“These are really good,” he says, tossing a package of refrigerated ravioli in the cart from a special fridge.
I’m content to just follow him around and watch what he grabs, amused enough to think that we can get some of the ingredients on the list Hazel wrote up for me right here in the general store just a town away.
Lavender essential oil, check.
Beeswax candles. Caleb tries to put a hundred in the cart, which is way too many, but he says he likes the way they smell.We end up with twenty stacked in there. Excessive, since we only need one, but Caleb insists on more for “power outages” except I caught him sniffing them.
Copper nails. We do manage to find some.
The only thing we can’t find is red twine, and the worker tells us they normally only stock that at Christmas with the gift wrap. We’ll have to try a bigger box store for something like that.
Still, it’s a pretty solid haul, and we’ve made a good dent in the list. Besides the red twine we still need salt from low tide, sea glass, eucalyptus, and a few other odds and ends.
By the time we walk up to the counter, the cart’s loaded with groceries, dog food, dog treats, sweatpants and a T-shirt Caleb insists I keep at his place, some thick wool socks, a pair of work boots for me, and a way overpriced faux fur blanket that I ran my hand over then couldn’t stop Caleb from throwing in the cart too.
“Was that everything?” the woman asks us as she checks us out.
“Well, I think it’s everything,” I tell her, sounding a little shaken from the experience, like we did Supermarket Sweep in an upscale general store with a dude who lost his mind.
And the dude who lost his mind keeps calling me wifey.
Caleb just laughs and hands over his card.
I do my very best not to look at the total on the screen.
I can’t help myself.
As Caleb loads up the back of the cab, not letting me lift a finger, Gunner hops in and curls up tight.
“How much does coastal conservation work pay?” I ask, slightly horrified at how much he’s packing into the truck.
“I do all right,” Caleb says. “But my uncle left me a pretty big inheritance too, so don’t worry yourself about it, okay, Ivy? If it really bothers you, you can loan me some cash, but I can’t guarantee I’ll keep it for very long or that I won’t just turn around and spend it on you anyway.”
“Caleb, you don’t have to spend anything on me.”
“If it really makes you uncomfortable, Ivy,” he says, looking deep in my eyes, “no problem. No strings. But it makes me happy. And if it makes you happy too, I don’t see any problem with it. Besides, you were firmly opposed to my idea of you being naked for the next week, so here we are.” He holds up both hands in mock surrender.
I shake my head, too tired to think of any more arguments.
I’m not sure I have any at this point, anyway. “Come on, let’s just go home.” I’m exasperated and tired and slightly off-balance from all the feelings I’m having.
Okay, extremely off-balance.
A slow smile spreads across his face as he opens up my door for me and helps me climb inside the truck. He leans over me as I buckle in, one arm overhead.
“I like that you just called where I live home,” he says.
And with that, he slams the door shut.
Twenty-Three
Alight drizzle has started back again by the time we make it to Watchmere Light. Caleb parks the truck as close to the front door as he can, and I grab as many of the bags and trash from our meal as I can befoe Caleb removes half of it and takes it himself.
“I am perfectly capable of carrying things inside.”
“Yeah, but why should you if I’m here to do it?” he says.
Gunner laughs at that, manages to slip the handles of the bags with the dog treats through his mouth, then jumps out carrying his bag, his black shaggy tail wagging furiously the whole while.
