9. Tessa
Tessa
"Do we need creamer?"
Trevor glances up from his phone turned sideways in his hand, his forearms resting on the cart handle. "No, we still have almost a full hazelnut one."
"But, I don't like that one," I remind him for what feels like the millionth time since he first bought it.
"Well, all you asked is if we needed creamer." He flashes me that playful smile and winks.
I reach for the sweet cream oat milk one that I prefer and stick it underneath my arm. "What about eggs?"
"I don't think so, but you have the list."
I scan the Notes app on my phone. "Yeah, but last time I checked, we didn't. I only used two for the banana bread I took to the Montgomery's. You had some for breakfast, right?"
Trevor looks at the ceiling as if he can't remember what he ate. "No, we don't need any. There were still some in there."
"How many?" I ask skeptically.
He holds up two fingers as he looks down again at his phone. I smother a sigh, reaching for a carton of eggs and bringing both that and the creamer to the cart. "Another big game?"
Trev nods. "The Flames just pulled their goalie."
"Huh?"
"Carter Ward," he clarifies as if the player's name was what I needed clarified.
Rather than explain myself, I continue walking past the dairy section of Grover's and head toward the produce. Trevor groans as he trails slowly behind me, his attention more on his screen than the bins of colorful fruit he should be avoiding crashing into.
I pick up a few avocados, waiting for him to catch up, looking for one that's not too green but also not too brown.
I eventually find one at the same time that he slides up beside me.
I drop it in the back corner of the cart, and move on to the apples.
My eyes trail over the Galas and the Red Delicious before landing on the Honeycrisps.
"I'm getting these if you want some of your Fujis. "
"Nah, I'm good," he says, his phone finally away. He picks up a Granny Smith and tosses it in the air. "How's the job going, by the way?"
The irony of him throwing the green fruit like a baseball at the same time he asks about my new job for the first time ever makes me wonder if that's what made him think of it. As far as he's concerned, I may no longer even be employed.
"It's good," I answer, bagging the apples and tying off the thin plastic. "Liam's being a little standoffish, but I think he's just afraid I'll bail."
"Is that what happened with the last one?"
I shrug. "Ruthie told me the last permanent nanny she had is now her art therapist. Apparently, she had a career change that Liam and she were both completely supportive of, but the handful of people that have filled in since have been pretty shitty."
His eyes go wide as he follows me toward the vegetables. "Did she say that?"
I chuckle. "Not in those words. But she said two quit out of nowhere, and the one that stayed was always late and rude to the dog. I think there was another one too. I guess he just had a bunch of bad interviews before mine."
Trevor comes up behind me and throws his arms around my neck. "But then he met my perfect baby," he brags, kissing my cheek.
I use the rather long cucumber in my hand to playfully jab him in the shoulder until he releases me. "Stop," I laugh.
"What? It's true. And if you want, I can use my cucumber tonight to show you I mean it." He winks, and I roll my eyes.
"Trust me, Liam does not think I'm perfect." I lay the vegetable in the front of the cart and nod in the direction of the rest of the aisles.
"Why do you say that?" Trevor asks, following me.
"Because he just—"
"Hey, can you grab some of those protein bars I like? The peanut butter ones?"
"Yeah, they're further up," I say, pointing toward the middle of the store.
He tips his chin up. "Cool. Go on."
I inhale deeply trying to remember my thought while simultaneously trying to decide if I should get pretzel twists or pretzel rods. "So, he—"
"Get the twists," he blurts, interrupting again as I reach for the rods. "Sorry, keep going."
I shake my head, throwing his choice into the cart. "No, he's just standoffish like I said. And every time I think we're getting somewhere, he shuts down again."
"What do you mean?"
"For example, Ruthie has online schooling, right?
Well, earlier she wanted to go outside and play, but she hadn't finished her math yet.
So, I let her take her laptop to the park and hooked her up to my hotspot.
She got five minutes of time to flip over the bar at the jungle gym for every problem she finished. "
Trevor shrugs. "Sounds good to me."
"That's what I thought. But when Liam got home from his team meeting and Ruthie told him about how great she thought it was, he blew it off."
Trevor grabs a box of Triscuits and pretends to pitch them into the cart. "Well, maybe he just has a stick up his ass because he's getting replaced next season."
I grab Wheat Thins—the superior cracker—and sit them beside the box of frozen perogies I picked out earlier. "I don't think that's it. I just think it's something about me in particular."
"Maybe he thinks you're hot."
I nearly choke on my own spit, my reaction unnecessarily defensive. "What? No, that's crazy. I work for him. And he's like chronically single Brooke said. There's no way. Plus, he's older, and he has a kid. He would never."
I pause before rounding the corner to the next aisle to find Trevor still steps behind me, frozen with his hands on the cart. "Jesus, Tessa, I was kidding."
