“Kind of.”
“You going back to work?”
It was 4:30 in the afternoon, which seemed late to go back in to a job that ended at five.
“No, I’m going to the grocery store.”
“Let me drive you. The roads may be slick.”
She gave me a look. “You think I can’t drive on slick roads?”
“Come on, Char. Let a big, strong man handle this.” I winked at her. “I just want to spend a little more time with you. I miss you.”
“Okay. Just make it snappy.”
I arched my brows at her, amused. “You hungry?”
“I want some chocolate peanut clusters. I’ve been fantasizing about them since I woke up this morning.”
I offered a hand and she took it, getting out of her car. Once I’d helped her into my car and cleaned the snow off of it, I drove us to the nearest grocery store.
“I feel really weird lately,” she said as I parked the car. “Maybe it’s just the stress of my mom’s visit, I don’t know. I started crying over a commercial on TV last night. Full sobbing.”
“Maybe it’s your hormones.”
She gave me a sharp look. “Let’s just get the peanut clusters.”
“Okay. I wish I could make you dinner, but I guess that won’t work.”
“I wish you could, too. I’d much rather spend my evening with you than my mom.”
We went into the store and she headed straight for the candy aisle. I followed, hands in my pockets, not wanting to block the way between her and her peanut clusters.
“What the actual fuck?” she whispered as she stared at an empty spot on a shelf. “Where are they?”
The tag on the shelf indicated that if the store had peanut clusters, they’d be here. Charlotte looked at me, her eyes glistening with tears.
“All I wanted was peanut clusters.”
“Chocolate-covered peanuts?” I suggested, grabbing a bag from another shelf.
“No,” she said miserably. “It needs to be the clusters.”
“I’ll find someone who works here. Maybe they’ve got some in the back.”
“Would you?”
I found a pimply kid in a green apron, but he told me they were, in fact, all out of peanut clusters. Charlotte was crestfallen when I told her.
“So we’ll try another store,” I said.
“Do you think I’m hormonal?”
Well, damn. There was no right answer to that question.
“I think if you want peanut clusters, I’m gonna make sure you get some,” I said, putting an arm around her shoulders.
“You always make me feel . . .” She shook her head, considering. “Calmer. Warmer. Steadier. I could really fall for you, Bennett . . . if I let myself.”