“You will not believe the afternoon I’ve had in the grocery store.”
“Girl, you’ve got more activity going on in the grocery store than I do at the club,” Shelby laughed. “You have got real game.”
“Ha ha, very funny. You know I do not have any game. Anyway, he’s got three kids.”
“Who’s got three kids?”
“The hot guy in the store.”
“Um, what hot guy in the store? What are you talking about?” I knew I had all of Shelby’s attention now. “Oh, my gosh, do not tell me that you hooked up with a hot guy in the grocery store?”
“Are you frigging crazy?” I rolled my eyes as I picked up the packages of steak. “Of course I didn’t hook up with a guy in the grocery store. Do you want me to get arrested? How would that even be possible?”
She giggled. “They have family restrooms in the grocery store.”
“So you think I just saw a guy in the grocery store and I took him back to the family restroom and had sex with him. Are you joking, Shelby?”
“What? I don’t know what you’re up to.”
“Shelby, really?”
“What?” she laughed. “I mean, okay, maybe that sounds like a plot for a porno, but pornos are inspired by real life.”
“Um, they might be inspired by real life, but they’re not inspired by my real life. You know I haven’t hooked up in ages.”
“Yeah, true,” she laughed. “Well, maybe go and grab him and take him to the family restroom.”
“Oh my God, you’re incorrigible. Of course, I’m not going to do that. I will see you later, okay?”
I hung up the phone and put it back in my handbag. Shelby was absolutely ridiculous.
I made my way back to my cart just in time to see the hot guy from earlier reaching into my cart. What was he doing? Why was he … My jaw dropped as I realized he was taking items from my cart!
I walked over to him and crossed my arms. “What are you doing?”
“Just getting some cantaloupe and some strawberries and—”
“That’s my cart. You’re taking stuff out of my cart. I already picked that stuff.”
“I thought it was up for grabs. It just looked like an abandoned cart to me.” He shrugged. “Who leaves their cart full of groceries unattended?”
“Me. I did. I just went to get some steaks and—“
“I don’t know. You snooze, you lose.” He grinned. “Come on, guys,” he said to his kids before looking back at me. I could tell from his eyes that he was laughing at me.
I just stared at him, my mouth open in shock. Who was this guy? And how was that funny? Who took grocery items from someone else’s cart? It was absolutely ridiculous. Though it did remind me of a TV episode I’ve seen once of King of Queens where Carrie was stealing items for a Thanksgiving dinner from another lady’s cart. But that was a TV show. This sort of stuff didn’t happen in real life, did it?
“Well, have a nice day, Nellie. Until we meet again.” He winked and then walked away, his kids following behind him.
Not only did I not know what he’d taken from my cart, but I also had to find the items again. That was going to be a good twenty minutes wasted. What was my life?
I sighed. There really wasn’t anything else I could do other than run up to him and tell him off again, but given how that had gone the first time, there didn’t seem to be much point.
Chapter Three
“Girls just wanna have love. Oh, girls, just wanna have…” My best friend Shelby was screaming in my ear as she danced around my cramped bedroom singing a song she made up. “That’s all we …” Her voice trailed off as she grabbed my hands and tried to pull me up from the bed where I was sitting. “Come on, Nellie, sing with me.”
“I’m not really in a singing mood.” I offered her my best smile, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Also, keep it down. Hunter is home, and I don’t need him threatening to kick me out again.”
“He’s not going to kick you out. He needs you to look after his house now that he’s in San Francisco.” Shelby grinned. “Also, did you ask him if I can move in yet? I figured if it’s free rent, then it doesn’t matter that I already paid for the other place.”
“Not yet.” I’d been living in my older brother’s house for the last six months. Now he’d moved to San Francisco to live with his girlfriend, and I had the house to myself aside from his trips back home. Shelby wanted to move in with me, along with our other best friend, Ashley, but I hadn’t asked Hunter yet, as I was scared his answer would be a hard no. I had a feeling that my parents had told him they wanted me to have an older, more responsible roommate.
“Let’s go out dancing tonight and find some hotties.” Shelby gave me her begging face. “Please!”
“I can’t tonight.” I shook my head. “Maybe tomorrow?”
She sighed. “You’ve been weird all night. Anything wrong?”
“Not really, but do you remember that guy I told you about two weeks ago?”
“Nope.” She shook her head and sat next to me on the bed. “Is he cute?”
“Don’t you remember the guy in the grocery store? The day I had you guys over for steaks?”
“Oh, kinda.” She shrugged. “Some guy with some bratty kids, right?”
“Yeah, him! Well, guess what?”
“I don’t know, what?”
“I’ve seen him four times since that incident.”
“Wow, okay.”
I could tell she didn’t care, but I needed her to care. It was weird. How often in life did you see the same random person in the grocery store every time you went? “It’s weird right?”
“I guess.” She flopped down on the bed next to me. “Was he rude to you again?”
“No. I don’t even know that he saw me.”
“I wonder if he stalks the Kroger’s or something.”
“It wasn’t Kroger’s. It was at the Publix on Baylor Drive,” I corrected her. “You know I prefer Publix.” As if that mattered one iota to the conversation.
“Oh, yeah.” She nodded. “So did you speak to him?”
“No … not since that incident. But he’s still ignoring his bratty kids when he goes around the store. It’s ridiculous,” I huffed. “I saw his son drop a watermelon on someone’s foot last time.”
“No way!” She raised an eyebrow. “That’s crazy.”
“Someone really needs to talk to him. Just because he’s hot he thinks he can get away with anything that he wants.” I was fuming. “He needs to teach his children the difference between right and wrong.”
“Wow, you sound like you’re really pissed.” Shelby flicked her long blonde hair as she lay back on my bed. “You should talk to him.”
“I can’t talk to him.” I shook my head. “Not after what happened last time. I told you he called me a Karen, right? The nerve of him!”
“Yeah, that’s crazy. I can’t believe he said that.” Shelby pulled out her phone. “Let me see what clubs we can go to tomorrow.”