Page 37 of Taming the Boss

“Don’t,” I said in undertone, reaching up to remove her hand. “Don’t stifle yourself.”

Her gorgeous eyes zeroed in on me, and for a second, we might as well have been alone in the crowded boisterous store. Two near strangers locked in an eyefucking match above a ridiculous toaster that I now had to have, no matter what.

“Toast.” Owen reached over to push down the lever as Maddie had just done.

“I love it.” Almost unconsciously, she brushed a kiss over his temple. “What do you think, Owen?”

“Toast,” he repeated delightedly as the rooster crowed again, popping up sans toast.

“Guess this is the one.” I pulled out the plug from the outlet and scooped up the very model they’d played with rather than one still in its box. Carefully, I set it in the basket of the cart. “What’s next?”

“Toast,” Owen said again, reaching once more for the lever. But now that I’d unplugged it, of course it didn’t work and his big eyes filled. “Toast,” he said pitifully.

“We’ll go get some bread. And waffles. And hot dogs and rocket pops. Right, Dad?” Maddie prompted.

“We will. Which store do we find all that in?” I looked around, magically hoping it would appear in the very one we were in. But of course, it didn’t.

“There’s a Food Lion right in this plaza,” she said to Owen with his now wobbly chin that suggested tears were near.

“Food Lion?” I echoed dubiously, rushing to keep up with her as she hurried to the checkout line.

That wrapped around half the store.

“Food Lion. It’s the best. They have everything we could want.”

My mind—and the rest of me—was definitely centered on wants, but not of the food variety.

While we waited in line, Owen leaned over to grab a blanket someone had ditched on a random shelf. He immediately buried his face in it and crooned, “Soft.”

“Oh, we can get you one of these. This brand has the nicest stuff.”

My hearing fuzzed out as I focused on the telltale neutral logo I’d recognize anywhere. No way. Absolutely not.

“This is one someone discarded. Let’s find another one.” My head spun as I pushed the cart out of the line, blindly moving through the store to the bedroom section. “Here, Owen, how’s this one?” Mindlessly, I grabbed the first fuzzy blanket I saw on a shelf, turning to show Owen,

Who was nowhere in sight.

A little ways away, Maddie and Owen were looking through a section of lamps, spinning carousel-type lights that I think threw color and images on the wall. Some kind of fancy mobiles, maybe? I’d never seen anything like them before.

Maybe I’d received a blanket reprieve.

“Find something?” I asked in my cheeriest voice, enthused because I knew A Home You Love didn’t make lamps. Or at least they hadn’t in the past.

“I haven’t seen your room yet, Owen, but do you have something cool like this?”

To me, the spinning lit up arrangement of bears and giraffes and other animals bobbing up and down on brightly colored carousel horses was jarring, but Owen seemed intrigued. Maddie pushed a button and circus type music started to play, making Owen clap his hands though he soon silenced the impulse just as Maddie had done with her laughter.

Was it me? Did my very presence somehow make people think they had to suppress themselves?

“Don’t,” I said again, reaching out to touch his hand. He looked at me with surprise, even shock. “Do you want the carousel?”

“He does,” Maddie announced. “It’s so cool. We’ll go set it up in your room as soon as we buy some food.”

Owen smiled tentatively, reaching out to hold the unwieldy carousel after Maddie transferred his stuffed giraffe to my cart. She did as I’d done with the toaster, unplugging the floor model rather than taking one neatly boxed on a lower shelf.

“Anything else?” Maddie asked him, not trying to take the carousel from him although she seemed to be struggling to hold onto him and the carousel. But it was clear he had no intention of letting go. Her attention landed on the throw in my arms as if she’d forgotten what I’d gotten out of line to find. “Blanket?”

“Too hot.” Owen shook his head at what I held. If he couldn’t get a fuzzy A Home to Love one someone had discarded, he wasn’t interested.

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