The Freelancer – Chapter 15
Thursday, September 25
I knew the stockers at the Tom Thumb thought I was nuts. I hadn’t remembered at what time Jenna would be doing her shopping and I was not going to let McShae know that, so I got up at eight o’clock and headed over. As it was already a quarter past eleven and Jenna was nowhere in sight, it would seem she was a late sleeper.
I decided she wasn’t going to show after all, so I headed to the checkout lanes. It was as I got in line I realized that, despite all of my fake shopping, I still failed to pick up the few items I would legitimately need. With reluctance, I turned the cart around and headed back to the dairy section. I was reaching for the milk when I heard a voice speaking to me from behind.
“Are you following me?”
I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
“No, I think you’re following me, Jenna.”
“How could I have known you would be here?”
“I don’t know,” I said turning around and flashing her a smile, “but your basket is empty.”
She looked puzzled by my statement. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“It proves my point. I got here first. Naturally, you must be following me.”
It worked. Jenna cracked a smile before speaking again.
“At least my basket isn’t filled with junk.” She eyed the contents of my cart. “You have enough frozen dinners to fill up both our freezers. Can you even cook?”
“I’m insulted. I happen to be an excellent chef.”
I held the glass door open for Jenna as she reached in for a gallon of milk. None of that low fat shit women seem to always buy, but whole milk. At least I knew she wasn’t on the never-ending diet my ex had been on. She put the milk in her basket and leaned against it before she replied, “I’m not trying to pick on you. I’m sure you can thaw out one mean lasagna.”
When Jenna started to push her cart away, I followed. “You shouldn’t knock my skills until you’ve tried them.”
“Oh, I’m sure your skills are impressive. Wouldn’t want to damage the fragile male ego.”
Was she coming onto me? “Only one way to find out for sure, Jenna. You could put my skills to the test.”
Her teeth scraped over her lower lip in the most alluring manner. “Frozen lasagna, Jackson? I’ve had that before. It isn’t really my thing.”
“I’ve only been doing the frozen dinner thing since I’ve been alone. It’s depressing to put together an elegant meal for one. All the leftovers in the fridge are a reminder you’re alone. Not to mention all the dirty dishes.”
“So you’re saying you can cook?”
I smiled as I followed her down the bread aisle. “I’ll tell you what; I can prove it to you. Come over for dinner tomorrow night.”
Jenna lowered her eyelashes. “I don’t know.” Seemed a little late to play shy now.
“Come on, Jenna. It’ll give me a chance to eat something other than fast food and frozen dinners.”
“I should really spend the time working on my book. I’m under a deadline.”
“I’m not asking you to spend the entire weekend with me.” Not yet, anyway. “It’ll just be a couple of hours so you can get to know your new neighbor and I can keep my culinary skills from getting rusty.”
“Okay, I’ll come on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“No fish of any sort,” Jenna said with a firm voice.
“What about shrimp?”
“Nothing that lives in the water.”
“Well, Jenna, you have yourself a deal. I’d better do some real shopping now and put some of these frozen boxes back.”
Taking McShae’s money was going to be too easy.
wow…that was quite a change in attitude for Jenna
I can’t wait to see how their dinner goes!