Chapter 3

A Chance Encounter

Leah was free, again.

It was a weekday; Mr. Cameron's black Charger pulled out from their driveway; he left her there waving with a smile. Leah's husband, Paul, won't be home until six. Margie, their first, and Robin, their last, were later carpooled to elementary school; they won't be in until five. That leaves her alone in a big house.

Leah went back inside, locked the doors, and lounged on the sofa while setting an appointment with Keanu. He was free in the afternoon. Satisfied, she then thought of the chores she could accomplish while at home.

She stood up, stretched, and turned to the radio. Leah left it on as she cleaned the house, did the laundry, cooked for herself, and planned to whip up a brisket for dinner; she made it a point to finish her routine before eating lunch.

Right after her meal, in their stark white marbled kitchen, Her phone buzzed. She looked outside the window, checking if anyone was in close perimeter to the house; there was no one there. Relieved, she exhaled and opened her phone to check a dating app she uses frequently. A user was filling up her inbox.

"Hello, Leah?"

"Come on; we can talk about this."

"We can run away from everyone..."

"HELLO!"

"Talk to me, please!"

"Leah, answer me!"

The user demands they talk now. Leah felt apathetic and blocked him. She then exited the app and threw her phone on the beige sofa.

Leah did the dishes, then went upstairs to shower and prepare for the afternoon. In her underwear, she fixed her things and the documents Keanu was begging her to sign.

She hid her slim figure in a peach sleeveless blouse and cream slacks, and ankle boots over a brown coat. In the mirror, Leah didn't look bad at 38; for a former model and now a mother of two, her features improved over time. She parted her short brown hair to the side, put on mascara and a red lip, and headed out.

Leah checked all the locks with her things in hand before resting on the driver's seat of her red Vitara. She had a sinking feeling whenever she left the house. She buckled her seatbelt, grabbed her amber sunglasses by the handbrake, and searched for her pack of cigarettes. They weren't there.

She checked her bag; she saw her lighter was nearly empty and a lonely stick was left from her pack of cigarettes.

"I'll drop by the store after giving his damn papers," Leah reminded herself, cigarette in hand, releasing the handbrake.

---

It was an ordinary day in the supermarket, except now.

They were having a sale. On a regular day, the management and staff had time to relax. Working during a sale could be disorienting, especially for Mrs. Lewis and the other part-timers when many new customers come in.

After their morning store assignment, she started helping stack canned tuna in aisle six, but a coworker later called her to help out a customer. She later finds herself wrapping or chopping fruit in the produce section. Kitty felt like a wave swept her; she rarely finished a task except for a cashier or a line director.

She was tired most of the time but was happy to be helpful to the elderly and mothers shopping on weekdays. The job kept her mind from wandering.

The assistant floor manager came up to Kitty with two packaging boxes topped on one another. He was a jolly-looking older man with his belly sticking out, overlapping his belt buckle. It looks like he was looking for someone to delegate. Luckily he found Kitty and a pushcart. He gingerly plopped the boxes on the cart.

"Kath, can you stock these in the cosmetic section? Thanks a bunch," he said, handing her a pushcart full of cotton balls and pads.

"Sure thing," Kitty replied, taking the cart and pushing it near the back of the store.

The cosmetic aisle was in a sandwich between the garment section and the alcohol & cigarette bar. Miraculously the area was nearly empty. Most of the staff and shoppers were busy in front of the store.

Besides the stocks of rubbing alcohol, Kitty found the cotton and stocked the packs from the cart to the nearly empty cotton section. It took a while, but she finished the boxes and piled them in the employee's area in the back.

On her way out, she checked her watch. "Ten more minutes and I'm outta here," Kitty said to herself.

She usually brings home ingredients from her shift that she bought. Thinking in advance, Kitty thought of scouting the goods on sale as a meal prep for dinner.

After her scouting, Kitty went and picked a few packs of instant soup, garlic chips, and a bag of pre-chopped veggies for cooking and placed them on an empty counter for her to pay after her shift.

In some parts of the store, the staff can hear the faint sound of the floor managers' whistle. Kitty's shift was over.

---

The day's sale was over.

All Kitty had to do now was pay for the goods she left on the counter, get home, cook dinner, and wait for Ken to come home.

But her eyes were on a display shelf, on the lipstick section of the cosmetic aisle. It wasn't edible, but she convinced herself to look; she rarely wore makeup anyway.

Kitty found a crimson shade she liked among the shades on the shelf, she never wore dark-shaded lipsticks, but the color caught her attention. She was looking for testers; sadly, there weren't any, just the one open on display. She looked around, Kitty was alone in the divider-wall aisle, and she was out of range from the CCTV camera.

With the open crimson lipstick, Kitty lined her thin lips in front of the display mirror. She was shocked by the result; a different woman stared back at her in the reflection. She smiled and returned the display lipstick on the shelf.

She was about to leave when two little boys ran past her playing, knocking the stacked lipstick shades on the faded linoleum floor.

"Hey, watch it!" she yelled but was ignored when the two ran out the aisle.

Kitty exhaled exhaustedly and wiped her lips free of pigment with the back of her hand. She then picked up the boxes of lipstick shades scattered on the floor and arranged them on the shelf where they were before.

When she returned the boxes on display, she stood and walked out of the aisle, but she stepped on something as Kitty walked. Under her right foot, there was lay the box of crimson lipstick.

Swallowing sharply, she remembered that she checked, and was aware that she was alone. Kitty bent down, pretending to tie her shoelace, but grabbed the tube of lipstick and ran out the aisle, stuffing it in her bag.

Her hands were shaking at the checkout counter. By the register, a small monitor was showing the CCTV footage around the store. One of the cameras showed the place she took the lipstick; she was scared. Cold sweat ran down her back; any moment, Kitty thought a floor manager, the security, or even the accountant in the back would catch her.

