The quivers in her belly died down. She stepped out of the bathroom and yelled at the bedroom door, “Didn’t your mother teach you never to rush a girl?”
“You’re not a girl. You’re a sadist. I’m warming up the car.”
Julia pulled on the same jeans and sweater she’d been wearing earlier, brushed out her hair, and met Noah at the car. He didn’t look at her as she slid into the passenger’s seat. Didn’t wait for her to get her seat belt snapped before he backed out of the garage. And didn’t talk to her on the drive.
“Where do you usually shop?” Julia finally asked, both annoyed at his mood and anxious over her own sense of unease with her decision to stay.
“I don’t. Teresa does it for me.”
“Who’s Teresa?”
“My housekeeper.”
“Oh.” Julia made a mental note to have a sit-down with Teresa. “When does she come?”
“Tuesday and Friday. Eight a.m.”
“What are our choices in town?”
“Safeway and Pac-n-Save are the only two I know about.”
She’d need to search out alternative grocery stores, preferably those focused on organics. And she’d need a heavy-duty health store to get ahold of all the supplements he needed.
Noah pulled the SUV into a spot near the entrance, and Julia slipped out. When he met her at the front of his car, he was pulling his phone from his pocket to answer its ring. His ring tone: “Hall of Fame” from The Script, singing, “You could be the greatest, you could be the best, you could be the King Kong bangin’ on his chest…”
Julia smiled as she headed into the store, pausing at the shopping carts. He caught up to her while she struggled to separ
ate one cart from another.
“No, baby, I’m sorry, I can’t right now,” he said into the phone as he closed in behind Julia.
He reached over her shoulder, his front brushing her back where tingles broke out beneath her sweater, then curled his hand around the cart’s red handle and gave it one solid yank. Metal untangled from metal, and the cart rolled easily backward.
He gave her a superior smirk, then continued his conversation over the phone. “I’m at the grocery store. No, Teresa didn’t quit. All right, that’s enough. Do you want me to call you back later or don’t you? Then, be nice. Yeah. Okay. Couple of hours. Bye.”
Julia walked into the store, wondering who in his life warranted that sweet tone. When he came up beside her, she saw he wasn’t exactly limping, but he was definitely favoring his injured leg. “I hope you don’t think I’m not going to notice you sneaking out to meet a chick.”
“How are you going to do that from the guesthouse?” He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and strolled beside her, glancing at the signs above the aisles.
“Lesson one about grocery stores—shop around the borders. The main aisles hold mostly processed foods. You should be getting ninety percent of your food fresh—meat, produce, dairy—from the edges of the store.”
“But pain relief is smack-dab in the center.” He picked up his pace, heading that direction. “And after your Attila the Hun workout today, I’m starting there.”
“It only seemed hard because you haven’t been doing it right until today.” But her thighs were sore too, and she exerted deliberate effort to keep up with him.
“That’s because I haven’t had my homies to keep me in line.”
“Who are your homies?”
“A bunch of other snowboarders, animals who keep my form in check and challenge me.”
Noah turned down an aisle and paused in front of the ibuprofen, pulling a random bottle of Advil off the shelf.
Julia covered his hand before he pulled the box open. “Not that.”
The feel of his warm, masculine hand beneath hers made her stomach tighten. She released him quickly and pulled the box from his grip.
“Hey—”