4 Chapter It's My Baby

Finally, the mother of the child had rounded the corner, yelling, "Timothy Roberts, you put that back right now! What are you - ?" The kid stuck out his tongue. Sometimes being around children was the perfect abstinence program. Then again, not like I needed a program. I carried my milk back to where Dee waited, staring at the floor. Her fingers twisted over the handle of her cart, squeezing until her knuckles bleached.

"Timothy, get right back here this instant!" The mother grabbed his chubby arm. Strands of hair had escaped her severe bun. "What did I tell you?" she hissed. "You don't go near them." Them? I expected to see someone else. Except it was Dee and...me. Confused, I glanced at the woman. I was shocked to see her dark eyes filled with disgust. Pure revulsion, and behind that, in the way her lips pressed into a hard line and trembled, there was also fear.

And she was staring at Dee.

Then she gathered the squirmy boy into her arms and hurried off, leaving her cart in the middle of the aisle.

I turned to Dee. "What the heck was that about?"

Dee smiled, but it was brittle. "Small town. The locals are weird around here. Don't pay any attention to them. Anyway, you must be so bored after unpacking and then grocery shopping. That's like two of the worst things ever. I mean, hell could be devised of those two things. Think of an eternity of unpacking boxes and grocery shopping?" I couldn't help grinning as I struggled to keep up with Dee's nonstop chatter while we finished loading our carts.

Normally, someone like that would wear me out in five seconds, but the excitement in her eyes and the way she kept rocking back on her heels was sort of contagious.

"Do you have more stuff to get?" she asked.

"I'm pretty much done. I really came to catch you and was sucked down the ice cream aisle. It calls to me."

I laughed and looked at my full cart. "Yeah, I hope I'm done."

"Come on then. We can check out together." As we waited in the checkout aisle, Dee rattled on, and I forgot about the weird incident in the milk aisle. Dee believed Petersburg needed another grocery store - because this one didn't carry organic food - and she wanted organic chicken for what she was making Daemon fix her for dinner. After a few minutes I got past the difficulty of keeping up with her and actually started to relax. She wasn't bubbly, just really... alive. I hoped she rubbed off on me.

The checkout line moved quicker than it did in larger cities. Once outside, she stopped next to a new Volkswagen and unlocked the trunk.

"Nice car," I commented. They had money, obviously, or Dee had a job.

"I love it." She patted the rear bumper. "It's my baby."

I shoved groceries in the back of my sedan.

"Katy?"

"Yeah?" I twirled the keys around my finger, hoping asshat brother aside, she wanted to hang out later. There was no telling how late Mom was going to sleep.

"I should apologize for my brother. Knowing him, I'm sure he wasn't very nice." I sort of felt sorry for her, being that she was related to such a tool. "It's not your fault." Her fingers twisted around her key ring, and her eyes drifted to mine. "He's really overprotective, so he doesn't take well to strangers."

Like a dog? I almost smiled, but her eyes were wide and she looked genuinely scared I wouldn't forgive her. Having a brother like him must suck. "It's no big deal. Maybe he was just having a bad day."

"Maybe." She smiled, but it seemed forced.

"Seriously, no worries. We're good," I said.

"Thanks! I'm totally not a stalker. I swear." She winked. "But I'd love to hang out this afternoon. Got any plans?"

"Actually, I was thinking of tackling the overgrown flower bed in the front. You wanna help?" Having company might be fun.

"Oh, that sounds great. Let me get these groceries home, and I'll head straight over," she said. "I'm really excited to garden! I've never done that."

Before I could ask what sort of childhood didn't include at least the obligatory tomato plant, she'd dashed off to her car and zoomed out of the parking lot. I pushed off my bumper and headed toward the driver's side. I opened the car door and was about to climb in when the feeling of being watched crept over me.

My eyes darted around the parking lot, but there was only a man in a black suit and dark sunglasses staring at a missing person's picture on a community corkboard. All I could think of was Men in Black.

The only thing he needed was that little memory-wiper device and a talking dog. I would've laughed, except nothing about the man was funny...Especially since he was now staring right back at me.