Heading To The Store

After breakfast, Lynn, Heather, Melinda, and Xin had stayed up in the suite with him. While discussing all of the new transformations, they played the newest Mario Party on the Switch together. Heather sat out, as she didn’t care for the game, and she felt a need to make sure that everyone had drinks and snacks as they played.

Xin mentioned that Piper was her Big today, and planned to spend time with her after the shopping trip. There was some talk about what sort of place Melinda and Xin wanted with Zachary, but both were rather tight-lipped and told Lynn they’d talk with her privately. When they were done with the game that Melinda won, pushing her ahead on her scoreboard three times, once for each of her opponents, the group headed down to the cafeteria for lunch.

On the elevator ride down, Lynn once again gladly offered herself as tribute to sit on Zach’s lap. Xin and Heather sat on the opposite couch from them, and Melinda sat next to Zach. Zach’s hand did the same thing as the previous night, slipping around Melinda and groping her. This time, however, Melinda let out a sharp gasp of pleasure when he started groping her. The gasp turned into moaning as he continued for several seconds before he finally realized what he was doing and stopped.

Zach said, “Sorry, Melinda, I—”

“I know,” Melinda replied, while panting in arousal. “Holy fuck, that was pleasurable. What the hell happened?” Melinda was still breathing heavily.

Xin realized it faster thanks to her intellect being a bit higher than normal. “Oh! It’s because you beat Lynn, Zachary, and me in Mario Party.”

Melinda said, “What? I mean, sure, I know that counts as a win, but so what?”

Xin took on a tone of a bit of a know-it-all, explaining something they thought was obvious. “Your symptoms are based on your scoreboard position. The further ahead you are, the more intense they’ll be. Same with being behind.”

“Wait, then does that mean the amount of semen I need doesn’t actually do anything different if I need only a little or a lot?” Melinda asked.

Xin nodded. “I think so, but this involves Delilah, so maybe not.”

Melinda said sincerely, “Oh, that’s fantastic. If I stay ahead, then I don’t need to become a cum addict.”

Zachary nodded, “Sure… but that could also quickly become a problem if you fall behind.” Zach squeezed her breast, having not let go of it. She moaned in pleasure again. “I’m willing to bet I could get you off just through breast play at the moment. Which would count as a win for me.”

The elevator opened, and Lynn reluctantly got up and walked to the front of the group.

Melinda told Zach, “I’m still okay with it; I just need to win, even if not against you, and I can always just blow you if I have to.”

Heather slowed to walk beside Melinda and whispered as quietly as she could, “Just remember, Zachary can make you cum on command if he wants to. Repeatedly, even; just keep that in mind before you tick him off, but also as a possible method of relief.”

Melinda whispered back, “Relief?”

Heather nodded. “Imagine if your breasts or ass were twice as sensitive as they are now.” Heather didn’t realize her hand had landed on Melinda’s backside, which was really filling out the denim of her jeans. Heather gave her ass a little squeeze. “Imagine if it were ten times. You might cum just from wearing clothes. So you let Zach cause you to orgasm a bunch for relief.”

Zach eyed the two women having a whispered conversation but didn’t interrupt and instead moved forward towards Lynn and Xin as they entered the cafeteria. They found Piper and Caroline already seated at opposite ends of the same table, and they were avoiding looking at or speaking to each other. He was also surprised by Heather’s insistence that he let her get him a plate of food. When he agreed to let her, he thought he noticed Lynn pout slightly. Zach decided to sit across from Piper and asked, “What’s wrong between you and your mom?”

“I told her the truth. She didn’t like that.” Piper replied.

“About what?” Zach replied in a hushed tone.

“Me, and… and my kinks. I didn’t go into a bunch of detail, just… that… well… you know. You’ve seen them.”

“Ah.” He said in understanding. “And she responded with something like, I didn’t raise a deviant or something?”

“Essentially. She even said she was considering asking you to modify the subliminal messaging in the room to straighten me out some.”

“What!?” Zach exclaimed and looked down the table towards Caroline. Caroline looked away from the two of them. She started shivering and rubbing her arms for a few seconds and then abruptly stopped. Zach hissed, “Piper, seriously?”

“Yeah. Of course I sort of find the idea hot… sooo, that’s confusing.”

Zach just groaned. “I will deal with this later. I wanted to let you know that I have a pretty good idea of what I’m refunding from your build, but I’m waiting for the shopping trip to be over first.”

