Page 7 of Holiday Home 3
Hurling his bodyweight onto his trepidation as though it were the roof of a treasure chest, inside which a monster struggled to break free, he said, “Yes, Tess?”
“I’m running sort of low on groceries. Would you like to go to Costco with me?”
As far as his expectations stretched, a shopping trip hadn’t found its way onto them. Nonetheless, after a moment of confusion, he hurriedly nodded.
“Sure, I’d be happy to go with you.”
Tess offered him a soft smile. “Let me get my keys, and then we’ll go together.”
Chapter Three
Us
Going together saw Liam sitting in the passenger seat of Tess’s two-toned Toyota Crown, which had first graced her driveway a little over a year ago. He remembered seeing it for the first time when he’d returned home for fall break last year. When prompted, she’d gushed about the purchase.
Now, after Tess let it warm up a little, he experienced his first ride in it. The car’s engine hummed quietly as Tess brought them out of their neighborhood. Now that most of the roads in the city had been cleared of snow, the traffic awaiting them was par for the course for the time of day that it was. With the nearest Costco a little over twenty minutes away, the relative silence of the car ride hung on Liam’s mind.
They still hadn’t privately discussed everything with Avril, nor the deception he and Anna had pulled off. If he had to pick one to be worried about, it was undoubtedly the former. The latter barely blipped within his mind by comparison.
The conversation would not occur on the ride to Costco. Other than some meager small talk about what she was looking to get at their destination, Tess left the can of worms unopened. Whether that was a positive or negative sign, he couldn’t decide.
Back to indecision,he self-admonished, almost sighing.
Reaching their destination, they found it as busy as one would expect on the day after Christmas. Tess’s refrigerator wasn’t the only one that needed refilling.
Foraying into the bitter cold once she found them a halfway decent parking spot, they shoved their hands into their coats, shivered, and scurried toward the relative warmth within the gargantuan warehouse-turned-shopping area rising before them. They weren’t alone, joined by several others who’d arrived as dusk began lengthening every shadow.
Obtaining a cart from within, he and Tess joined the flowing current of the other scores of shoppers who’d arrived before them. Massive aisles of foodstuffs, electronics, and household necessities awaited. Some of those aisles, like the ones that had held literal hordes of toys a matter of days ago, were almost entirely barren.
“Is there anything you want to get?” Tess asked as they began their journey by meandering into a section rife with detergents and household cleaners. She started them off by hefting a massive box of Tide Pods and depositing it into their cart. From there, she nabbed some trash bags and paper towels, also in bulk. Continuing their journey, they soon reached an aisle rife with almost every manner of sellable drink on the market.
“Uh, I’m not really sure. I didn’t check to see what I’m missing at home.”
His response earned him a curious look. “I meant, is there anything you’d like to get for my house? There’s plenty of room in my refrigerator, so feel free to get anything you’d like.”
“Oh. Oh!” Understanding dawned a split-second before relief rushed into his veins. He hurriedly scanned the nearest stacks of beverages, all in containers of eight or more. “Um, do you like root beer?”
“I like it fine.” She smiled, intuiting the reason behind his strange exclamation, and stopped midway through the aisle. “Were you assuming you weren’t coming back over with me when we got home, Liam?”
“I… wasn’t certain,” he admitted. “I didn’t know if you’d want some space after everything that happened earlier.”
The beautiful brunette shook her head. “I’ve had quite enough of having ‘my space’ these past few years, and I had someone living in my house most of that time. I’d like you to continue spending time with me… so long as you still want the same.”
“Definitely!” he said, earning a few stares from a shopper at the far end of the aisle because of his volume. He blushed ferociously, but Tess’s smile kept him from fretting over his outburst.
“Good. I’m certainly not upset with you, as well. If you’re worried about that, please don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I did kind of put my foot in my mouth while Anna was gone,” he reminded her.
“When you said you didn’t mind that Avril kissed you?”
“Yeah,” he dolefully answered.
Tess’s smile grew as she beckoned him to grab the nearest gaggle of root beer cans and deposit them into their cart.“I would be confused if you had minded overmuch. She’s exceedingly beautiful. Certainly, she’s very proactive.”
“A little too proactive for the sanity of those around her sometimes.”
Smiling as she guided the card forward, Tess glanced at the dozens of bags of coffee beans they passed. “Guess I don’t need any of those,” she said, referring to the Christmas gift she’d received from Anna, which she’d used for the first time for her morning cup of coffee several hours ago.