since you’ve been working for my sister’s family for a year.”
“A little over a year, actually. I worked for another man in Arkansas—in Hot Springs Village—for almost a year before that, so I’ve been back in this state for a while. As for my age, most people think I’m younger than I really am. I’m twenty-nine.”
“Do your parents still move often?”
She nodded. “I can’t imagine my father ever staying in one place for long, and my mother seems content to follow him around the country.”
The last she’d heard, they’d been in Arizona. But it had been a couple months since she’d talked with her mother, so they could very well have drifted someplace else since then. For the past dozen years, especially, they’d been unable to settle anywhere for long. During those twelve years, they had traveled on their own while Jacqui followed a different path.
“Do you have any siblings?”
The question still made a hard lump form in her chest, even after all this time. “I had a sister. She died.”
Although she wasn’t looking at him, she sensed Mitch searching her face. She wondered if he’d heard the guilt that always swamped her when she thought of Olivia.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“Thanks.” She reached for her purse. “If you’re finished with your lunch, we really should get the groceries. I’m supposed to pick up Alice at four.”
“I’m done.” He swallowed one last gulp of his tea and then stood.
Jacqui moved toward the exit without looking back to see if he followed.
Mental note to self. Don’t ask Jacqui personal questions.
Mitch glanced sideways at the woman in his passenger seat as he drove toward the supermarket she said she preferred. He couldn’t help being curious about her, despite her reticence about her past. Or, just as likely, because of it.
Although he wouldn’t have called her chatty, their conversation had been going pretty well during lunch until he’d started asking questions about her family.
He had definitely hit some raw nerves there. Her relationship with her parents was obviously strained, and her old pain from losing her sister had been almost palpable.
What had it been like for her, growing up without strong roots to either a place or her family? So strongly connected to his own mother and sisters, and to the memory of the father he had loved deeply, and never having lived anywhere but central Arkansas, Mitch couldn’t really identify with her experiences, but he would have liked to hear about them. Not that her past was any of his business, of course. Although circumstances had brought them under the same roof for the next couple of weeks, they were merely acquaintances, nothing more. Maybe by the time he moved on, they could at least claim to be casual friends.
It was her suggestion that they stop at a sporting goods store they passed on the way to the supermarket. “If you’re going to play football with your friends tomorrow, you’ll need clothes,” she said.
Stopped at a red light, he looked at the store, thinking how convenient it would be to save at least one extra shopping trip. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not.” She motioned for him to turn into the shopping center in which the sporting goods store was located.
“I won’t be long,” he promised. “Just need a few things.”
“No reason to rush. We have a couple of hours to shop before Alice gets home.”
The casual assurance made him realize that her hurry to leave the lunch table had been more related to their conversation than her schedule for the remainder of the day. No surprise.
“Kind of warm for a football game, isn’t it?” she asked, glancing at the blazing sun in the cloudless sky.
He shrugged as he pulled into a parking space and killed the engine. “We dress cool, drink plenty of water. We don’t start until six, so even though it’s still hot, the sun has gone down some. By the way, Scott was serious about you being welcome to join us, if you like. The games are co-ed, and we have several women who show up regularly to play.”
“Since it’s co-ed, I take it you play flag football? Not tackle?”
He realized only then that she was under a misconception about the invitation his friend had extended. “Wrong game.”
She caught on before he had the chance to explain. “Not American football. Soccer.”
“Yeah. Scott was being pretentious, I guess.”
She shrugged and reached to open her door. “The rest of the world calls it that.”
“But in this country, it’s reasonable to assume he was talking about our football. Scott likes to catch people in that assumption and correct them with a worldly indulgence toward their naiveté.”
“Sounds kind of jerky.”
Amused by her blunt assessment, he nodded. “He can be. But he’s okay, on the whole.”
Jacqui didn’t look mollified. “I don’t like it when people try to make other people look stupid. Your sister and brother-in-law would never do that, and they’re pretty much the smartest people I know.”
He hoped she didn’t think he’d been having fun at her expense. “No, they wouldn’t. And I—”
But she was already out of the car, the door snapping shut behind her. Mitch sighed.
Forty-five minutes later, he tagged behind Jacqui as she wielded a shopping cart through the Saturday-crowded supermarket aisles. She selected her groceries with even more care than he’d used in grabbing supplies at the sporting goods store while she’d browsed the sneakers collection.
She seemed to have no trouble being friendly with other people. Apparently, she knew quite a few employees of the supermarket. Several of them greeted her with obvious recognition and Jacqui responded with friendly smiles.
“How’s the new baby?” she asked a young woman arranging roses in the floral department.
“He’s doing great,” the woman replied, beaming. “You wouldn’t believe how fast he’s growing. He loves the little stuffed bear you knitted for him. It’s so soft and cuddly, and he always smiles when I give it to him.”
“I’m glad he’s enjoying it.”
The florist eyed Mitch surreptitiously as she asked Jacqui, “Need any flowers today? We got some pretty lilies in this morning.”
“No, not today, thanks, Latricia. Maybe next time.”
A portly man behind the deli counter grinned broadly when Jacqui approached a few minutes later. “Well, hello there, sunshine. The little missy isn’t with you today?”
“She had other plans today, Gus.” She glanced at Mitch. “Alice likes to come shopping with me sometimes.”
“That little girl does love her cheese,” Gus commented with a chuckle. “What can I get for you today?”
Mitch stood back and watched as Jacqui placed her order. He was struck by her attention to detail even with simple luncheon meats. She’d been the same way with the other groceries now stacked in the cart, reading ingredients, comparing prices, making each choice with a frown of concentration. He enjoyed watching her at work—and she was very much on the job.
If only she could relax with him as she did with the store employees. Surely she wasn’t intimidated by him? He could think of no reason at all for that to be true.
Maybe she just didn’t like him? His ego twinged at the possibility. Was he really so conceited that he assumed everyone should like him? He believed most people liked him well enough, with a few exceptions he didn’t