Piper said, “I’d prefer you stay out of it, actually, but I guess it’s your call. You aren’t going to refund the points I earned, are you?”

“Not unless you want me to. Those are yours to do with as you see fit.”

Piper asked, “So are you going to tell me—” The others sat down at the table, with Heather extending her hand with Zach’s plate in between him and Piper, disrupting their conversation.

Lynn further disrupted Piper’s question by asking Xin, “So did you have a specific plan for what you were going to buy? Or were you just interested in getting access to the higher floors?”

“I was considering getting an upgrade to Crescendo, but I’m also sort of scared to, because I could even see the beneficial upgrades being a trap.” Xin picked at her food worriedly.

Melinda nodded. “That does seem like Delilah’s style, but the plain upgrade that Lynn bought for me last round wasn’t really a problem. I hate to say this, because she’s evil, but I’m not sure Delilah has outright lied to us, except for that stunt where she pretended the penalties for placing low in the challenge were higher than they really were, but even then she didn’t let the lie linger.”

Lynn said, “Except for you know my entire introduction and which transformations I desired.”

Melinda looked down at her food and said noncommittally, “Yeah… that too.” Yeah, after spending time with you, I’m not so sure. “My point is, Delilah seems like the type to cause chaos by telling selective truths instead of outright lies. Plus, if the shop labels can’t be trusted, we won’t buy things, which defeats the purpose of the shop. So even if they aren’t perfect, I think generally if you buy a beneficial upgrade, most of the time you’ll at least eventually agree it was a net positive.”

Caroline asked, “Do you think the one Lynn got you was a positive?”

“Eh… It’s insightful. I now know when all of you stare at me and at what part of my body. I also think it helped me get in the mood for things with Zach here. I won’t lie, though; it is occasionally distracting. That said, it was also just an upgrade, not a beneficial one.” Melinda explained. “Also, I remembered this morning a possible issue with the plan to get Xin access to the platinum floor. Assuming everyone still wants to go through with that.”

Everyone was paying close attention to Melinda, with several of them staring at her cleavage instead of her face, causing her to get worked up and lose her train of thought for a moment. “Well… um… The options, I think, are meant to incentivize selfishness and vindictiveness, as the positive things are generally cheaper for yourself than for others, while those that are negative are the opposite. That’s what we saw last time when Lynn and I went shopping. So, if you have Xin buy a beneficial upgrade for you, there will be a tax of sorts to have it count towards her total spent, as it would be cheaper for you to buy it for yourself.”

Zachary said, “Even if it is more expensive, it should be worth it.”

The rest of lunch passed fairly quickly with mostly polite and subdued conversation. The only particularly interesting question was when Piper asked Heather if her new room was worse than the tentacle pits or not. It wasn’t, and it wasn’t close either, in her opinion. After lunch, the entire group headed to the BP store and was excitedly greeted by Pita.

“HELLO! WELCOME VALUED CUSTOMERS!” Pita beamed as they entered. “I hear that we have a potential big spender with us here today, who’s planning on getting her gold membership!” Pita floated over to Xin and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Is that right? I’m so excited! Now what are you looking for, my dear? Upgrades? Sabotages? Clothes? Clothes are sort of boring. OH! How about a brand new transformation! I’ve got just the thing for you!” Pita started to drag Xin away from the group but was stopped by Zach putting a hand on Pita’s shoulder.

Pita did not seem to mind. Instead, Pita beamed back at him, “Oh, how silly of me. Of course I should be bringing you along, Master Blackstone. You’ll want to see her new look after the transformation.” Pita grabbed Zach’s hand and started to drag him too, and he found she was unusually strong, not just for her size, either.

Zach said, “Pita, wait.” Pita stopped in her tracks. “We’re all shopping together. Some of the others are planning on giving Xin their BP to spend for them, so Xin can get to the platinum floor.”

Pita let go of both of them and squealed with delight as she did a little happy dance in midair.

Zach asked, “You work on commission, don’t you?”

Pita scoffed, “Oh no. But I do get a bonus for everyone who gets gold or platinum membership.”

Lynn was curious. “What’s the bonus?”

Pita beamed, “Instead of only getting one day off, I get twelve!”

Lynn asked incredulously, “You only get one day off a month?”

