Page 27 of A Dream for Daphne

“We meet again.”

Abe watched as Daphne swiveled her head in the grocery store, her cart hitting the rack and boxes of cereal falling off of the shelf.

“Crap,” she said, bending down to pick them up.

“Sorry,” he said. “Let me help.”

There were people everywhere and he was wondering what possessed him to come on July Fourth to get some food.

Maybe because he had the day off and he thought everyone else would be at some party and not looking to fill up their pantry.

“I feel like such a klutz and now I’m blocking people,” she said, picking up the boxes and trying to put them back the way they were.

“My fault,” he said. “I shouldn’t have startled you like that.”

They stood up at the same time and shifted out of the way for people to get by.

“No,” she said. “You shouldn’t have.”

She was smiling though so he was happy to see a glimmer of the woman who was flirting with him in the casino.

“Not working today?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I’m going to assume the same as you? I’m sure you’ve been invited to parties today.”

“Actually, no,” he said. “My cousin, his girlfriend lives next door to me, and the two of them went back to Stamford where his condo is to get together with his best friend. Otherwise, I might have had a cookout with him.”

“Laurel and Easton, right?”

He frowned and shifted again. They were blocking people and this was stupid, but he wasn’t going to give up an opportunity to talk with her.

“How do you know them?”

“Let’s say it’s a small world.”

“You know I’m going to want you to expand on that.”

She seemed to hesitate. “It doesn’t seem to be the place to do it.”

She moved her cart out of the aisle and down another. It was stalker-like to keep following her, but he was shopping too and adding things to his cart the same as her.

“Can you give me a place to do it?” he asked. “Hey, Jim.”

He lifted his hand and waved to someone who said his name.

“Definitely not here if you’ve got this many people saying hi to you. I did notice a few others nodding at you.”

“It’s a small area,” he said. “As I’m learning again that you know my cousin somehow.”

“You’re going to keep talking to me in here about it, aren’t you?”

She was squinting her eyes as she turned to ask him that. Her hair was still up in a ponytail. He realized now he hadn’t seen it down since the night in the casino.

She was wearing jean shorts again, a red T-shirt, and black Nike flip-flops on her feet.

“Right now I’m trying to get my food shopping out of the way more than anything,” he said. “But I would like to know. I could stop to see you tomorrow while we are on site.”

“I’d rather not,” she said.

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