"How about the back wall? When my brothers show up, they can be next to you." I walked in that direction, showing him the paper products and telling him how much each patron could have.
"This seems easy enough."
"I'm surprised you came."
His brow furrowed. "Why wouldn't I?"
"You're always so busy working." And he didn't always like to do things in public with the family. He seemed to like to point out that he wasn't a Sterling. Often enough that I think it was a thing for him. As if he never wanted to let himself forget he wasn't one of us.
"I can make time for something like this. It's important."
My cheeks flushed. "Of course it is. But I didn't expect you to think that."
He frowned. "Why not?"
"I don't know." The reality was, I didn't know Cooper that well. Our barbs had created distance between us.
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do."
Properly chastened, I said, "Let me know if you have any questions. If you see Ron walking around, he'll go in the back and get things if you need to restock."
Cooper's gaze tracked me to the front of the room where I greeted a mother and two of her middle-school-aged daughters. I set them up near the canned goods and explained the process.
When I walked past Cooper, he snagged my wrist.
I couldn't say he'd ever made it a habit to touch me before, and before I could pull away, he ran his thumb over the pulse point on my wrist. "You need something?"
He nodded to one of the patrons who had a green circle sticker with a five on it. "Can you explain the stickers on their shirts?"
"The number represents how many people they're shopping for in their family. If they have multiple stickers, it means they are shopping for multiple families. You can use that information to gauge how much product they can take."
"Thanks." He inclined his head toward the front of the room. "Your family's here."
"They came?" I said incredulously.
"You thought they wouldn't?" Cooper asked.
"I wasn't sure."
Mom and Dad stood at the front of the room, looking a little lost.
He nudged me in their direction, his touch sending my heart racing again. "You'd better help them."
I moved toward the front of the room, swearing I could feel his gaze on my ass. But that would be ridiculous. He was my arch nemesis. The man I was forced to play nice with. Not a man I wanted to have looking at my body.
"Mom. Dad. You came." There was a part of me that preferred that this slice of my life was just for me. No other Sterlings had infiltrated it until now.
"We said we would, didn't we?" Mom asked, looking at Dad.
Dad rubbed his hands together. "Where do you want us?"
"Sign in, and write your name on a tag." I pointed at the lectern where the clipboard sat.
I stayed with them as they filled out their names and placed the name tag on their shirts. "Why don't you stand in the back by the potatoes?"
Dad waved for me to precede him. "We're following you."
When we passed Cooper, Dad stopped to shake his hand. "Good to see you here."