Chapter Four
PENNY
Morrison's was hands down the fanciest grocery store I'd ever seen. It was also exorbitantly expensive. I’d only put a bag of chips and two apples in my basket. I didn't have the budget for the third one. If I wasn't completely starving, I’d take my car to drive to the nearest Walmart. In retrospect, I should have realized that any shop in this area would be expensive. But now that I was here, I perused the aisles and looked at non-branded items, hoping I could find something to throw together for dinner tonight. I found a salad on discount and put it in the basket. It was still three times more expensive than any salad I’d ever bought. I was going to enjoy every single forkful of it. Now, if only I could find canned tuna, that would be great. Taylor had offered to stock up the fridge before leaving, but I flat-out refused. I could take care of myself, as she’d done enough for me.
After touring the store twice and not finding any canned goods, I approached a sales associate.
"I'm sorry, where do you have the canned section? I'm looking for some tuna."
She scoffed. "We don't have canned goods here."
"Oh, my bad. Silly me." I pasted a smile on my face. "Thanks."
Damn! Change of plans! I headed back to the cheese section.
It was more affordable than the meat. There had to be something on discount, and cheese was always filling.
Aha, I spotted a packed pecorino with a 20-percent-off red sticker on it.
Was that Italian? It sounded like it. I took it from the shelf.
It was wedged between Parmigiano and Gouda.
It was still out of budget, but I was too hungry to be picky.
A trip to Walmart and back would take at least fifty minutes, and I'd probably just stop and buy some junk food along the way.
"You can do this, Penny." As I turned my cart, I noticed a familiar shape a few aisles away: a six-foot-tall man with a muscular back currently inspecting the section of baby products.
I wasn't totally sure he was my neighbor…
until I saw his profile. Hot damn, yep, he was my neighbor.
Then I realized that he was buying baby food. Was he a father?
"Okay, this looks about right," he said. His voice was low and gruff. It was honestly sexier than any voice I'd ever heard.
"Need help?" I asked.
He looked over his shoulder. "Thanks, no, I've got it. I was just double-checking this with the notes I had from the pediatrician. He’s recommending a new brand."
"Okay. I just thought you might… Well, you seem a bit confused."
"You know stuff about baby food?"
"I’ve babysat a bit, but it was quite a few years ago. By the way, we’re neighbors. I met your grandmother yesterday."
He blinked. "Right. She told me about you, but I'm very out of it these days. I haven't had much sleep."
"Understandable,” I said, reading the label for formula. It was for zero to three months. "You’ve got a baby, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You and your wife must be both exhausted."
"It’s just me and Ben," he said. His tone was clipped.
I pressed my lips together. Way to make a blunder, Penny. Then again, at least that meant he wasn't married, and I didn't have to feel guilty about eyeing him appreciatively.
"Your grandmother seemed really lovely and was excited about the neighborhood. She even got along with my dog. Well, not mine. It's Taylor's." Why was I so flustered? For God's sake. "I should have clarified. My friend Taylor is your neighbor. I'm simply house-sitting for a couple of months.”
"That's a thing?"
"She's got lots of pets and needs someone to look after them. It's intensive. Though, of course not as intensive as caring for a baby."
A shadow crossed his eyes. "Yeah."
Had I said something wrong? I didn't want to offend him.
"Will your grandmother be over anytime soon? She mentioned that she'd like to see Becky again."
"Who's Becky?"
"The dog. She seemed quite into dogs."
"She is," he said, "but she never could have one because my grandfather is allergic to them."
"She can always knock at my door. I work from home, so chances are she and I can spend some quality time taking Becky for a walk."
He frowned at me. I couldn't get a good read on him. "I'll tell her—sorry, I missed your name."
"I didn't introduce myself. I'm Penny."
"Spencer Whitley," he said. "And nice to meet you, Penny."
My stomach rumbled. "Right. Need to go home and prep dinner. Otherwise, I'll starve."
He flashed me a smile, and it was dazzling. "I'll see you around, Penny. I hope Grandmother didn't drive you too crazy."
I frowned. "What do you mean? She was perfectly nice."
"Uh-huh."
"You sound like you don't believe me." Jeannie Whitley had seemed lovely, honestly. “I'd had a hard time getting Becky to go back into the house. Your grandmother patted Becky's head, talking to her. And then she turned her attention to me.”
"Communication was always her forte."
"She probably got my whole life story in about two minutes." And yet she didn’t mention that Spencer was a single father.
There was a triumphant glint in Spencer's eyes.
"What?" I asked. I couldn't shake off the feeling that he was having two conversations—one with me and one in his head. I wanted to be part of the latter. Clearly, it involved me too, not just his grandmother.
"Never mind. Trust me, it's too complex to explain it to you in the baby food aisle."
“It’s funny. She mentioned stuff about your family but not much about you. I didn't even realize you had a son."
To my astonishment, he laughed. Good to know he could laugh. It sounded so damn sexy. I couldn't believe he’d switched so fast from morose to amused.
"My grandmother works in mysterious ways." He flashed me a smile.
My pulse accelerated. I could feel it vibrate through my neck and ears and even between my thighs. Good lord. I glanced down at my cart, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I hoped he couldn’t tell that I was a hot mess right now.
"Do you need to buy anything else?" he asked.
"No, I wanted something more for dinner, but they told me I can't find it here.”
“They're not very well stocked. I'm not sure why they even call themselves a grocery store. They appear to only have a few overpriced salads and herbs."
I glanced back up. "Oh, I thought it was just me.”
“I'm going to find something better, but this was the closest store.”
“At least they have baby food," I said.
My stomach rumbled loudly. He gave me another smile. "I don't want to keep you from your dinner. I still need some time figuring out which formula is best.”
“Sure.”
“I'll see you around."
"Have a great evening, Spencer."
That triumphant glint was back in his eyes. What was his deal? I really wanted to know, but I had no idea how to ask without sounding like I wasn’t minding my own business.