Chapter 18
eighteen
MADDOX
Grocery shopping is my least favorite pastime, along with folding the laundry and cleaning the toilet. My aversion to doing the groceries sucks because I love to cook. On the way home from the station, I had a craving for chicken Alfredo and surprise, surprise, my refrigerator and pantry are empty when I check them. In my defense, I only moved in a few days ago, and I’ve been busy … lusting over a blond bookstore owner, who’s about to marry another man.
As much as I love the food at the various food places in town, I’m craving home-cooked meals, so I quickly put together a meal plan for the next week. Then I write a shopping list of all the foods I’ll need. Forty minutes later, here I am, spending my evening in Hanson's Mercantile pushing a shopping cart around. This place has been here since the dawn of time. The floorboards underneath my feet creak with every step I take. When I was little, I used to think the floor was going to give way and since this place has been here forever, I’d fall into a secret dungeon down below. It would either be filled with skeletons or a long-lost treasure, just like in The Goonies . Thankfully, the flooring has never given out and I’m still unaware of any skeletons or treasure hidden below the building.
The cafe here, Granny Taught Us How, sells the best old-fashioned donuts. I know it’s cliché for a police officer to like donuts, but these doughy little rounds of bliss are worth the teasing wrath and stereotype.
I’ve just about got everything on my list—which is surprising because the range here isn’t as large as Kroger’s or Whole Foods. I’m turning into the last aisle when someone comes around the corner and slams their shopping cart into me. I hate when people don’t take care coming around the corner. I’m about to let loose on them but the words die on my lips when I see Reindeer is the person who crashed into me.
A smile appears on my face, but it quickly fades when I see she’s upset. “Reindeer, what’s wrong?” No sooner do those three words pass through my lips and she starts to cry. Without thinking, I wrap my arms around her and she sobs into my chest, her shoulders shaking up and down as she falls apart in my embrace. Did someone die? What’s caused her to be so upset?
Her body continues to shudder in my arms as she lets it all out.
Whispering sweet nothings into her ear, I rub my hand up and down her back in a soothing motion. Well, I hope it’s soothing. I’m going to go with yes, it is, because her shaking has stopped and I think she’s no longer crying.
She lifts her head up and I stare at her tear-stained face. Running my thumbs under her eyes, I wipe away the last of her tears. “Reindeer, what’s got you so upset?”
“He cancelled,” she mumbles, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“Who cancelled?”
“Joel.”
“He canceled the wedding?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “He was supposed to come over for dinner tonight and then we were going to work on the bridal party thank-yous, but some stupid report is more important and now he’s not coming.”
Without thinking, I offer, “I’m happy to help.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You aren’t asking, I’m offering. Not that I know what to do, but how about I cook dinner while you work on the thank-yous?”
“I can’t ask?—”
“As I said, you didn’t ask; I’m offering. And if it will sweeten the deal, I was planning on cooking chicken Alfredo tonight, and I know it just so happens to be a favorite of yours.”
“I’m supposed to be clean eating so I can fit into my wedding dress.”
My eyes run over her body and there’s not an ounce of fat on her, even if there was, who cares? Size is just a number. It’s what’s on the inside that counts, and Reindeer is perfect, inside and out.
“For the record, you look perfect to me,” I tell her. “Besides, we all need a cheat meal from time to time, and a creamy pasta with chicken is the best cheat meal, if you ask me.”
“I’ve been cheating lots lately because Christmas always has the yummiest of foods, and gingerbread just so happens to pair well with a nice zinfandel.”
“Zinfawhat?”
“Zinfandel, it’s a red wine.”
“Of course, you know about all the fancy wine varieties.”
She laughs and hearing that after how I found her makes me smile on the inside. Now to get her to smile on the outside .
“Now that you’re back in town, you will have to join our Wi-ook club.”
“Wi-ook club?”
“Wine and book—Wi-ook.” My head nods as I make the connection. “We meet every month on the second Thursday.”
“When’s the next Wi-ook club?” I ask, all the days are blurring into one, and I’m not sure if it’s passed already or not.
“Tomorrow night,” she tells me.
“I’ll pencil it in,” I tell her and then she smiles. A super bright Reindeer smile. She really is beautiful when she smiles, even with tear tracks on her face. “So, what do you say about my offer of dinner and help?”
“Well, a girl cannot pass up chicken and pasta and cream.”
“So you only want me for my food?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I have to drop this off at home and then I’ll be over.”
“Sounds like a plan, Maddox. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. It’s in my DNA to help, and whenever a pretty girl is crying, I must turn that frown upside down.”
“That you did.” She brushes a tendril of her golden-blond hair behind her ear, and I have to resist the urge to cup her cheek and kiss her. “I’ll see you soon.”
Nodding, I stand and watch her walk away. She turns the corner and I stand here, staring in the direction she just went when I feel a presence beside me, or should I say presences, plural. When I turn my head, I see the G-team standing there. “Ladies,” I offer in greeting.
“You have less than two weeks,” Sheila says, holding up two fingers, waving them in my face.
“Two weeks till what?”
“Till you’ll have lost her forever,” Mildred answers.
“What?” I hiss. “Lost who? ”
“Ruby,” Bernice states, shaking her head like I know what they’re talking about.
“What are you talking about?”
“Men,” Mildred states. Now it’s her turn to shake her head. “You have less than two weeks to convince her that you’re her true love.”
“But we’re just friends?—”
“Please,” Bernice interrupts. “You two have been gaga for one another since that Christmas you were sneaking around together.” My eyes widen at her statement, and I open my mouth to protest but she presses her index finger to my lips. “Don’t deny it, Sheriff. The three of us know everything that happens in this town.”
“Everything,” Mildred repeats.
“We even know things before they happen,” Shelia adds.
“Mmmhmpf,” I reply with a nod and, if I’m being honest, I believe them. These three are like oracles. Oracles of gossip, but gossiping aside, if you need anything, they’ll be one of the first ones there and if they can’t help, they’d find someone who can. “Make sure with dinner tonight, you take her some gingerbread cookies, they are her fave and they pair well with zinfandel.”
“So I’ve heard and, ladies, as much as I would love to stay and chat, I have somewhere to be.”
“Don’t let us hold you up, Sheriff,” Mildred says. “But remember what we said. Two weeks.”
“Goodbye, ladies.” With a nod of my head, I leave the G-team … and make my way to the liquor aisle to grab a bottle of zinfandel. With the wine in hand, I head to the checkouts.
Racing home, I drop off my groceries and then I get back into my rental car and drive over to Reindeer’s to cook her dinner and help with the thank-yous.
Pulling into her driveway, I turn off the engine. Climbing out, I pop the trunk and grab the grocery bag. I cannot wait to get my truck back; I make a mental note to call Chris in the morning and see when it’ll be ready. As I walk toward the front door, the G-team’s words play over in my mind, but I shake the thoughts away because I lost Reindeer years ago. It doesn’t matter there’s still two weeks till her wedding, she’s engaged to another man and I will not be a cheater or make her one … no matter how much I wish she were mine.