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here?”
    “Food. We need to get you stocked up and I need a few things. Come on.”
    She considered flat-out refusing. She’d had just about all she could take of being maneuvered by DeMarcos today. She wasn’t a child who didn’t know how to take care of herself. She’d been living on her own since she was sixteen.
    Then again, she was hungry and tired. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner she could get back to Jimmy’s cottage and sleep. Tomorrow she would go home.   She could take the food with her.
    “Merri?”
    Ignoring him, she got out of the car, grabbed a cart from the corral, and stalked into the market. She stopped in the front of the store and catalogued the headers on the ends of the aisles, mapping out a plan of attack. Shopping, especially for food, ranked right up there with dentist visits.
    Luckily, most supermarkets were laid out in a similar design.   She calculated she could be in and out in fourteen minutes then added two minutes to account for the number of registers open.
    She took off without waiting for Jimmy.  
    Two bags of salad, organic dressing, baby carrots, apples, and bananas in aisle one. Cheerios in aisle two. Peanut butter, grape jelly, marshmallow, and vegetable soup in aisle four. Double Stuf Oreos in aisle five. Frozen stir-fry vegetables and frozen cooked chicken in aisle nine. Milk, orange juice, a tub of butter in aisle eleven.
    She glanced at her watch as she got into line. Fifteen minutes. Not bad.
    “Holy hell, Merri. Did you breathe once during your skirmish? I’m surprised there aren’t any bodies littering the aisles.”
    Getting in line behind her, Jimmy had to work hard to hide his smile, knowing Merri would take offense. But he’d never seen anyone approach a grocery store the way she just had. It’d been more methodical than a surgical strike on enemy territory.
    And the look she shot him over her shoulder was more venomous than a rattlesnake bite.
    “I guess you’re one of those people who love to wander the aisles, deciding what you want to make. You probably stop every other day just to pick up a few things. I don’t like to waste my time.”
    “Yeah, I can see that.” He shook his head at the contents of her cart. No wonder she looked like a strong wind would blow her over. “Do you do any cooking?”
    With a huff, she moved forward with the line and started to unload her cart onto the conveyor. “Of course I do. I just don’t have the time.”
    Yeah, right. She was lying. He could tell from her expression. She probably existed on salads and soup and fast food.
    Something else to remind him of Barbara.
    It wasn’t a fair comparison. Barbara had been more brittle than Merri, more sharp-edged. And much easier to break.
    Merri hadn’t broken yet. She’d bent but she hadn’t crumbled.
    And Jimmy really liked that about her. Hell, he pretty much liked everything about Merri.
    “Let me make you dinner tonight. You look like you could use a decent meal.”
    She snorted but slid him another questioning glance over her shoulder as the teen girl behind the register started scanning her packages.
    “You can cook?”
    Now he did smile. “Yeah, actually, I can. Not as good as my mom, but she taught me, so I won’t poison you.”
    He saw curiosity spark in those green eyes and she peeked into the basket he carried. “You’re going to feed me dill pickles and cheese puffs and milk?”
    Her green eyes shone with laughter now and Jimmy’s breath stuck in his throat until he nearly choked. God, she was pretty, with those braids and those green eyes. And, oh hell, her mouth was ten times more enticing when she smiled. Thank God she didn’t do it more often.
    Maybe he’d better invite Nic and Annie to dinner, too. “No pickles or puffs. Why don’t you just trust me?”
    It took only a second for her smile to fade. Then she turned to look out the window as she nodded. “Dinner would be great. Thanks, Jimmy.”
    The short drive back to his home