But it didn't happen. Kitty paid for the goods she left on the counter, but she never paid for the lipstick.

Kitty was antsy, staring at the thermal printer as her recipe printed. She watched as the guy on the cashier opened the register, counting a few bills.

When she got her change, she smiled, acted normal, and continued to walk out of the exit.

Kitty was sure no one saw her.

---

The sky was cloudy, but it wasn't going to rain. Leah sat there waiting.

She was looking out the window, enjoying her cup of roasted coffee beans with frothy milk in a corner cafe. Across the street, a supermarket was having a sale; she thought of grabbing her vices there. Leah looked to find Keanu approaching and sitting on the chair in front of her.

Somewhere outside the supermarket parking lot, a man with a dark blue hoodie watched the two talking in a coffee shop. He also was waiting for them too to exit and separate from their cars.

"I see you've cut your hair." She smiled, recalling the last time they met was during Christmas, months ago.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Leah giggled.

Keanu smirked. He wore black, head to toe, with a plain black baseball cap; he made it look as if they were meeting discreetly. He was 30 now, but Leah could still see his boyish self. He was surprised by the venue and how close it was to the former Ms. Doe's workplace. Keanu could have asked to relocate, but he was intrigued.

Knowing that putting what comes first was what he should be doing is the only thing stopping Keanu from waltzing inside the store and pulling her into the bathroom stall. He made sure Katherine's guard was down with her husband's hands occupied with his schedules.

"Did you sign the documents?" he asked her impatiently.

"I did. I see dad finally added you to the will," she poked playfully.

Leah handed Keanu a sealed envelope; he smirked and put it in his messenger bag, "Thanks, sis."

The two continued to talk, catching up on things. They were half-siblings, but Leah didn't manage any family business like West Ent. She has her shares, which she let Keanu have a piece of; she was married off and discarded to seal company ties via the document.

Alexander West's wife died when Leah was 16. She was a wreck, but it infuriated her when her father revealed his long-term affair that resulted in an eight-year-old boy. She felt tossed aside and didn't accept him and his mother, but when Keanu's mom died years later, she accepted him, having lost a mom.

The two have loved each other ever since. When Leah got married, they never meddled in each other's business but sometimes supported each other in secret.

Leah checked her watch; it was three forty, that was enough for their afternoon chat. Keanu saw this and knew that their time was up. She smiled when she caught him.

"Where did you park?" she asked.

"I'm beside your car near the supermarket," he answered.

They both left the table and crossed the road. "Why don't you drop by sometime? Maybe see Paul and the kids," Leah suggested, out of the blue. "I'm sure they'd love to see you."

"I'll let you know, thanks." Keanu politely declined. They separated.

---

Mrs. Cameron went straight to the supermarket. She walked into a busy scene. Some employees greeted her upon entering, while the majority were stocking or helping customers. Checkout cart lanes were full of shoppers paying and exiting, but Leah managed to find a nearly empty basket lane. She was there to pick up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, maybe gum, on the way out.

She spotted a teenage staff sticking on milk carton expiration dates from a label puncher, came up to her, and asked where they kept the cigarettes. The girl told her to head near the store's backroom beside the cosmetics section with her hands. Nodding, Leah thanked her and walked straight to the said section.

She traversed through noisy employees with chatty shoppers and running children. Shopping carts clattered unsynced with some empty and others nearly full contents on lumpy faded linoleum floors. It felt like people were intentionally barricading her from passing.

With her head down, Leah made it to the part where it almost looked deserted. She instantly saw the sign that reads Puffs & Liquor; she grabbed a few packs of mentholated cigarettes and a lighter from the glass sliding shelf.

She couldn't help but hear children running and playing in the next stall. The squeak of sneakers soles on textured vinyl was an earful, making Leah's face twitch. She heard a small crash and the sound of boxes rolling or tumbling from a higher location and then the squeak of rubber soles fading.

"Hey, watch it!" a woman yelled.

Leah put on her sunglasses and walked near the front of the aisle. She peeped through the stacked rubbing alcohols. The noise came from a petite, young woman bending down to small stock boxes of products on a display shelf. After she picked up everything on the floor and fixed the display, she turned to leave as if nothing had happened.

A few steps away from the display bracket, she happened to step on one of the boxes. Scanning the area with her eyes, she thought she was alone, so pretending to tie her shoelace, she grabbed the box of lipstick by her foot and dropped it in her bag's flap.

After witnessing this, Leah hurriedly tiptoed her way out to the front of the store; luckily, the brunette wasn't aware of her presence. "It's not my business.", Leah said to herself as she grabbed her purchased goods. She continued to walk out of the store to the parking lot.

Leah had the shock of her life. Outside, she saw her brother, and John, the user she blocked, started throwing fists. There were in the way of people leaving and entering the lot. Cars alarms sounded, drivers were honking, and people were yelling at them to stop, but they couldn't interfere.

Still having her shades on, Leah turned her back and went inside the store. She had to think of something, and then it hit her.

She saw the brunette from earlier exiting; Leah held her shoulder, pretending to look like they knew each other.

---

Kitty nearly jumped when a short-haired woman wrapped her arm over her shoulder. "Excuse me," she said, shrugging her slender arm off her.

"Oh, excuse me," the woman echoed coyly smiling. "I know what you did there."

Kitty's eyes widened, swallowing a lump in her throat.

"I saw you with the lipstick," she continued.

"You... you must be mistaken." Kitty faked.

"Is that so, okay, then I need your help," the woman said sternly.

"What if I say no," Kitty said flatly.

"What would happen if I turned around and started screaming? What would you do" she threatened.

Defeated, Kitty turned to face her. "How can I help you," she said nervously.

"Lie for me." the woman said, smiling.