Page 50 of Stella's Christmas Rescue
She says, “He sounds like a nice guy.”
“He knows last night took a lot out of me. The house fires always do.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not at all. I’d rather focus on our trip to Bailey’s. You have a grocery list ready?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “I never shop with a list. I just wing it when I go to the store. I grab whatever looks good and fresh. Who does make a list?”
“I does that. Do that. You’ve got me tongue-tied,” I shake my head to clear it, “What do you mean, you wing it when you go to the store? Damn, no wonder you have the weirdest assortment of condiments I’ve ever seen.”
“Hey! It’s not weird. If you don’t have an assortment, you can’t mix them.”
“You mix them?”
She smiles. “Yeah. My favorite is when you mix ketchup and horseradish sauce. Tastes like cocktail sauce, without all the bits.”
My mouth drops open. “You are a strange girl.”
She laughs, “Well, you’re a strange boyfriend, so,” she shrugs, “we’re even.”
My chest flushes warm and there’s a rush to my other parts. “I’m your boyfriend?”
“Well, you did use the L—word, so I’m thinking yeah, you are. If you’re okay with the title. If you’re not?—"
“I am more than okay with it.”
She smiles. “Good.”
It’s not an ‘I love you’ from her, but it’s a start. Getting Stella to write out a grocery list is harder than I thought. She doesnot like to be pinned down to anything but her bed. We manage eventually, though, and go to the grocery store.
The closer we get, the more worried I am. With her brother coming for a visit, everything seems heightened. I’m on the lookout for anything suspicious. No unfamiliar vehicles in the parking lot. All Virginia plates, all cars and trucks that I recognize. Even Pastor Keppler’s minivan. Looks to be bouncing around. I wonder if Edna Winters is in there with the Pastor’s son. Kind of nice to be distracted by something so mundane. I don’t have to think about the possibilities of her brother’s visit. As I park the truck, I tell Stella, “I sort of wish Alex wasn’t showing up today.”
“Do you have a problem with my brother?”
“No, it’s not that. Alex seems great. It’s just, with this being the holidays, people get sentimental, they want to see their family. So, it seems to be the most likely time for someone to follow him to wherever you are. Does that make sense?”
She huffs. “I guess so. I mean, I get it, but I need to know how my grandfather is. Do you think I could possibly have a good Christmas, without knowing how he is?”
“I get that,” I nod. “But…I worry about you.”
Her smile lights up the space around her, and my truck has never looked better. “Thank you for worrying about me. I know I bristle about it, but I do appreciate you taking care of me.”
“I’m just glad?—"
She pulls me in for a kiss. Her soft lips are pillowy and hot. “I mean it, Jordan. Thank you.”
“Of course.” I want to stay in the truck and see where that kiss could go. But I don’t want to walk around Bailey’s with a hard-on. “We should go, before the truck loses warmth.”
“Fine. But we’re continuing that kiss back home.”
“Well, now I have another reason to hurry,” I tell her.
She giggles, my heart jumps again, and we go out into the bracing cold. Takes the starch right out of my collar. The grocery store is crowded for the holiday, so my nerves are on high alert. I don’t let Stella out of my sight. She’s on the hunt for canned pumpkin, so I focus on the search. It helps me to ignore the sights and sounds of a packed grocery store the day before Christmas. Jesus, I think everyone in Floyd is here.
The pandemonium inside matches the mayhem in my brain. The Hannigan house fire brought up a lot of bad memories from my time in the service, but Stella doesn’t need to know that. Not with everything she has going on. Besides, if I told her, she might think I need to quit at the firehouse. What would they do without me?
My heart jumps. Where’d Stella go?
