Page 45 of What it Takes
“I met Nola for lunch, but now I have to go to the market. Fran’s going to be happy because everybody found out I was going and it’s not a short list.”
“Want some company?” The words popped out before he really gave them any thought, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea to him.
“I...don’t know. Aren’t you working?”
“It’s kind of a weird situation because, technically, I’malwaysworking. They call, I go. When there are no calls, I just wander around looking for things to do. So—fair warning, I guess—but I could have to abandon you in the potato chip aisle at a moment’s notice.”
She made a thoughtful face for a moment, and then shrugged. “If you’re going to be abandoned, what better place than the potato chip aisle?”
“I could grab a few things myself, since I haven’t been shopping in a while. I’m down to a few microwave meals with questionable expiration dates and a bottle of ketchup.”
“Shopping isn’t as much fun alone.” She smiled, but then gave him a skeptical look. “Unless this is some scam you first responders do where you fill up your cart, but then a call comes in and you have to abandon me. But I’m a nice lady, so I’ll get your groceries and even deliver them for you.”
He laughed hard enough so the other guys stopped pretending they weren’t watching and frowned at him. “No, I’m not trying to scam groceries out of you. If I have to leave, Fran puts my basket aside, except for cold items. Those she puts in a bag in the walk-in, so when I get back there, I can pick up shopping where I left off.”
“That’s nice of her.”
He shrugged. “It’s a nice town.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“So you like it here?”
She nodded. “I do. I mean, there are a lot of things I’m used to that Whitford doesn’t have, which is challenging. There’s no takeout, for one thing. And from what I understand, going to a movie theater is literally a road trip.”
“That’s true. Although, there’s kind of takeout. If you called in an order to the diner, they’d probably find someone going out by the lodge who’d drop it off. You might have to reheat it by the time it gets there, but technically youcouldhave food delivered right to your camper.”
She laughed again, and then turned toward the market. “So how are we doing to do this? I have Andy’s truck, which is already parked in the parking lot there.”
“Little harder to parallel park than your Camaro, is it?” He nudged her with his elbow when she blushed.
“Yes,” she confessed. “Maybe I should ride a four-wheeler into town, pulling the little wagon behind it, like Andy does when he’s doing yard work.”
“If you do, let me know ahead of time, so I can watch you trying to back a trailer up. But for now, I’ll walk down with you and we can get the stuff on the list. Then you can run me home and I’ll throw my groceries inside and you can drop me back off here.”
“Okay.” She did that biting her bottom lip thing again, that meant she was anxious about something. “What if you get a call while we’re out in Andy’s truck?”
“Then we’re going to switch places and I’ll drive back to the station and you can take my groceries to the lodge with you. I’ll pick them up there later.” He smiled. “Let me put the machine inside and then we’ll go. I can’t leave it out here.”
“You heading out?” Sam asked, after he’d backed the ATV into its spot.
“Yeah, I’m going to go to the market with Laney and see Fran. Maybe get some food so I don’t have to beg off my mom.”
“That’s sad.” Sam shook his head. “Not the begging meals from mom because I would totally do that if my mom lived around here. But you’re taking her grocery shopping?”
“It’s not a date.”
“I sure hope the hell not. Although it would explain why you’re still single.”
“Funny. Why areyousingle, smart-ass?”
“Because my wife banged the meteorologist from our local news channel, so I divorced her and then had to move to a different state so I didn’t have to see his smiling face on my television every fucking day.”
“Oh.” He hadn’t known Sam was divorced. The man rarely talked about himself. “That explains your irrational anger toward meteorologists, then. I thought you just really hated weather forecasts.”
“I can look out my window if I need to know the weather.”
“But you can’t look out your window and find out the weather for Tuesday.”