He shakes his head and laughs, and I force myself to join him. "No, I know. I'm just saying." Trevor walks closer to me as we head toward the next aisle. "There's no way Liam likes me like that—I'm not even sure he likes me at all."
I turn, expecting to check out the cereals they have stocked on the end-cap, and instead, I crash right into someone coming the opposite direction.
I immediately spring into action, leaning down to pick up the items that fell from the other person's basket, when Trevor rams me from behind with the cart.
"Ah!" I fly forward, landing in the arms of the stranger, my face merely inches from his crotch.
"Oh my God."
"Shit, my bad, babe."
"Tessa?"
We all speak at once, my name standing out amongst the rest of our reactions—along with the voice that said it.
I lift my eyes slowly away from the zipper they're currently honed in on. Once I'm standing, my gaze lands on the face I knew it would. "Liam," I say, my voice breathy… for so many reasons.
"Hey, it's Sunshine!" Trevor rings out.
Liam and I both look at him, our faces blank, before turning back to each other.
"Hi," he says simply, his expression unreadable.
I stand, staring until a passerby holds out a lemon I didn't realize rolled away. "Oh, here." I take the fruit and dive toward the ground. "Let me get this for you."
I begin shuffling, collecting the salmon, risotto, and garlic that are scattered around. When my hand lands on Liam's as we both reach for the basket, I yank it back, deciding juggling the ingredients would be better than any further contact.
Trevor watches from the cart, in awe of either my professional baseball playing boss or the catastrophe he's witnessing. I take my time adding the items to the basket now back in Liam's hands, hoping by the time I have to speak again, my face won't look as on fire as it feels.
"So sorry about that," I say, clinging to the cart behind me for dear life as it still digs into my ass.
"No big deal. Long time no see."
I somehow grow warmer as I realize there is no way in this grocery hell that he didn't just hear mine and Trevor's conversation—I'm just not that lucky.
So, instead of addressing it, or blowing past him to go crawl into a hole and die somewhere, I make small talk about the first thing that comes to mind.
"What are you making?"
He looks at me confused until I nod toward the groceries. It hits me a bit too late that he may just be crossing things off of his list and not preparing a gourmet meal, but I hold strong to my question.
"Salmon with lemon butter," he answers.
My head flies back, surprised. "Fancy."
"Nah." He grins, and there it is again—the glimmer of sunshine that I've always heard about from others, but I haven't seen much of since Sammy ran away. "There's a recipe for everything."
We both smile, but as my attention turns away from our conversation to wondering whether or not he has a date—and why I would care—the silence turns awkward.
Trevor clears his throat behind me, and I jump, almost forgetting he was there.
"Oh, duh," I rush to say. "Sorry, in the explosion, I almost forgot—Liam, this is my boyfriend, Trevor. Trevor, this is my boss, Liam."
"Hey." Liam extends his hand to Trevor who, at the same time, holds out his fist.
Liam stills as Trevor quickly opens his palm. "What's up, man?"
"Not a whole lot." Liam's tone isn't rude, but it's even more unbothered than it sometimes is with me.
If Trev notices, he hides it well. "Can't believe it's your last year. Holloway's got big shoes to fill."
Liam tucks his free hand into his jeans pocket, and I follow his movement, avoiding his gaze until my eyes land on the same crotch I just fell into.
I quickly look away.
"He's a good kid," is all he says. I notice his grip on the basket handle tighten slightly and take that as my cue that he's done with this conversation.
"Alright, well, we'll let you go. But I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah, Tess here loves watching your baby," Trevor says, his face bright.
My eyes must triple in size as I glare at him over my shoulder. When I turn back to Liam, I expect his face to be riddled with anger—frustration, hatred, something. But, instead, he's holding back a cheeky grin.
Our eyes meet, and his jaw ticks. "Sorry again about the collision."
"Don't be," he says without hesitation, his grip loosening around the basket handle. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tessa."
He walks away, and I watch him leave, partly because I want to ensure he's gone before I lay into my boyfriend and partly because his last words—or maybe how he says them—hit me differently than I expect.
When I see him disappear into the checkout area, I whip around toward Trevor. "She's eleven, Trev."
He laughs, and my blood starts to bubble. "Oh, whatever. Same thing. And by the way…" He steps out from behind the cart and grabs me by my belt loop, tugging me closer to him. "Sunshine definitely has a thing for you."
"Stop, no he doesn't," I argue, resisting his pull.
"He does," he says, wiggling his brows. "But of course he does. Look at you."
I fight the wince trying to escape and toss my arms around his neck.
"I'm so lucky, Tess." He nuzzles into me, and I let it happen despite the people walking by, finally allowing my lips to curl upward. My grasp around him tightens as he pecks my lips. "You're just so hot."
I still, then my body slouches, my arms slipping off his shoulders. I spin around to hide my expression, and either ignoring my hint or not noticing at all, he reaches out and slaps my ass. "Don't forget the protein bars, okay?"