Brogan touched his forehead to hers. “This is a mighty heavy conversation for the grocery store parking lot. So, how about we hit the pause button for now? I’d rather get in and out before the kids wake up.”
She looked out the windows at the rain-washed parking lot with only a few shoppers scrambling to get to their cars. “What if Ruthie is in there?”
“She’s not the boogeyman, honey. Ruth can’t be everywhere at once.”
“But she could be here.”
Being overprotected like a kid wasn’t a comfortable feeling. “If she is, I’ll ignore her. Now sit tight until I get back. I’ll have my phone on me if you need me.” He shrugged the slicker on over his head, gave a quick glance at both sleeping babies, then got out and closed his door as quietly as possible. Rain lashed his face as he jogged into the store. There was no avoiding the puddles that had formed everywhere.
And yet, he was smiling.
The magic of Pixie Nolan was real. For her, he’d make things right, whether that meant going or—hopefully, with a few prayers and some luck—getting to stay.
Ruth was not around to cause any problems. On a day like this, he imagined she liked to stay inside. She didn’t strike him as a woman who’d brave nasty weather.
He ran into others he’d met, and they all greeted him with smiles and small talk. It wasn’t what Brogan was used to, and he hoped he balanced his desire to hurry with enough polite exchanges to keep anyone from considering him rude.
It wouldn’t matter so much, except that he now felt that anything he said or did reflected on Pixie, too. He didn’t want anyone to think she’d keep company with a rude ass.
In record time, he found the different items they each needed: more diapers and formula for him, some food items, baby food and fresh fruit for Pixie, as well as some junk food. He didn’t begrudge her that. How could he when he’d indulged in a few cookies with her each morning over coffee? That reminded him, he needed to take a turn making dinner for her. Not that he was a great cook, but when the weather lightened up, he could grill steaks. He added them to the cart, along with some baking potatoes.
By the time he was headed back to the car, the storm had eased to a mere sprinkle again, and the sun was struggling to shine through the clouds. Golden rays reflected off the pavement, putting a good dose of steam in the air.
An elderly woman in front of him struggled with her cart around a big pothole, so he shifted his bags into one hand and hurried over to help her. That took longer than he’d expected, when she assumed he’d escort her to her car, which he did. Once there, she opened the trunk of an older-model Buick and offered him two dollars to get everything inside.
A grin got the better of him as he said, “Thank you, ma’am, but I’m glad to help.” He set his bags in her cart to free up hishands, then moved her bags into the trunk, including a huge bag of dog food. “Will you be able to get that inside?”
“I have a young man who lives next door. He’ll get it into the house for me.”
“You’re all right to drive in this weather?”
Over her cat-eye glasses, she frowned at him. “I’ve been driving longer than you’ve lived.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He didn’t doubt that, since she appeared to be in her eighties. “I just know some people are nervous in storms.”
“I’m not one of them. If I don’t take care of things, they don’t get done. Except for heavy lifting, but that’s why I pay the young man next door.”
Personally, Brogan thought the “young man” ought to help her without pay. “All right, then. I’ll put the cart away for you, okay?”
“Thank you.” She glanced back and said with a teasing glint in her eyes, “Drive carefully now. Don’t let the weather spook you.”
Brogan laughed out loud. “No, ma’am.” He watched as she cautiously pulled away, going at a snail’s pace, which was maybe a good thing, until she left the lot and disappeared along the main road.
When he looked toward his own car, he saw Pixie smiling happily at him through the rain-streaked window. He quickly stowed the cart in a corral and strode to his SUV. Peeking in, he saw both kids were still sleeping, but it was doubtful he’d be able to get the bags into the back without waking them.
Pixie waved him to her side of the car and opened the door as he reached her. Very quietly, she said, “Just put them on the floor by my feet. With any luck, the kids will sleep until we get home, so they’ll both get their afternoon naps in.”
As silently as possible, he put the plastic bags on the floor.Her feet were small enough that she still had room, though it couldn’t be comfortable.
“Without you,” she said, “I couldn’t have gotten my groceries. Or I’d have had to take Andy out in the storm.”
“I hope you wouldn’t do that.”
“It’s happened before, once when he had an ear infection. I’d just left the pediatrician’s office and had to stop to get his prescription filled at the pharmacy. It was cold and windy, and when we came back out, it was storming. It was a miserable day, believe me.”
He frowned, closed the door with a quietsnick, and went to the driver’s side. Andy shifted when the engine started, but settled back to sleep, once they started moving. “I hate that you had to do that.”
“It wasn’t fun. Later, Cort told me I absolutely should have called him, which made no sense. Why should he run out in bad weather? The car seat was in my car, so it wasn’t like he could have driven us. One way or another, I had to take Andy out in the rain to get home.”