Pita burst out laughing. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, A MONTH! A MONTH SHE SAYS!” Pita floated over to Lynn and put her hand on Lynn’s shoulder. “That would be a dream. I earn one day off a decade. My most recent vacation, I saved up for several centuries to take.”

Melinda muttered, “And I thought I was overworked.” She raised her voice to normal and asked, “Do you at least get weekends or holidays?”

Pita nodded, “This might be the hells, but even we imps have unions. We get holidays off, and we don’t use your calendar, so a week isn’t really useful as a time measurement, but yes, we do have something akin to weekends.”

Pita then glomped onto Xin, “You’re about to make my century, as Gold membership is only an extra two days.” Pita looked over her shoulder at Lynn. “Sorry, Lynn, but I have a new favorite.”

Piper said, “I see you’re rather bribable.” Pita unashamedly nodded. Piper then asked, “So if all six of us got platinum membership, you’d get seventy-two days off?”

Pita became weirdly focused on Piper at her question, and got a bit quiet and hopeful. “Umm… no, actually. If… if that happened. I’d get my wish.”

Xin was the only one to properly hear everything she said, and asked, “Your wish? What do you mean?”

“I’d be given a Master of my own. Quite probably Master Blackstone... but maybe not…” Pita seemed really wistful at the thought.

Zachary said, “Wait, what? Why? I’m confused.”

Pita asked, “About what?”

Zachary said, “Why would you want that? Also, why me?”

“Oh, that. So you know how De-la-la told you she was a vengeance demon?” Pita got a few nods. “Well, that’s a type of wrath demon. I’m just an imp. So I’m not as focused yet; I like minor chaos and lewd things. You can think of me as a mischievous pervert. For a demon to grow, they need a focus. I know what I want, which I’ll get with a Master. As for why you?” Pita just shrugged. “It’s your season, but depending on when it happens, maybe I get added to the next season or a different host’s season.”

Everyone stared at the little imp, not sure exactly how to feel about what they just learned. Most of the women felt conflicted because it sounded like Pita truly would love to exchange places with them if she could, or at least join them. There was an awkward silence for a little bit, which Pita eventually broke. With her voice cracking slightly, she said, “Well, how about we go figure out all your purchases?”

---

As they were walking to the kiosks, Piper asked, “So this plan of yours, Zach, how much do we actually need to make it work?”

“Well, it’s twenty thousand to reach platinum membership and then between three and five more.”

Xin said, “Meaning we need all of mine, Piper’s, and Caroline’s BP, and then still another few thousand BP on top of that.”

Lynn turned to Heather. “Did you consider my request?”

Heather replied, “I did, actually. I’ll chip in as long as Zach approves the purchase I want.”

“As long as it doesn’t harm the others, I’ll likely be amenable,” Zach replied. “How about everyone takes an hour to browse the store and come back to let Xin know what you want?”

Xin nodded. “That works for me, plus I need to buy an actual wardrobe now. So I’ll be upstairs trying on outfits.”

Pita clapped her hands in excitement. “I have wonderful news, everyone.” Everyone but Lynn and Xin assumed it would, in fact, not be wonderful news. “We are having a clothing sale; everything is half off, as long as you model it for the Master first on the runway upstairs.”

Xin asked, “How does the sale work regarding progress towards platinum membership?”

Pita said, “You’ll have to buy twice as much, I suppose. You only count what you actually spend, not what your purchases are actually worth.”

Xin walked over and grabbed Zach’s hand. “I guess I’m putting on a show. You’re coming with me, Zach.” Xin started leading him towards the escalator. Lynn and Piper immediately followed after them, seemingly intent on participating in said show. Melinda reluctantly followed after.

Heather was looking at one of the transformation kiosks. Caroline walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, I wanted to check how you were holding up. Also, I apologize for Piper sabotaging your team in the final round of volleyball.”

“That isn’t your fault. As for how I’m doing?” Heather let out a defeated sigh and returned towards the screen. “I’ve given up at least on trying to do more than survive.”

Caroline looked at her aghast. “Why!? I know your newest transformation is rough, but that’s no reason to give up.”

Heather looked at Caroline like she was being naive. “Caroline, have you really thought about what happens after this? I mean, really thought about it?”

“Some. Why?”

Heather found a nearby chair and collapsed into it. “What do you think is the best possible outcome for you at this point?”

Caroline thought about it. “I guess my life wouldn’t be that different, aside from Piper being with Zachary. Though I suspect I’ll have to have something with him too.”

