“You have us too, Dais.I know you had it rough growing up, and Eddie didn’t make your life any easier, but you’re family too, and you’re welcome at our table any time.”
“Come on, it’s not like Mama Winchester needs another mouth to feed, especially not when I’m eating for two.”
“Are you kidding?Her favorite thing is mouths to feed.You need never feel unwelcome at her table, Daisy.”
“Maybe I’ll join you one day then, but I’d still feel like I was making more work for her.”
“Well, dessert goes over real well in the Winchester household, just saying.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’d just take it all for yourself?”I say, watching him tuck into another plateful of cinnamon rolls.
“You’re right.Better to bring two.”He finishes his plate as I savor my coffee.I miss the caffeinated stuff.“So, when are we headed out?”
“To where?”
“SaveCo.”
I roll my eyes.“You do not want to go to SaveCo with me.”
“Hell, yes, I do.I might need ...things.”
I give him a wan look.“What kind of things do they have there, West?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugs and hits me again with that golden boy smile.“But I’m sure I need ’em.”
***
“West.You’re not supposedto eat all of the samples.”
He frowns with three toothpicks of sausages hovering by his mouth.“Why do they give them out then?”
“To entice shoppers to buy the sausages they’re sampling.”
“Well, I’m just trying to be sure.But these are delicious.”
I laugh as he tosses the toothpicks in the trash beside the sausage station.The woman handing out the samples says, “You’re welcome to as many as you like, darlin’.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”He gives me a “told you so” smug smile and loads up the trolley with a dozen packs.“I see why you like it here.This place is great.”
I just shake my head and keep moving through the aisles towards the baking goods.West gently shifts me out of the way when I try to lift an entire pound bag of flour.He does the same with the sugar.In fact, every time I reach for anything, he takes over and places it in the buggy before I can, and then he insists on pushing the buggy too.
Once all my supplies are collected, I stop at the clothing section and hold up an adorable Halloween-themed infant onesie.I admire it and set it back down on the table with the other folded baby clothes.
“You don’t like it?”
I smile tightly.“It’s not that.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t need it, West.”
“But you want it.”
I press my lips together and ball my fists, because as cute as that onesie is, I can’t afford it.I shop at SaveCo because I need to buy in bulk for my orders from both the Buttermilk café and my porch pickup.I mean, who can even afford eggs these days?
Without the extra money I make on baked goods, I wouldn’t have a roof over my head.And while baby clothes will be a necessity soon, I can get through a few more weeks without needing them, and I can definitely do without a cute holiday themed onesie my baby might not even get to wear.But how do I tell West that without him feeling like he needs to sweep in and save the day?“I can’t afford it.”
West frowns, picks up the article in question and throws three different onesies into the buggy.“I can.”
