He could tell she’d stopped typing, but she didn’t respond immediately.
As was the case when he asked her that question, JJ gave her full attention to determining the answer. He never knew what she was going to come up with, but he always looked forward to hearing it.
“How about spaghetti?” she finally said.
“With meat sauce, meatballs, or chili?”
“Chili. Definitely chili.”
“With beans or without?”
He could tell she pondered the answer before saying, “With.”
“Anything else? Garlic bread? Chocolate mousse pie? Cookies? Nutella?”
“I’ll send you a list.”
“Perfect. It’ll take me fifteen minutes to get there, so start making the list now.”
JJ laughed. “Fine.”
Baz disconnected the call and focused on the road.
With traffic, it took him twenty minutes before he was pulling into the parking lot. Although he loved the house and the small town, he wouldn’t deny that it was inconvenient at times like this. Driving to the next town over for groceries or a restaurant that didn’t serve comfort food was a chore. But he figured it was a fair trade. Their daughter was going to grow up in a town with roots, and he couldn’t ask for more than that.
Forty-five minutes later, Baz was making his way toward the check-out registers. He was taking his time, ensuring JJ wasn’t going to add anything at the last minute. She’d been sending him a steady stream of things she wanted, so he wouldn’t put it past her.
He stopped on the seasonal aisle to waste a few minutes. It was there he noticed a guy watching him.
Maybe he wasn’t necessarily watching him, but he was glancing in his direction again and again until he finally approached. The guy was younger than he first thought. Late teens, if he had to guess, with shaggy red hair and acne blotching his face. His green eyes were almost cold, but he flashed a smile, presumably to put Baz at ease.
It didn’t work, but Baz took into account that the kid was carrying a bouquet in one hand and a greeting card in the other. Perhaps he wanted advice on what else to get his girlfriend.
“I hate to bother you, but I’ve got a question,” he said with a metallic smile, the light glinting off his braces.
Baz expected him to ask about gift ideas, so the question that came out of his mouth shocked him.
“Do you know Molly?”
Baz frowned, looking around to see if someone else was nearby. They were alone on the aisle.
“I … uh…”
The guy’s expression didn’t change, nor did he move. He was regarding him with a smile, like they were two friends catching up.
“It’s a simple question. Do you know Molly?”
“Molly who?” he countered.
The pleasant expression on his face slipped off, and what remained caused a chill to dance down Baz’s spine.
“Wrong answer.”
Before Baz could say anything, the guy spun on his heel and stomped off in the other direction. He glanced back once. His countenance was unreadable, but the way his eyebrow quirked was meant to say that wouldn’t be the last Baz would hear from him.
“What the fuck?” Baz muttered before pushing his cart in pursuit. When he reached the end of the aisle, he looked both ways, but the guy was gone.
Feeling like someone was watching him, Baz checked out at the register and then headed for the parking lot. He looked around, hoping to find the guy so he could ask him who the fuck he was. Several people were loading groceries into their cars, and others were walking into the store. None of them were the guy with the flowers.