Heather nodded. “Fair enough, at least for now. Now, what do you think the best possible outcome for me is?”

“Hmmm… well, you want to make up with Zachary, so being in a loving relationship with him, and having a family with him.”

Heather nodded. “You’re not wrong. That’s essentially what I’ve accepted as part of the best possible outcome. Except you missed the part where my entire purpose in life is now to take care of the housework and him. Even if I fix things with him, and that’s honestly a big if, I’ll still be a housewife and stay-at-home mom. So why fight the inevitable?”

Caroline countered, “There is still plenty you could do without working. You could—”

“Stop. Please. I get you’re trying to help. I do, but our situations are different.”

“Then upgrade that transformation. Get a beneficial upgrade to Domesticated. It might let you work then, even if not in your previous profession. But you aren’t doomed, and you are certainly not his maid to toy with.”

Heather looked up at Caroline with sunken eyes. “Maybe, but I doubt that. I bought Cheaters Never Prosper for myself yesterday.”

“WHAT!?” Caroline shouted in shock.

Heather let out a weak laugh. “Heh, Zach declined my purchase, but I made the choice. It was out of my hands.”

Caroline furrowed her brow. “He declined? That’s… that’s good. Did he tell you why?”

“I was drunk, and I hadn’t considered the new drawbacks. He said to think it over for a few days. Look, I’m not giving up completely. I’m just going to focus on survival and making something of the shattered remains of my life. You should be careful.”

Caroline frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Heather looked towards the staircase. Then back to the console. Heather scrolled through the options and then gestured towards the kiosk for Caroline to look at it.

Caroline frowned but looked at the kiosk. She saw the transformation that would cause Zachary to slowly replace her husband. She glared at Heather. “Are you threatening me?”

Heather barked out a weak laugh. “I’m the only one here who can’t threaten you with this. That’s my point, though. The others can buy this. Say someone who has her world shattered and wants revenge.”

Caroline stopped glaring at Heather, but continued to frown pensively. “You mean Lynn…”

Heather nodded. “I think we all see it except Zach, and maybe Xin. I can’t think of anything Lynn has done to hurt Zach as long as I’ve known her, but I'm willing to bet we’ll find out eventually. When that happens… shit is going to hit the fan.”

Caroline asked, “You’re telling me to simply let her be? Let her run rampant over us?”

“I’m just warning you of how much she could retaliate against the one she blames for exposing her.” Heather stood. “I’m going to go join the others. Maybe model something for Zach to get his attention. I’d consider doing the same. Also, thank you for checking on me. It’s nice to know someone cares.” Heather walked towards the escalator upstairs, leaving Caroline alone at the kiosk.

Pita floated over next to Caroline and leaned on her shoulder. Pita asked, “Not going upstairs? You know we put in the escalators specifically so old folks like yourself could get up there with their bad knees.”

Caroline frowned. “Is there a reason you dislike me so much? Is it really just because I’m older?”

“Hmm? Oh no. I don’t like you for a bunch of reasons. That said, my advice from earlier was genuine. Would you like to know what I think you should spend your BP on besides clothes?”

Caroline sighed, “Oh, this ought to be good.”

Pita held up her hands. “Fine, whatever, you grumpy old fart. I’ll keep my opinions to myself.”

Caroline sighed again. “What is your recommendation?”

Pita pouted and flew in front of her, leaning back in midair. “Apologize first. Or I’m not telling.” Pita let out a little hurmph.

“No. You’ve been consistently rude to me since I’ve gotten here, not to mention you work with my kidnapper. I’m not apologizing for being cross with you.”

Pita corrected Caroline, “I work for, not with, De-la-la. Big difference. And it’s not by choice, so nyah.” Pita stuck out her tongue at Caroline. “Fine, whatever.” Pita flew over to the kiosk and showed her three options. “I would get one or more of these depending on your strategy for appealing to your Master and to the Audience.”

Caroline read over the options and snorted in disbelief as she shook her head. “I’m not turning my daughter and me into hucows. Also, I thought you didn’t like that sort of thing anyway.”

Pita shrugged. “I don’t. I think hucows are awful, and near the bottom of all animal girls. I can’t say the same is true for the perverts that watch this show, however.”

Caroline looked over the other two options and had to admit that they didn’t completely suck and could see some upsides to them. She still didn’t want them, especially the one that would include making her fertile again. Caroline turned to Pita. “I can see you are at least trying to help in your own way, Pita, and thanks for that, I guess, but I don’t want to simply give myself over to Zachary.”

