Chapter 14

Lorna 

There are a couple more things that I needed to get done before I walked home and before it gets to dark out. The stores in the shopping center usually close at 6 O'clock at night. They stay open later on Friday and Saturday in order to allow shopping for people who cant get their during the week. The only thing that is open 24/7 around here was the gas stations and the one Mcdonalds thats about 10 minutes away from the shopping center. 

I walked into the hardware store, smiling at the cashier he looked me over and nodded and looked back at his phone. I walked down a few aisles looking at the different chandilers. There was a beautiful one that was stained glass with blue yellow and orange. I would come back for that another time. When I knew for sure where I would be in the next few months.

I finally saw what I was looking for, the aisle was labeled Locks.

I hustled into the aisle and found the replacement door locks, I looked around the aisle at some more of the security features and decided to get two extra locks for my front door and an extra one for my back door. 

I walk back to the front of the store smiling at the man at the counter who looks like he would rather be anywhere but at work. 

"Just these for you?" He looked up from his phone.

"Yeah." 

"You on the run or something?" He said raising his eyebrow.

I laugh "No,just bought a house and its a little run down and wanted to update the locks and such."

He looked at me with an amused glint in his eye.

"Alright, that will be $201.76."

My heart did a little flutter I felt heat rush to my cheeks and grab the card out of my leggings. 

"Can I try this first?" 

"Sure you have ID?"

"Yep" I said making sure to pop the "P" sound. 

I handed him my ID as well as my card. Praying that it would go through Im not sure if James was monitoring the account or not and if he decided to block any transactions after I took the money out of the account. 

I heard the machine whir and beep and the seconds felt like hours as I held my breath. 

I heard the recipt machine print and blew out a breath. I saw the cashier eyeing me with confusion and humor mixed in his eyes. 

"Have a goodnight" I gave him a small smile as I walked out of the store. 

I had tools at home, so I would be able to implement the 2nd part of my plan quickly. If James was still working his same schedule he would be getting home in about two hours. 

I started my walk home feeling a little bit of hope rising in my chest.