He narrows his eyes. “I was obviously in the middle of something.”
I turn and start putting some peaches in a bag. “Can you try to find your hookups when I’m not around? I don’t need those images in my head.”
He follows behind as I walk to an empty aisle to get away from this conversation. “I don’t make it a habit to sleep with people I’m not dating,” he says coldly.
I let out a forced laugh. He walks up next to me and gives me a questioning look. “What’s so fucking funny?”
I glance at him and raise my eyebrows. “You really expect me to believe that?”
He stares back. “Why wouldn’t you?”
I reach for some cereal on the shelf. “When are you ever dating anyone? I think the only girl I’ve ever met was what was her name? Aubrey? Amy?”
“Ally,” he says.
I turn back around and look at him. “Exactly.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to bring every girl I date to meet the family, especially not my family.” He spits out the last part.
“Oh?” I ask. “Then why did we get the honor of meeting her?”
He shrugs. “Because I liked her.”
My face drops. “I didn’t even realize you guys were serious. Didn’t you break up like a week later?”
He lets out a sigh. “Yeah, well, sometimes when you see someone in a new environment next to different people, it puts things into perspective about what you actually want.”
I look at him confused. “What’s that supposed to mean? Was she too similar to your mom?” I joke.
He smiles and starts walking down the aisle. “Something like that.”
I glance over at him again as we walk. “Have you talked to her? Your mom?”
He lets out a long sigh. “She’s called.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Did you answer?”
He sighs again. “Yes.”
I place my hand on his arm. “I told her you were too upset to come to the funeral. She thinks you went up north to be alone.”
His face hardens as he stares back at me. “Why would you do that?” he asks.
I swallow hard as I look down at the floor. I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. To have your back. To not cause any more issues.” I glance back up at him. “Why didn’t you come?” I ask softly.
His jaw clenches, and his body goes rigid. “It was better that way. They didn’t want me there.”
I feel tears prick my eyes again. “I wanted you there,” I whisper at the ground.
Reed tries to lighten the mood. “Yeah, well, thanks to your lies, my mom is now forcing me to stay with them for Tina’s wedding weekend, and guess what? You have to come too.”
I open my eyes wide at him. “What? No! She never said…” I trail off.
He smirks back at me. “Oh, don’t worry. I already promised her that you’d be there.”
He turns and starts walking down the aisle again. I chase after him. “Why would you do that?” I shout. “We’ll never survive!”
He scoffs. “Tough luck. Besides, she’ll probably ease back on all the condescending comments now that there’s no chance of Jake leaving you for someone more worthy.”
“Fucking asshole!” I shout as I punch his arm, but he just grins back at me.
I let out a sad laugh up at the ceiling. “We’re really fucked up, aren’t we?”
He glances at me without turning toward me. “Speak for yourself.”
I roll my eyes. “Go grab some snacks. I’ll finish getting the food for dinner for the week.”
I meet Reed at the checkout a little while later. I’d usually go through self-checkout, but I had too much stuff this time. As the lady is ringing us up, I open my eyes wide. “Oh shoot!” I turn to Reed. “Could you go grab some sour cream?” I ask.
He sighs. “Fine.” Then he turns and leaves to grab it before she is done ringing us up.
The cashier stops when she tries to ring up the napkins. “Hmm,” she says as she tries to type something on her screen. “Sorry,” she apologizes to me. “I’m going to need my manager for this one.”
I smile at her politely as she calls her manager on the phone attached to her register. A few moments later, an attractive man walks up to her. He smiles at me before turning back to her and nodding, “Go ahead and go on break. I’ll finish this up for you.”