“I could call my parents or one of my sisters, I suppose,” she said to herself. “But then they’ll never let me live it down.”
“Live it down?” There was nothing wrong with buying groceries and stocking up on diapers.
“I tend to be impulsive, and they’re always telling me I should stop and take time to think things through.” She shrugged and propped a hand on her hip. “They’re usually right. This just proves it.”
Austin rubbed the tense muscles in his neck. It was late, and he was exhausted. He wanted to get home and spend a few minutes with his boys before bedtime. But he’d never been one to walk away from someone in need.
“Let’s load all the diapers into my truck, and I’ll drive them home for you.” It wouldn’t take that long to follow her home and unload a few boxes of diapers.
“Oh, that’s nice of you to offer, but you don’t need to do that. I’ll figure something out.”
“I don’t blame you for not wanting a stranger to follow you home. Especially after tonight, when it probably seems like I’m stalking you. But I assure you, I mean you no harm. I’m just trying to help out.”
The redhead turned away from him, talking to herself. “Rudy is on duty tonight. But he can’t keep a secret for nothing.” She swung back around and held her hand out. “My name’s Debbie, and I would appreciate your help.”
“Austin.” Her soft hand felt dainty–almost fragile–in his.
“I’ll gladly pay you for your gas and time.”
“That’s not necessary. Now let’s get these boxes loaded into my truck.”
He unlocked his doors and picked up two of the boxes of diapers, noting that they were different sizes. Her baby must be ready to outgrow size one diapers and would soon need size two.
He turned back to her car to grab another box. She pulled out the box she’d been trying to cram into the microscopic trunk of the sports car. The handle of a grocery bag caught on the box and came with it. The other edge snagged on something inside the car, tearing the bag apart. Her box of tampons landed at his feet again along with baby bottles and other baby stuff.
Austin bit back a chuckle and crouched to help her pick up the items. She leaned forward to snatch up the tampons, and they bumped heads.
“Oh, sorry. Did I hurt you?” He pulled back.
“What? No, I’m just embarrassed. I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” A rosiness took over her cheeks again.
“Don’t worry about it. We all have those days.” He caught a whiff of her perfume, picking up hints of violet, bergamot, and sandalwood. The scent was as elegant and expensive as her car. And unfortunately, all too familiar to him. Notherscent exactly, but he’d smelled his share of two-hundred-dollars-per-bottle perfumes in the past.
He helped her tuck the items they’d picked up into other grocery bags. Then he went back to moving the rest of the diapers to his truck while she loaded the remainder of her purchases into her car.
As he shoved the final box in the back seat, he realized it contained size five diapers. He looked at the other boxes again.
Debbie had purchased five different sizes of diapers, plus two different sizes of pull-ups for boys and the same for girls.
How many kids does this single mother have? And why does she drive a Porsche?
As he followed the flashy red sports car, he couldn’t help thinking how out of place it looked in this small northwestern town full of pick-up trucks. One thing he couldn’t figure out though, she didn’t have an infant seat in the Porsche, but she’d bought enough diapers for a small army of infants and toddlers.
As Debbie headed north of town, he feared offering to help her might have been a mistake. How far out did she live?
Just as he picked up his phone to call Savannah to tell her he’d be even later than he’d thought, Debbie turned on her blinker.
When the Porsche turned into a driveway just outside of town, Austin braked. He let out a low whistle as he took in the size of Debbie’s house. The two story rock and stucco home with under-the-eave lighting had six windows across the front of the house on the upper floor.
Of course, Debbie drove the most expensive car in the town, so it made sense that she lived in the biggest house in the county too. His chest tightened. It had been a long time since he’d been attracted to a woman. Any woman. Why, when he finally met someone who sparked his interest, did she have to be richer than he could ever dream of being?
He followed her up the driveway and parked off to the side as she pulled into the garage. He hopped out, intent on helping her unload her other purchases before carrying in the diapers.
She smiled at him as she opened the small back trunk. “I really appreciate this, Austin. I’ll have to find some way to repay you.”
“It’s not a problem, really.” He waited for her to pull out a couple of grocery bags before reaching for the remaining sacks.
The bag in Debbie’s left hand caught on the same corner of the trunk as the bag that spilled in the parking lot, ripping it wide open. For the third time that night, Debbie’s box of tampons fell at his feet.
