Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Michelle pushed her cart along the aisles of the grocery store, frowning a little as she perused the shelves.
She was looking for cans of blueberries, which she wanted to put into a coffee cake for the hotel’s breakfast. Her cart was already well-stocked with snacks and breakfast supplies, as well as a few basic groceries that she would use for her own lunch and dinner.
She’d brought Puddle along with her, and the dog was romping around like a miniature explorer, intent on reconnoitering the vast jungle that was the grocery store.
Although Michelle loved spending time with her new little best friend, she was already regretting bringing the puppy along with her.
Puddle’s intense energy was making the already overwhelming trip even more difficult.
I wish my grandma was here, Michelle thought with a sigh. She’s always so good at doing the grocery shopping. She knows where every single item in this place is, it seems like, and I’m still figuring it all out.
She continued to shop until her cart was piled high with supplies. She was about to turn toward the front register when she saw a display of pillows that were on sale.
“Oh, perfect,” she muttered, stopping her cart and going over to the display. She picked up one of the pillows and kneaded it with her hands. It felt great—soft and pliable, and comfortable without being too squishy.
She grabbed four pillows and added them to the top of her cart.
The pile of items was now so high that she could hardly see over the top of her cart, and she started to make her way toward the front of the store carefully.
Puddle, who was eyeing the pillows as though they were marshmallows she was dying to get a bite out of, yapped and jumped up and down next to the cart.
“Puddle, stop,” Michelle begged, looking down at the dog as she continued to push the cart forward. “Please. You need to be polite in the store. We have to—oh!”
Michelle jumped as she felt her cart ram into something. Her head whipped in that direction, but all she could see was the mound of food and pillows rising out of her cart.
“Are you trying to knock me over?”
Michelle froze. She knew that voice. Of all the people in town that she could have bumped into—literally—he was the last person she wanted it to be.
Slowly, she leaned to the side and peered around the cart. Theo was standing there laughing next to his cart, which was full of Christmas light boxes.
“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry,” Michelle said, feeling herself turn scarlet. She wanted to turn around and run away in embarrassment.
“Hey, I get it. Ramming into other people’s carts is fun. It’s like bumper cars. I probably would have rammed your cart if I’d known it was you back there.”
Michelle burst out laughing, she couldn’t help it. For once, Theo’s teasing was making her feel better instead of making her want to retaliate verbally.
“Why are you buying so many Christmas lights?” she asked curiously, peering inside his cart. “You’ve got enough for like eight trees in there.”
“It’s for the car shop,” Theo said, and Michelle thought the tips of his ears looked slightly pink. “I decided it would be nice to have some lights strung up around the place. You know, festive.”
“Yeah, sure.” Michelle felt awkward and didn’t know what to say.
“Are you buying Christmas decorations too?” He gestured to her cart. “Pillow decorations?”
She shook her head immediately. “No, these are for people to sleep on. We had our decorations up weeks ago.” She didn’t mean to sound prim, but she did.
“Of course you did.” Theo laughed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she countered.
“Just that the three of you are like a troop of fairies, making things cute and sparkling. Or I guess it would be elves in this case. Christmas cheer and all that.”
Michelle wrinkled her nose. She knew he was still teasing her, but there was a look in his eyes that made her feel that his comment was a compliment at its core.
“Well, sorry for running into you,” she said, starting to stuff the pillows down into the sides of the cart so that she would be able to see better moving forward. “I need to check out. Have fun putting up all your Christmas lights.”
“Don’t say goodbye to me just yet,” Theo said. “I’m also leaving right now. You know how awkward it is when you say goodbye to someone and then you both keep traveling in the same direction?”
Michelle made a face at him. “Okay, fine. You may accompany me to the check-out register.”
Was it her imagination, or had his eyes lit up when he’d heard her say it?
Michelle carefully steered her cart toward the front of the store and Theo followed behind her. She began to check out, doing her best not to glance over her shoulder and see if he was still behind her, but finally she caved and looked. He wasn’t.
Don’t be silly, she told herself. You want him out of your hair anyway.
She paid for her groceries, and then looked in dismay at her cart, which was still full to bursting with items—although now at least they were all bagged up nicely.
