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Right, becausethatwas why she’d thought of sandwiches.
He turned for the deli. “Why don’t you go get some bread while I wait in line for the meat slicer. What kind of cold cuts do the kids like?”
She had no idea. She’d been feeding them peanut butter and Fluff. “I think they’ll eat anything, and we’ll want to get some peanut butter too.”
“Of course. Sorry, I’m not around kids much, though my niece Polly is fond of SpaghettiOs.”
“No need to be sorry, and SpaghettiOs are good.” She left him and went to hunt for the bread aisle. When she found it, she longed to go shooting right out the other end of it, out into the parking lot, and onto the road.
That’s how the old Nova would have handled this situation. But the new Nova had three kids to take care of. And apparently, a new husband to consider.
Every time this thought popped into her mind, it startled her as if it were brand-new information.
This was going to take some getting used to.
She found the bread, grabbed three loaves, put one back, and then headed for the deli. On the way she saw the peanut butter and popped into that aisle for some store-brand creamy and a tub of Fluff.
As she put these items into the cart, guilt washed over her. “I feel like we’re spending an awful lot of money.”
“We can work out a budget going forward. Right now I just want to make sure that the kids come to a house ready to feed them. Having lots of food to eat always made me feel safe when I was a kid.”
She looked at him. He didn’t look sad. He’d shared that detail very matter-of-factly, but still she wondered what had happened to him when he was little to make him feel that way.
It seemed he was waiting for her to say something. “I hope the kids show up,” she said, “or Bull is going to be eating a lot of salad.”
Gunner chuckled. “And a lot of peanut butter.”
She looked up sharply. “Do you want me to get a smaller jar?”
His expression softened, and he reached for her hand. “Will you please relax? No, I was not saying that. I just didn’t realize peanut butter came in five-gallon buckets.”
She tried to laugh, tried to relax.
He jiggled her hand. “Hey, I’m serious. Please don’t worry about any of this. Oh, wait, are you stressing because we don’t have Priscilla’s answer yet?”
Oh yeah,that’sit. “Maybe,” she said.
He let go of her hand. “Sorry. I guess I can understand that. But I have a really good feeling that they’re going to show up. And if for some reason they don’t, I really can call Frank Bender.”
She hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She didn’t have any money for a flashy attorney.
It was Gunner’s turn at the deli, and he ordered a variety of sliced meat and cheese.
After thanking the deli worker, he turned to her. “I should mention that we have a lot of beef in the freezer.”
Oh no. She didn’t know what to do with frozen beef.
“All kinds,” he said. “Steaks, roasts, and hamburger.” When she didn’t get excited, he said, “Do you not like beef?”
“No, no, I do. What do you like to eat? What do you want me to cook?”
He shrugged and looked around the store. “I like tacos.”
“Great!” She could probably manage tacos. “Let’s find taco parts.”
They traveled around the store doing that, and she started to feel some hope, but then he said, “I like pot roast too.”
Nova didn’t know how to make a pot roast, exactly, but at least she knew what was in it. “I guess we need to go back to the carrot aisle.”
