Chapter 232: Groceries
*I can do domestic stuff. I even know how to bag groceries. Eggs. Cookies. Bread. Seventy-pound frozen turkey. – Chance*
It was Saturday and the Lowery men had already done their weekly workouts. They got together every Saturday for a workout, which was just an excuse to beat the hell out of each other. Werewolf was called into the office and asked Chance to go help his wife, Charlotte, do her Saturday errands. Although she could do them herself, he felt better if someone was there to help. Especially with the large bags of dog food.
Chance rode out to his brother’s house and took his brother’s family to lunch at his sister’s restaurant. He made several jokes about driving the minivan that the kids had dubbed Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web. The back window even had a spiderweb in the corner with amazing written in it.
After dropping the four kids off, they headed back into town in Werewolf’s dark blue extended cab pickup with bed cover. Chance had tried to convince her that they all could have fit in the pickup. Someone would have had to ride in the back, but with the cover they would have all been fine.
Charlotte gave him *the* look and tried hard not to laugh.
The first stop back in town had been to drop off payment at the kennel for the dogs to be washed. It was easier to pay the extra fee to have the dog washer go to them than to load up three Saint Bernard dogs. Charlotte had insisted on having the dog wash station in the mudroom when all they had was a husky. Add in four more dogs and she didn’t even think about washing them anymore. Mr. Carlos could do that.
Then it was the pet store for the weekly bags of dog food. After that was the office supply store and the pharmacy before finally going to the grocery store.
They were going down each aisle discussing mundane things as she gathered what her family needed for the week.
They turned down the bread aisle and Chance accidentally ran into a small black-haired woman. He grabbed her arm to keep her from falling over.
“Sorry about that, honey.” Chance said in his most charming voice.
Angry lilac eyes turned towards him. “Get. Your. Hands. Off. Me.”
“I meant nothing by it, duchess.” He replied angrily. “I ran into you, I’m just apologizing. Next time I’ll let you fall.”
“I’m sorry, I had him distracted.” Charlotte said confused over what she was seeing. Women always made fools of themselves over Chance. They didn’t react like this to him.
Rye looked at her. “I’m sure he can distract himself just fine.”
“I’m not one of his flings.” Charlotte corrected thinking maybe this was a jealous conquest.
“Neither am I.” Rye told her angrily as she turned on her heel and left.
Chance followed her. “What the hell?”
He grabbed her arm and she turned to face him. Shoving her flashlight into his side, she pushed the small red button. As soon as she released the button, she dropped her handbasket and ran away.
Sitting on the floor, Chance looked at his sister-in-law in confusion. “What the hell just happened?”
“I could be wrong, but I think that you got tazed.” She replied with a grin as she pulled out her phone from her jacket pocket.
“Well, that was shocking.” He muttered as she squatted down in front of him.
“Hey, babe, we’re fine. You owe me fifty bucks.” She said into the phone. Smiling at Chance, she brushed some hair out of his face. “I just met a woman who does not like your brother.”
Charlotte laughed as Chance tried to get up. He fell back onto his ass causing her to laugh harder. “Okay. I love you, too.” Ending the call, she tucked her phone back into her pocket.
Moving towards the basket, Charlotte grabbed it up before offering him a hand. “Upsy-daisy.”
He stood up, still a little rattled. “She really does not like me.”
“I noticed. What the hell did you do?”
“I have no idea. Celt thinks that I remind her of her baby daddy.” He leaned against the buggy as Charlotte sat the red handbasket in the upper part of the buggy.
“You might. How do you know her?” she placed three different types of bread in the cart before moving to the tortillas.
“Daycare.” He said looking at the envelope in the hand basket.
It had a grocery list that included bread, peanut butter, apples, and carrots. Prices were laid out by each item. There were other items also, but they were crossed out.
Flipping the envelope over, he saw a list of bills. Rent, gas, electricity, UNG, phone. They each had amounts next to them. The gas and electricity must have been cheaper than what she had expected because new amounts were beside the crossed-out originals.
The last item on the list, had him asking out loud, “What the fuck?”
Charlotte looked at it as she put bagels in the cart. “I remember those days.”
“What?”
Nodding her head, she motioned to the envelope. “You put your money in the envelope before you pay bills. Pay your bills by cash because if you overdraft yourself, it’s at least fifty dollars gone. She probably has receipts in there.”
Opening the envelope, he did in fact find receipts. And twelve dollars.
“She was going to eat on twelve dollars. For a week.”
“How often do you get paid?”
“Every other Friday.” His eyes widened as he looked at her. “She’s going to eat on twelve dollars for two weeks?”
“Was.” Charlotte pointed out. “You now have her twelve dollars.”
Shaking his head, he took the basket and the list. “I’ll meet you at the checkout.”
Smirking, she watched him go. There was definitely going to be something to talk about when her husband got home. Namely the fact that his brother was grocery shopping for a woman who disliked him so much, she tazed him.
