Based on her happy squeals, Greta got permission. She hung up and handed the phone back. “So, Mom said we wouldn’t get the fire burned down to enough coals for campfire dinners in time, but s’mores are a go. She’ll have dinner ready for us when we get back. Can we run by the store for marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate?”
Edward agreed, and Elinor didn’t bother trying to talk him out of it. Of course he’d hang out with them in the backyard tonight. And of course he’d go shopping with them. She couldn’t win. Who was she to tell him he was uninvited? After a while, being the fretting Nancy got to be exhausting. He had proved himself to be a good neighbor and boss so far. It didn’t have to be more complicated than that.
The grocery store was just up ahead on the right, and Edward pulled into the lot and parked under a tree. “Are we all going in?”
“Well, I’m not sitting here.” Greta hopped out, and Elinor hurried to follow her.
Edward caught up to them as they reached the entrance and grabbed a basket from the stack by the door.
“Is there anything else you need while we’re here?” Edward asked.
Elinor shook her head, but Greta piped up. “Marianne’s about to start her period. She told me this morning she needed more tampons.”
Elinor pulled Greta into a side hug. It was a good thing Greta was unembarrassed by such things. She’d be right there with them in a few years. But sometimes Elinor did wish someone else in the family erred on the side of being discreet, as she did. “We’ll get those Gret. Edward, how about we’ll meet you at the candy aisle in a few minutes?”
He exchanged amused smiles with Elinor. “Sounds good.”
***
Stores put marshmallows in the strangest places. With a product that was not quite candy, and not quite a baking item, who knew where they would be? He finally found the marshmallows next to the canned pie filling. Edward put a large bag in the basket on his arm and turned to continue down the aisle, only to catch Elinor running right at him, her arms full of tampon boxes. He steadied her with his hands on her arms and caught a box from falling with his chin. If her face didn’t hold so much panic, he might have found the situation funny.
“What’s wrong?”
“Greta was right next to me, and then I turned, and she was gone. This is so like her. I looked down all the aisles on my way to you. Do we put an announcement out? Lock down the store? She wouldn’t voluntarily go off with a stranger.”
“Did you check the toy aisle?”
Elinor growled. “No. Where’s that?”
Edward took the boxes out of her hands and put them in his basket. “Follow me.”
They jogged down to the end of the aisle where they could look up at all the signs and headed toward the section where the toys were. Sure enough, Greta was digging through a plastic bin of rubbery snakes and didn’t even look guilty when she noticed them coming for her.
“Greta, you are ten years old. You can’t take off like that without telling me.”
“I did tell you. You were doing that price check thing where you figure out how many tampon thingies are in a box for how much money and it was taking forever. And you said, ‘mmhmm’ when I asked if I could go look at something.”
Elinor put her palms together under her chin. “It’s a good thing I love you, because you’re the worst.”
Greta laughed. “I love you, too, Elinor.”
“Do we have everything?” Edward asked, searching through the basket. Maybe they should’ve gotten a cart. “Nope. We still need graham crackers.”
“Oh, and I need to grab dishwasher soap.” Elinor put her arm around Greta. “We’ll go get the dishwasher soap and meet you at the front.” She was obviously not about to let Greta out of her sight again, not that he could blame her.
Still, he picked up one of the dollar rubber snakes and put it in the bottom of the basket. Hopefully, Greta would get a good scare out of Marianne with it, maybe leave it on her pillow or something. He shook his head, still trying to decide if Marianne really didn’t know how suggestive her wording had been on those stupid fliers.
Edward strolled down to the snack aisle and grabbed a box of graham crackers, stopping short when he saw Rosa come around the corner pushing her cart.
She looked up and smiled at him. “I just ran into Elinor when I came in. This town seems smaller and smaller every day.” After putting a package of Oreos in her cart, she came over, her sharp eyes roving over his basket, spotting the marshmallows, the chocolate bars, the graham crackers, and the tampons. “Shopping for Lucy?”
“Um, not exactly.”
Rosa put her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? Who then?” She looked past him, and he glanced over his shoulder, making sure Elinor and Greta weren’t coming to find him.
Her eyes filled with sudden understanding. “Are you here with Elinor? Buying her tampons?”
“Now, Rosa—”
“Don’t you ‘now, Rosa’ me. I told you it means something when you give a girl a ride home. The feminine products? That’s a whole other line you’ve crossed, young man. That means commitment. Like when you let a man see you without makeup or you actually fight over the remote instead of pretending you don’t care what you watch on TV.”
“I’m not buying these for her. I’m holding them. And Elinor’s sister is with her and they’re both waiting for me at the registers. So, I will see you tomorrow, where we won’t be discussing this.”
Rosa shook her head slowly. “See you tomorrow, Edward. Behave yourself tonight.”
As if he were about to go wild with power after taking overly-familiar shopping liberties. If anyone was aware of the limits he was bound by, it was him. He waved goodbye to Rosa and jogged to go find Elinor and Greta.
