“Have a great one.” I pull him to the stacks of cherry tomatoes and start my inspection. “I don’t think she likes me.”
“She got divorced last year and pretty much hates anyone she views as competition.” He picks up a box of an heirloom variety and hands it to me.
I inspect them and decide they don’t look firm enough. “Thought she had a shot with you, huh?”
“If she did, she’s delusional. It’s not personal.” He gives up and lets me take over the selection process. “She’s looking for revenge against her ex-husband, who knocked up a twenty-two-year-old.”
“That’s horrible.” Sympathy rises for the other woman. “Very revenge-worthy.”
He grins down at me. “You are fucking adorable.”
I loop my arms around his neck. “Are we obnoxious yet?”
He squeezes me tight. “Not yet, but we’re probably walking a line.”
“How about you get the hamburger supplies? I’ll grab the stuff for my dressing, and then we can get out of here.”
“Deal.” He plants a hard kiss on my lips, and we separate.
I spend several minutes wandering down aisles and learning the layout of the store while gathering my ingredients, when I once again run into Gina.
“Hello again.” I pursue the assortment of tin fish for the anchovies required for Caesar salad dressing.
“Well, hi,” she says, her voice cloying. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
“Thanks.” I can tell by the gleam in her brown eyes she’s interested in probing for information to feed the Revival gossip circuit.
I put my guard up. Maybe I haven’t lived here long, but it doesn’t take a town historian to ascertain that Charlie is a hot commodity. That he might not have given the single women of Revival encouragement, but they still hoped.
She pulls her cart to a stop. “You and Charlie, huh? That’s a surprise.”
Ah yes, the passive-aggressive veiled insult. Always a favorite. “Oh? Why’s that?”
“It’s nothing personal. You’re quite—” she gives me the down-and-dirty once-over “—cute.”
Cute. I’ve been called a lot of things, but cute has never been one of them. But that’s okay. If Charlie had left me for a twenty-two-year-old, I’d be bitter too…after I castrated him.
I work on my compassion skills, and I let her have the dig. “Thanks.”
She waves, her pointy acyclic nails glinting under the fluorescent bulbs. “It’s just that after Gracie, I never thought he’d get involved with anyone close to home again. None of us did.”
The surprise jolts through me, and I work to keep my expression impassive.
So Charlie and Gracie were in a relationship? The beautiful, blond baker might be my exact opposite, but I can picture her next to Charlie.
Gina watches me, the light of expectation sparkling right along with her rhinestone necklace.
I smile pleasantly. “What can I say? I swept him off his feet.”
She goes to say something else but promptly snaps her mouth closed when Charlie turns onto the aisle, meat and hamburger buns in hand.
“Have a great night.” Gina nods at Charlie before taking off as fast as her kitten heels can carry her.
I turn to look at Charlie and find his dark gaze on me.
I contemplate the information Gina just dropped in my lap and compare it to what Charlie has revealed. He said he was with the out-of-town pediatrician for at least a year. Gracie is also married, so if they’d been in a relationship, it had to be long over.
They have the same friends. I’ve never sensed any tension. Nor did there appear to be any friction between James and Charlie. On game night, she’d invited me and pushed Charlie and me back together. Her husband hadn’t seemed worried that his wife was sitting half naked with her ex-lover.