She loathed the thought of having to bring all those bags up into the mansion by herself. She loved the fact that The Birchwood House had a big yard, but the walk from the garage was no joke.
It’s okay, I can do it, she thought with a sigh. Of all the tough things that have happened during the last couple of days, this is hardly the worst one I’ve had to deal with.
She was just starting to push her cart toward the store’s entrance when she heard someone speak behind her.
“That’s a lot of groceries to unload. You want some help?”
So Theo was still behind her after all! He must have just checked out at the adjoining register.
Michelle turned slowly, feeling oddly embarrassed, as if he would somehow be able to sense that she had been wondering where he was. “Um, sure. Okay, thanks.”
Theo grinned and followed her outside with his cart.
A sharp wind was blowing, and it nipped at Michelle’s cheeks vigorously.
She found herself wanting to look at Theo, but instead she kept her eyes glued to her yellow jeep, which was halfway across the parking lot.
She still hardly glanced at him even when they reached the jeep and she opened the trunk.
“Are you stocking up for the zombie apocalypse?” Theo teased, lifting a bag of supplies and setting it carefully inside the trunk.
She wrinkled her nose at him. “You would be the kind of person who would joke about the zombie apocalypse.”
He laughed as he hoisted another bag into her car. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Because you’re goofy, and imaginative, and have weird taste, she thought. And you know all kinds of things about stuff I don’t really know about, and it’s always interesting when you talk about it.
“Oh, nothing. Well, thanks for this.” She set the final grocery bag into her jeep.
“Hey, I’ve got nothing going on right now. I can follow you to The Birchwood House in my truck and help you bring the groceries into the house. I can help you unload them too.”
Michelle opened her mouth, and there was a “No, thank you,” on the tip of her tongue.
A second later, however, she decided that she might as well say yes.
After all, Theo was being kind, and it would have been a little rude of her to just brush him off.
And the truth was that she was exhausted and the thought of someone helping her with all the groceries sounded incredible.
“Um, okay.” She offered him a small smile, feeling suddenly a little shy. “Thanks.”
“Awesome.” Theo’s grin was huge. “I’ll see you there.”
“See you there.” Michelle watched for a moment as Theo started off across the parking lot, whistling enthusiastically. For a moment, she wondered if she should offer to help him put his bags into his truck, but then she decided not to, since he only had a couple.
She got into her jeep and started the engine, feeling an odd buzzing sensation in her chest. She felt almost like she’d drunk a triple shot of espresso, and she wanted to laugh.
I guess it’s just nice to have some help after a couple of days of doing everything by myself, she thought, and she started to whistle too.
* * *
Theo did his best to hold back a massive grin as he strolled along The Birchwood House’s garden path with a heavy bag of groceries in his arms. Beside him, Michelle walked with her own bag.
She was being strangely quiet, but he didn’t mind.
He was enjoying spending time with her without feeling like he had to play a game of snarky comment ping-pong the whole time.
I like helping her out, he thought. She hardly ever lets me do anything like this. I guess she’s probably pretty tired, having to run the hotel by herself while Audrey and Elaine are gone.
They reached the side door of the mansion, which led into the spacious but cozy kitchen.
Theo took a deep breath as soon as he stepped inside, noticing that the kitchen smelled faintly of peppermint and ginger.
He'd always been intrigued by the Sutton women and their beautiful home.
They seemed to have a kind of magic touch that made normal things wonderful, and wonderful things extraordinary.
Michelle set her grocery bag down on the kitchen counter with a grunt. “Thanks, Theo. I can get the rest of them myself, it’s okay.”
“Not a chance,” he said. “You can wait in here where it’s warm and start unloading and I’ll get the rest of the bags.”
An odd look flickered over Michelle’s eyes for a moment. She almost looked starry-eyed, but Theo was sure he was reading that wrong.
“No, that’s okay, I’ll come with you,” she said.
They went back out into the cold together. Theo found himself wanting to say something to her, but he didn’t know what. Puddle, who had been tagging along at their heels the whole time, bounded off across the yard, barking wildly and tossing up snow with her paws.