Page 86 of Unexpected Forever
We laugh and chat about her work and my trip until we pull into the small parking lot of Shop ’N Save.
“Okay, you stay here so I can pull off at least one surprise.” She slips the strap to her purse over her shoulder. “Is there anything you don’t like? Like seriously detest?”
“Nope. I pretty much eat anything.”
“I’ll be back.” She bounds out of the truck and before she shuts the door, I call her name.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet, Iceman. There’s more to come.” She grins and closes the door.
My nerves fire all at once as I watch her walk into the store, waving to people she knows as they walk out.
I look around at the small town, bathed in the twilight of the summer night. Charley is a part of the fabric of Madison Ridge. How do I even compete with that?
I rub a hand over my sternum when I think about what’s going to happen once the baby comes and next season starts.
A few minutes later, she walks out with two bags and a basket. When she gets to my vehicle, she climbs into the backseat.
“What are you doing and what is all that stuff?”
She huffs and leans forward between the seats. “It’s a surprise, Nate. Now take a right out of here and at the next stoplight, take a left.”
I follow her directions and while we wait at the light, I glance in the rearview mirror. In the darkness, I can’t see what she’s doing but the sound of crinkling plastic mingles with the classic rock playing low.
Then I’m hit with the smell of fried chicken. And it’s heavenly.
I keep quiet though, letting her have the moment.
“You’re going to go about a mile until you see the sign for Midway Square Park on your left,” she says after we make the turn.
I pull into the drive for the park, only to be stopped by a closed, metal gate.
“It’s closed.”
“I’ve got the keys.”
I turn my head to see her grinning, a pair of keys dangling from her fingers.
Before I can ask how she managed that, she’s out of the truck and, using the headlights, unlocks the gate.
She swings them open and locks them back once I’ve pulled through.
“You have keys to the park?” I ask, once she’s back in the passenger seat.
“Nope, but my mom does. And I might have called her while I was getting ready and she may have met me in the Shop ’N Save when I got our goodies.”
“You’re a good person to know around here,” I say, chuckling.
She sends a saucy wink my way, making my cock twitch in my shorts.
Moments later, I’m holding a basket of food and following Charley to a small building.
She unlocks the door and walks inside. Before I can follow her, her disembodied voice calls out.
“You stay there, okay?”
