After You (Because of You 2)

“I’m not going to let you buy groceries for a house you don’t live in, Nikki,” he tells me.

“I’m staying here for a few days, that means I’m eating here, too. Besides, I made kind of a lot of money on that trilogy you inspired; the least I can do is buy you a bag of groceries. It’s no problem. Do you need me to add anything to the list that was on the fridge?”

“No, but if you’re taking Cassidy, she still sits in a booster seat. Why don’t you take my truck?”

“Why don’t I just take the seat and put it back when we get home,” I offer. “I’ve never driven a truck before. It’s big, I’ll probably hit something.”

He smiles at me. I don’t know why. It makes me suspicious, so I narrow my eyes.

“What?”

He reaches a hand out and runs the back of his hand along my jaw line. “Nothing.”

Cassidy comes in, shoes on, unicorn under her arm. “Can I bring Princess Purple?”

“Sure,” I tell her.

“Can we get popcorn?” she asks.

Lifting his eyebrow, Derek tells Cassidy, “Do not try to con Nikki into buying a bunch of junk. She has a list, and that’s all she’s buying.”

“But I want popcorn,” Cassidy objects.

I barely looked at the list, but I assure her, “Popcorn was on the list.”

She claps, then pumps her fist and says, “Yes!”

Giving Derek’s arm a squeeze, I tell him, “We’ll be back.”

Chapter Twenty One

This is one of those mundane tasks I looked forward to as a lovesick teenage girl whose idiot boyfriend had knocked up someone else. To me, back then, Derek was in need. I fell a little in love with the struggle I knew we would go through, because I knew I’d be good at helping him through it. I knew I could step in and save the day. When he was overwhelmed by Kayla (back before I ever thought they would be together again) and college, and a baby (because Cassidy would be a baby), I would help steady him. I would take care of business, take some of that weight off his shoulders. When we both fell into bed that night, exhausted, his blue eyes would shine with fondness, and he would be so relieved to have me as his partner, taking on life with him.

Of course, all that got washed away when—instead of struggling with me—he took the easy path and got back together with that evil whore.

But now I’m pushing a cart through the cereal aisle with her daughter while she’s God knows where, and Derek does need me, so whatever. Today I get a little taste of the dreams high school Nikki had.

“We need Cheerios,” Cassidy tells me, grabbing a big yellow box off the shelf.

Cheerios are not on the list, but they’re also not a treat, so that seems like a legit add-on.

“All right, I think that about does it,” I tell her. “We have everything on our list.”

“I think we need one more thing,” she informs me.

Given her aversion to vegetables, I make a suggestion. “Have you ever had carrot sticks? They’re a really good snack that kids like. You can dip them in stuff, too. You could dip them in peanut butter or ranch dressing.”

“I like peanut butter,” she tells me.

“Then I bet you’d like carrot sticks dipped in peanut butter. It’s a really yummy snack. I have that myself sometimes. Wanna try it?”

“Sure,” she says, shrugging her small shoulders and leading the way back toward the produce section.

When we get there, I talk her into carrot sticks and celery. The grocer stocked an 8 pack of individual peanut butter cups right next to the dippable produce, so when we head to the register, Cassidy is excited to try her new snacks.

Score.

Since we had so much success in the vegetable department, I say yes to chocolate at the register. I tell her to pick one for her dad for dessert, too, then I grab one for myself.