thing?”
“I’m looking for a baby-shower gift for a friend. She’s registered here for some of the infant supplies.”
“Did you stop at the front and get her list?”
Haley waved a couple of sheets of printed paper in one hand. “Got it. I take it the items with an X beside them have already been purchased?”
“Yes. Let me take you over to that department and we’ll see what’s left.”
“I guess you’re starting to get pretty busy for the Christmas rush.”
Glancing at the unusual number of customers milling in the aisles on a Tuesday afternoon, Shannon nodded. “Weekends are crazy already.”
“Did you work on Black Friday last week?”
Laughing, Shannon nodded at the reference to the Friday after Thanksgiving, notorious for kicking off the holiday shopping frenzy. “We opened at 4:00 a.m. We had a line waiting for the doors to open.”
“Crazy.”
Shannon shrugged. “It was sort of fun. Here’s the diaper bag on your friend’s list.”
Haley glanced at the pink-and-mint plaid bag without much interest. “Maybe I’ll look at the umbrella stroller, instead.”
“Sure, that’s in the next aisle.”
Haley studied the selection of folded strollers with a bit more interest than the diaper bags.
Drawing a deep breath, Shannon figured she might as well broach the awkward subject herself. Their avoidance was getting a little ridiculous. “Have you heard from James lately?”
“Yes, we all got together last weekend, the day after he got home from Boston. It was good to see him again after so long.”
“How is he?”
Haley shrugged. “He seemed fine. He said he liked the programs in Seattle and in Boston, but I think he liked Seattle a little better. From what I could tell, anyway.”
“He didn’t say?”
Haley opened the stroller and locked it into position. “Not in so many words.”
“Doesn’t it make you crazy?”
She didn’t even have to explain. Haley shot a wry smile over her shoulder as she rocked the stroller back and forth in front of her. “That James is so hard to read, you mean? It used to.”
“But it doesn’t now? Or have you learned how to read him during the past few years?”
“Oh, heavens, no. Not unless he wants us to.”
“Then—”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t have to know every thought that crosses James’s mind to accept that he’s one of the nicest, kindest and most decent guys I’ve ever met.”
“Your rock.”
Haley seemed pleased that Shannon had remembered their earlier conversation. “Yes, that’s the way we’ve always thought of him.”
Refolding the stroller, Haley glanced around the increasingly crowded store. “I know you’re busy, so I won’t keep you. But before I go…Ron and I were thinking about having a drop-in Christmas party next weekend. We’d love it if you could stop by.”
“Thank you,” Shannon replied gently, “but I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”