Page 13 of Hopeless Romantic
Ignoring the seed of a headache that had formed behind her right eye, she gave Jeffery an encouraging smile when he set down the new plate, then carefully remade the dinner. As she scooped out equal bits of chicken, peppers, onions, potatoes, and baby corn—Thomas’s favorite part—she patted herself on the back for saving dinner. She reached behind her for a clean napkin to wipe the edges of the plate and then paused.
She double-checked the carton and recounted the items on the plate—twice. She was one baby cob short of a Thomas-approved dinner.
A familiar scratching came from the chair beside her. She located the source of the noise, and her head spun, because Gregory had staged a breakout to join them for dinner. Based on the little yellow bits of kernel speckling his beak and white feathers, he’d started with a chicken-sized cob of corn.
“Pa-cock.”
One more male to add to Beckett’s Problematic Pecker list.
Chapter 4
Moving heaven and earth would be easier than convincing Thomas to walk into the grocery store. It was the hum of the fluorescent lights, the overwhelming choices, and tightness of the aisles, especially during peak hours, that made it challenging. Which was why Beckett picked downtimes, kept her lists small, and included items that Thomas enjoyed.
Today, he wasn’t having it.
“I do not want to go,” he said, twisting his upper body to face the parking lot.
“Today’s Tuesday morning,” Beckett said. “What do we do on Tuesday mornings?”
“We go grocery shopping. But I do not want to go grocery shopping. I will wait here until you are done.”
“That’s not an option.” And neither was skipping their weekly shopping trip.
Shopping was one of the crucial skills Thomas needed to master if he were to have the kind of future he deserved, which was why Beckett had started her day before the sun. She’d met with clients, brought Diesel to the children’s hospital for his weekly visit as Dog Wonder, and managed to make it back in time to pick up Thomas. Cutting it close to lunch hour, she hadn’t taken the time to change her clothes, afraid that the market would become overcrowded.
They’d made it—barely. Now came the familiar but never fun process of coaxing Thomas inside. To help ensure a positive experience, they’d gone over their list in the car, paying special attention to the most important item—a bag of peanut M&M’s to reward a job well done. But none of her tricks were working.
It didn’t help that the market was busier than normal. The storm had passed, leaving behind blue skies and an unusually warm morning, which tempted people out of their houses and into town. Including two of Beckett’s clients, who’d stopped to say hello, unaware that the simple social norm of chitchat ate into Thomas’s daily decision-making quota.
“If you help eat the food, you help replace the food. That’s the rule,” she gently reminded him.
“Then I will not eat.”
“Wow, that’s too bad.” She kept her voice animated and light. “Tonight, for dinner, we’re having barbecue chicken kabobs with cornbread and honey butter.”
“I like cornbread and honey butter.”
“I know, but it will take everyone pitching in to get it done. Dad said he’d barbecue, I’m baking the cornbread, and you need to help shop for ingredients. That’s how families work. Everyone participates.”
“Unpacking the groceries and putting them in their correct place is participating.” He smiled as if he’d just reasoned his way out of shopping. “Icanhave cornbread and honey butter.”
Beckett bit back a groan. Her world ebbed and flowed in direct proportion to the kind of day Thomas was having. The more cornered he felt, the higher his anxiety rose, the narrower Beckett’s window for life outside of home became.
She grabbed a cart, cleaned it with a wet wipe, then presented it. “You can push the cart or walk beside me. Which would you prefer?”
“I would prefer to go home.”
“I’m partial to holding hands, if that’s on the table,” a deep and sexy voice said from behind them.
Beckett looked over her shoulder to find the last person on the planet she wanted to encounter when wearing pink go-go boots, black leggings, and a pink Girl Wonder cape.
It was the guy who’d starred in last night’s steamy, sensual, and embarrassingly inappropriate sex dream—everyone’s favorite flirt of a bartender, Levi Rhodes. Only instead of wearing nothing but a tan and a ball cap, he had on faded jeans and a soft gray sweatshirt with his bar’s logo on the pec, flip-flops on his feet, and a smile that obliterated her brain cells.
He looked laid-back, windblown, and ready to break some hearts. Thankfully, her heart was too busy breaking for Thomas to notice.
It still bugged her that Levi always managed to catch her in her most vulnerable moments. She couldn’t think of a single time she hadn’t looked frazzled, tattered, or just plain run-down in front of him. Even when she’d dressed to impress at Annie and Emmitt’s engagement party, she’d managed to come off like a crazy lady.
Today was the cherry on top of that humble pie à la mode. She was dressed like a superhero, negotiating with a ninja, and all her edges were one thread from fraying.