Pita shrugged. “Your funeral, maybe your daughter’s too, if you don’t change something about the situation.” With that, Pita vanished in a puff of odorless smoke.

Caroline sighed. She isn’t wrong. I do need to change something, but what?

Caroline finally went towards the escalator to join the others.

When she got to the second floor, she found Zachary waiting in a comfy chair, like one would find in a department store meant for boyfriends or husbands to sit in while their partners did their shopping. Caroline asked, “Were you waiting for me?”

“No, the others pretty much told me to sit here and wait for them so as not to ruin the surprise. That being said, I’d like to talk to you.” Zachary gestured to the chair next to him. Caroline went ahead and sat next to him. “Did you really tell Piper you were going to ask me to use the subliminal room to correct her behavior?”

Caroline looked ashamed. “Yes, but I didn’t really mean it. She just sprung stuff on me out of nowhere, and I reacted poorly.” Caroline felt a momentary shiver, but it passed quickly.

Zachary said, “I want you to know I will be altering the messaging, but just like with the schedules in the Gilded Cage, I can’t just edit them to be whatever I want.” Zachary put up a hand to stop Caroline. “No, I won’t be taking suggestions from either of you.”

“Why not?” Caroline said with a scowl, “Is it because we’re yours to do with as you please?”

Zachary let out a frustrated growl. “Why do you have to make this so difficult? No, it’s not that. I figure both of you wouldn’t be happy if I took the other's suggestions, so I’m simply not going to take either of yours.”

“You really think we would both dislike the other’s suggestions?” Caroline asked disbelievingly.

“There are messages for both of you and for each of you. I can guess Piper’s top three suggestions for you. Something along the lines of ‘You should sleep with Zachary’ is probably number one for both of you. Are you telling me you would actually be okay with me putting that in?”

“No. I see your point.”

Zachary continued, “And Piper has already specifically told me not to get advice about her build from you, because she feels like you try to live through her. So this isn’t going to be any different.”

Caroline winced. “She really said that?”

“Yes,” Zachary stated matter of factly.

Caroline’s shoulders sagged.

Zachary asked, “Can I make a suggestion?” Caroline nodded. “Stop trying to act like Piper’s mother. She’s an adult and has been for some time.”

“She’s still my child.”

Zachary said, “And the more you treat her like one, the more she’ll resent you, but there’s another reason you should stop it. This is a reality show; once people get assigned a role by the audience, it usually requires something significant to shake it up. We’re still early in this show, but you’re quickly making yourself Piper’s mom, and not Caroline, to the audience. If you remain an extension of Piper, then you’re going to wind up doing things with her you don’t want to.”

Caroline sighed, “You’re probably right. I just wish I knew where we went wrong raising her.” Caroline suddenly felt ice cold. She started rubbing her arms to try and warm herself, but it didn’t help. She looked at Zachary, confused.

Zachary had stood and angrily stared down at Caroline. He leaned over, putting a hand on either arm of the chair Caroline was sitting in. “I don’t want to hear that from you again.” He took a deep breath before he continued to slightly calm himself. “Piper might be a bit bitchy at times, but she certainly doesn’t need you correcting her. What she needs from you is your love, acceptance, and support. If you can’t or won’t give it to her, then keep your mouth closed about her life choices.” Zach stood up straight and walked to the escalator heading up to the third floor so he could have some privacy to cool off.

Caroline stared after him in shock as she shivered in her chair. What was that about?

Heather and Melinda had witnessed the exchange and came over to Caroline. Melinda asked, “What the hell did you do to get him so pissed?” Melinda then noticed Caroline was shivering and decided to take a slight step back, as she did not want Caroline to share her cold with her and be unable to stop her.

Heather sat down next to Caroline and touched her hand reassuringly, and pulled it away because of how cold Caroline felt. “What happened?”

Caroline said, shivering. “W-we w-w-were talking. He su-suddenly got really angry. I-I s-s-said s-s-something about not raising P-P-Piper right.”

“Oh.” Heather said, “Yeah… he probably wouldn’t be happy to hear that. My parents said something like that about me on more than one occasion, and it always ticked him off that I wouldn’t let him just lay into them.”

Melinda said, “Caroline, you might want to take that sweater off; it will help with the cold if you do.”

