“Really? No-talk, leave-early, Clay?”

“Yeah, that one. Not the dog.”

“I believe you said you didn’t think he’d be around much.” She smirked at me while she measured the coffee. I stuck my tongue out at her, but she just laughed.

“Don’t remind me. I’m probably going to need to beg.”

“Does he know much about plumbing?” Rachel asked as she moved to the sink to fill the coffee pot.

“Don’t know...we don’t talk much.” I laughed while she groaned.

With nothing to drink, I dressed to go shopping. Clay waited for me just outside my door.

“Wanna come shopping with me or stay here?” I knew he’d want to go even if he did have to stay in the car. He moved to stand by the back door.

We drove to one of those discount supercenters. I left Clay in the car with the windows cracked—it was more for show than actual airflow. If he got hot, he’d just let himself out.

It worried me a bit that I needed to shop several days sooner than planned. In order to feed Clay and myself, I had already made compromises in my original budget. Yet, at this rate, I would surpass even my revised spending allowance for groceries. That meant I needed to change my shopping habits, not just to save money but to fill the pantry with more food. I didn’t mind eating light, but looking back, since Clay didn’t eat his dog food—not that I blamed him—he ate light, too. A little too light when I recalled how much Sam could consume.

The orange juice I liked cost more than a five-pound bag of potatoes. I put the potatoes in the cart and walked past the fresh juice. Maybe I could buy a decent concentrate. I went to the freezer section, found some cheap veggies, and ignored the speculative look from a man a few yards away.

Everyone found shopping a pain at some point. I found it a pain all the time.

In the next case, I studied the meat options. The flash-frozen chicken breasts were cheaper than the steaks per pound so I went with those. The man moved from the veggies to the meats as I eyed the cart and tried to envision our meals. Meat, potato, and veggie.

Before the man tried to start a conversation, I moved on to dry goods. A large tub of generic peanut butter and another of grape jelly joined the growing heap in the cart. I used my other vision to check for and skillfully avoid as many men as possible while I wove through the aisles. Not for the first time, I wished I could tell men and women apart.

Always on the lookout for deals, I spotted the day-old bakery rack and found two loaves of bread for a dollar. The cart held more than it usually did when I went shopping. Although, it lacked variety, it had quantity; and I’d managed to keep it under twenty dollars. My smug happiness lasted until I recalled I needed something to drink in the morning. Dang. And cereal. Oh, well. Under thirty still helped the budget.

When I thought back to what Clay had already done for me, like putting on clothes last night, I couldn’t regret spending more to feed him. And there was still the faucet that awaited him. I frowned as I realized all he had to wear was the linen getup. Surely, I could spare enough to buy Clay a decent set of clothes.

I turned the cart around and hunted the store for the best bargains. The store had off-brand denims on sale. I guessed at his size and tossed a pair in the cart. Next, I stumbled upon a returned three pack of tshirts that looked poorly repackaged. I saw nothing wrong with the shirts and figured the low price correlated with the packaging. Whatever dropped the price down by three dollars worked for me.

A flannel shirt, hidden within the mass of other shirts on the clearance rack, caught my eye. I looked it over closely. The shirt lacked most of the middle buttons. An easy enough fix. I put it in the cart. It would get chilly soon, and he’d need it. I paused. Would he stay that long? Probably. He showed no sign of wanting to leave. I went to find some warm socks then looked for shoes. I had to guess the size based on the feet that I’d seen last night.

Waiting in the checkout line proved painfully annoying. I couldn’t avoid men while standing still. However, I did manage to find an open lane with a female cashier. Two men lined up behind me and persistently tried to start up a conversation with me before I unloaded the cart. The woman gave me a look. Whatever.

I left the store in a hurry. Usually, if I put enough distance between us, my admirers forgot about me.

The cart clattered over the blacktop as I made my way to the car. Clay watched for me from the back seat. His steady gaze tracked my progress. I looked forward to showing him what I’d managed to purchase and smiled at him.

Unfortunately, the man who’d just pulled into the space beyond my car thought I’d meant the smile for him. I mentally groaned as I kept pushing the cart toward my car. The man climbed down from his truck. Like Clay, he didn’t stop watching me as he stepped out from between the vehicles to wait for me. Clay tensed inside the car.

“Hi, there. Need a hand?” the man said.

I stopped near the trunk.

“No, thanks. I got it.”

He didn’t leave.

“My name’s Dale. I own Dale’s Auto Body on South Mitchell. You should bring your car by. It looks like it might be due for an oil change.”

Did I really look dumb enough to believe he could determine the car needed an oil change just by looking at the exterior? It certainly wasn’t leaking oil as a giveaway.

“That’s a nice offer, but my boyfriend does the oil changes.” I unlocked the trunk and started to load groceries.

Dale didn’t take the hint and go away.

“He’s a handy guy, then?” He grabbed the potatoes and set them in the trunk for me. Unfortunately, it brought him closer.

“Yes, very.” A brief conversation sometimes worked to get rid of a pest.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” he said.

I could see Clay through the back window. Crouched down, he watched the man though the small gap between the trunk lid and the trunk. I bent forward and set a bag in the trunk so Dale wouldn’t see me as I rolled my eyes at Clay. Clay’s gaze briefly flicked to me before returning to Dale with serious intent.

“Gabby,” I said as I closed the trunk. “Thanks for helping me with the groceries, but I need to get going. My dog’s been in the car for a while already.”

Not waiting for his reply, I moved the cart to the empty spot next to my car.

“We have an opening at the shop. If your boyfriend’s looking for work, send him by. We’ll see how good he is,” Dale said, opening the driver-side door for me.

Clay hopped from the back seat to the driver’s seat. With bristling fur, he growled at Dale, who backed away a step.

I nodded to Dale and nudged Clay over so I could slide in behind the wheel. Braving Clay’s wrath, Dale closed the door for me. I started the car and pulled through the empty spot in front of me.

“Well, that was a challenge if I ever heard one.” I reached over to pet Clay’s head. “But no challenges until you fix the sink.” He looked up at me, and I smiled.

When we got back to the house, both Rachel and Peter were gone. That seemed to make Clay happy. It definitely made me happy. I hadn’t been sure how Clay would get dressed with Rachel around.

“You go shower while I unpack. Then you can look at the sink and see if we have to call that bigheaded plumber back.”

He willingly trotted to the bathroom. After that first time, I’d learned to let him close the door on his own.

It didn’t take long for me to put the groceries away. When I finished unpacking, I picked up the pile of things I’d bought for Clay and went to my room. The stuff from yesterday already hung neatly in my closet except for some underclothes which I’d hidden in my bottom drawer. I grabbed an item from his drawer—it made it less personal if I didn’t over think it—then moved to the bathroom. I could hear the shower running and tapped on the door.