded on my forehead as I wrote. I knew they were staring at me, but I ignored them as I tried to remember which way the legs on the "k" went. Writing my own name for the first time in a decade was probably worse than running a marathon in flip flops, I decided.

Finally, I dropped the pen on the counter with a clatter and straightened up.

"You draw like da Vinci and write like—" Jax cut himself off.

"A second-grader?" I kept my eyes on the wall and my hands in my pockets because I wanted to blast something.

Gigi cleared her throat.

"Well, that's good enough, no matter what it looks like."

She took the paper and put it in a wire bin, then brought a small box out from under the counter and gave it to me.

I opened it and stared at the black phone and thick booklet.

"And I'm supposed to do what with this?"

"It starts with the basics." She picked up the manual and thumbed through the first few pages. "Here's how to turn it on, how to input contacts, and so on."

"It's probably easier if I show you," Jax said. "We can work on it while we're waiting for the store to close."

I breathed a sigh of relief. There were a few pictures with the text, but they wouldn't be enough to guide me through setting up the phone or learning how to use it.

He spent the next fifteen minutes or so catching me up to speed on technology. In no time, we had a list of names and numbers in my contacts, and he showed me how to put a picture with each person's info. We went on the Internet and I picked out a cowgirl hat for Gigi, a cat for Chessie, and a clown fish for Jax. When he asked what I wanted for Gemma, Gigi interrupted.

"An angel, of course."

I made a face at her, but how could I say anything when that was true?

Then I heard footsteps coming up from the basement and lost interest. I handed the phone over to them and stood up.