Caroline said, “I-I’m not w-w-wearing anything, u-u-under it.”

Both women mouthed, ‘Ah,’ sympathetically. Heather tried to reach out and hold Caroline’s hand, but it felt like ice to hold, and she had to let go of it. Heather said, “We should see if there is something we can do about that transformation. It seems brutal.”

“Y-you’ll h-h-hear no complaints f-f-from me.” Caroline stammered out. Caroline tried pulling up the sweater, revealing her midriff, and found that helped considerably. She then pulled off her long skirt. That made it feel like a chilly autumn day instead of freezing. She found that laying her skirt over her counted as covering up, and sighed as she folded it and put it to the side. “At least I have panties.”

That didn’t save her from embarrassment as Piper came over and asked, “Mom? Why aren’t you wearing anything besides panties below the waist?”

“Kill me now,” Caroline muttered. “Zachary’s new transformation activated.”

Heather reached out and held her hand, and Caroline warmed up a little. Heather said, “Apparently, stripping really decreases the severity.”

Piper didn’t seem particularly sympathetic. “Let me guess, you pissed him off because you’re still being intractable and said something stupid.”

Heather and Melinda avoided looking at Piper as they really didn’t want to get between mother and daughter, and they knew what Caroline had actually said. Caroline just said, “Piper, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I did last night, but this isn’t normal. What you told me isn’t normal.”

Piper shook her head. “I hope this passes for you quickly, but I’m not going to keep having this conversation with you. I, and apparently Zach, think you’re the one in the wrong.” Piper then walked back towards Lynn and Xin, who were currently looking at options that might count as schoolgirl outfits even if they weren’t a traditional look.

Heather said, “That’s not great.” Melinda looked at Heather curiously. “Piper hanging out with Lynn is a recipe for problems down the line. What if Lynn is the one who can condition Piper?”

Melinda replied, “Nothing we can do about it if it is her. But I don’t think she’d use it as much as you do. If anything, I think she would just condition her to want Zach’s dick. Zach is paying attention to Lynn and isn’t exactly happy with what she’s been doing to us.” Melinda saw that Heather was intrigued by that. “Don’t get your hopes up, Heather. He’s still defensive of her. Also, I think we might be being too hard on her.”

Heather and Caroline looked at Melinda incredulously, and their gazes practically demanded an explanation about that.

Melinda said, “Heather, you’ve had your mind messed with. Imagine if instead of cooking and cleaning you had to get the rest of us to have sex with him, or serve him dutifully. Do you really think you’d be handling it better than Lynn is?”

Heather frowned as she knew she probably wouldn’t be, even if she would prefer that to her own punishment.

Melinda turned to Caroline, “I’m not saying Lynn isn’t crazy. I’m just saying maybe we’re being overly harsh towards her, especially considering she really does seem to be trying to get us all through this, even if she hates doing that.”

Heather said, “She did help me in the last challenge when I asked, and I still find that hard to believe. Then she actually asked for my help with something earlier today. Though she hasn’t told me what yet. Then, to my shock, she actually helped me into Zach’s room because I had trouble walking.”

Caroline leaned against Heather some more and said, “I was going to ask…” Caroline couldn’t help but shiver. “What’s with those heels?”

Heather explained what had happened this morning. She was starting to feel rather chilly herself by the end of the explanation.

Caroline was rather upset after hearing that Zach could have, but refused to remove the rest of the bondage material from Heather. “He has no right to keep you in this stuff!”

Heather pulled away from Caroline as the cold was starting to bother her. “Caroline, first of all, Zach didn’t put me in this.” Heather held up a hand to stop Caroline’s objection. “Second, I don’t actually mind all that much. These are far steeper than any heels I’ve normally worn, but the biggest issue I was having this morning was that I didn’t actually have any heel support before I got these boots.”

“And that makes it okay for him to leave you like this?” Caroline objected.

Melinda said, “Caroline, you really need to shift your way of thinking. He doesn’t owe any of us anything. Now I’m going to go look for some clothes since so much of my wardrobe is useless with these new curves. Are you going to model anything for Zach?”

Caroline shook her head. “No. I refuse to debase myself like that just to get a couple more outfits.”

Melinda shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Heather stood. “I’m going to go look too.”

Caroline nodded as she felt the chill increase as Heather was no longer touching her at all. “I think I’m going to look through some of the kiosks downstairs.”