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Lara looked at the groaning trolley and nudged him.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think people really do their weekly shop in here,’ she whispered, her eyes taking in the other customers, who had maybe one or two items in their hands. ‘At this rate we’ll need to remortgage Caleb’s house for the food bill.’
He looked surprised. ‘I’m covering the food bill. Don’t worry. You didn’t expect me there and I should contribute something.’
He made it all sound so reasonable, while her purse was currently screaming out in relief. There was no way she could pay half of a bill like this. ‘Fancy a bottle of wine?’ he asked, as they walked further along.
She glanced at the nearest shelf. Two hundred pounds a bottle. ‘Er...no, thanks.’
He moved the trolley forward then stopped again. ‘It was rosé you were drinking last night, wasn’t it?’
He put three bottles in the trolley before she had a chance to answer, then he picked a bottle of red and one of white too. She could feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat at these prices. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t footing the bill.
She leaned forward and hissed in his ear, ‘Put those back. You can buy wine for less than ten pounds a bottle in the supermarket down the road.’
The corners of his lips turned up in amusement. He walked over to the nearest cash register and handed over his credit card without anything being run up. The cashier nodded, swiped it and handed it back, taking a note of the ticket for his car.
He slipped an arm around her back and led her to the stairs. Lara’s head was turned backwards, staring at the cashier. ‘Really? You don’t even put in your PIN?’
He shook his head. ‘I trust these people. By the time we want to leave the car will be loaded up and ready to go.’
She shook her head as she climbed the stairs. The jewellery section was right in front of them. ‘Let’s go upstairs for a coffee. Food shopping makes me hungry.’ Now, that she could agree with.
She wandered through the jewellery department—most of the jewellery didn’t have price tags, which told her everything she needed to know. While she didn’t know how much things actually cost, she could just do her little-girl-in-a-shop state of mind and pretend that they could all be hers.
She stopped suddenly and Reuben walked right into her. She hadn’t realised he was so close. ‘Sorry,’ she murmured.
He followed her eyeline to the side and pointed. ‘You’re looking at that?’ His face was screwed up in that a-guy-will-never-understand kind of way.
She nodded. ‘It’s gorgeous. It’s like something Cleopatra would wear.’ She moved a little closer but resisted the temptation to touch the glass. Interlocked flat panels of white, yellow and rose gold. One of the fashion magazines would probably describe it as a showstopper. And it was.
She moved further along and stopped and pointed at a large square-cut pink diamond surrounded by white diamonds. She was too scared to even breathe next to it. ‘Bet we’d really need to remortgage Caleb’s house for that.’
Reuben shook his head and steered her towards the lift. The smell of coffee hit them as soon as the lift doors opened, in perfect timing with a loud growl from Reuben’s stomach.
She laughed. ‘Trying to tell me something?’
He nodded. ‘My body is telling you that it’s crying out for another bacon sandwich.’ He pointed to the glass-fronted cabinet filled with tiny cakes. ‘But that’s not what you get here.’
She turned to face him. ‘Did you want to go somewhere else?’ She got the distinct impression he’d brought her here because he’d thought she’d prefer it. On most days she would be happy with a cup of tea in a local café. Why did she get the impression he was trying to keep on her good side?
He shook his head. ‘The coffee is great in here. Makes up for the lack of bacon. What are you having?’
She stared at the board as the barista approached them. ‘I’ll have a skinny, sugar-free caramel latte,’ she said.
‘What?’ He wrinkled his nose as the barista waved her hand.
‘I’ve got it,’ she said, as she turned to the large metal machine. ‘Triple shot for you, Reuben?’
He nodded then turned back to Lara. ‘Didn’t take you for one of those mumbo-jumbo crazy coffee girls. Not after the amount of chocolate you consumed last night.’
She slapped his arm. ‘Hey. Anyway, there’s method in my madness. The skinny sugar-free counteracts the fact I’m going to have four of those little cakes.’ She was feeling quite pleased with herself. The only problem would be choosing. She walked up and down the counter, trying to decide.
