Chapter Seven
“F ollowing me, are you ?” I ask the young man from the cafe.
He chuckles and shakes his head as he tips up the brim of his baseball cap and shrugs.
“I could be. Or,” he pauses long enough to produce a sly grin, “Maybe you’re following me. Ever think about it that way?”
“Doubtful,” I reply curtly as I begin to push the cart.
I sigh inwardly when the wheels start bumping along. I guess I was so transfixed on finding my damn aisle that I didn’t realize I grabbed a bum cart.
He clears his throat before he walks away long enough for me to breathe a sigh of relief, then instantly choke on it when he shows up with another cart.
“This one works better,” he teases as he reaches for my cane and sets it into the new cart. “Wait here and I’ll be right back.”
For what? I wonder as I carefully watch him return my other cart, then come back to me.
“I figure if you’re using that thing,” he says, nodding at my cane, “you’ll probably need some help with the heavy lifting.”
I give him a withering stare, causing him to back up and raise his hands in mock surrender.
I understand that he’s attempting to be kind in his own annoying way, but assuming I’m a complete invalid because I use a cane to walk is not how to make an acquaintance out of me.
Besides, I’m not here to make friends. I just want to do my business and forget this place ever fucking existed.
“I don’t need your help,” I advise him coolly as I begin to push the cart toward the appropriate aisle.
“Fair enough,” he replies with a shrug as he falls into step beside me.
Regardless of the fact I’m trying everything in my power to push him away with words, he refuses to move on.
“So, are you a tourist?” he asks as he helps guide my cart around a frazzled older man rushing around the aisles.
“Something like that.”
“And how is Odenville treating you?”
He’s too fucking cheerful for someone chatting with a stranger. It makes me wonder if he knows more about me than he’s letting on, but I can’t give in to his bullshit.
“As shitty as the day I left it.”
“Oh.”
I put some strength into lunging the cart forward, moving as quickly down the aisle as I can.
Glancing up, I see an assortment of long wooden boards all around me.
“Which one do you need?”
I cast him a dirty look. “The only thing I need is for you to go away and let me shop in peace.”
He looks taken aback and slightly stunned. His lips droop down as a mask of sadness begins to slowly descend on his face, and he shrugs in a defeated manner.
And as I watch him turn and walk away, I can’t help feeling worse than I did when I first saw Skylar sitting in her bedroom window, wiping tears from her eyes.