Guiding the Grouch

When the cowboy wearing a black western hat and boots turned to look at her, Dani caught her breath. It was none other than Mr. Grinch.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said, relieved he was still in town, and plagued by anxiety that she hadn’t imagined how good-looking he’d appeared last night.

“Out doing a little shopping?” he asked, looking over her full cart. She leaned forward, seeing he had everything from cleaning supplies and laundry soap to frozen dinners as well as a coffee maker and the biggest canister of ground coffee the store carried.

“Looks like you’re stocking up. I take it you are a coffee drinker.” Dani had hated the taste of coffee since the first day she woke up with morning sickness when she was expecting Seth. The smell didn’t bother her, but one taste was all it took for her gag reflexes to kick in.

Mr. Grinch just shrugged, hurriedly placed the full bags of his purchases in his cart, and took cash from a leather wallet to pay his bill.

Dani was surprised to see him pay in cash, since most people prefer plastic. For her, paying cash for everything meant she only bought what she could afford. Sometimes it was tempting to whip out her emergency credit card and use it to buy something for Seth, but she hadn’t yet. If she’d taught her son nothing else, he’d learned to be careful with his money.

“You working tonight?” Mr. Grinch asked as Dani placed bread, milk, cheese, eggs, and a large package of ground beef on the conveyor.

“Yep. I’ll be there. You planning to come in again?”

Mr. Grinch shrugged a second time as he returned his wallet to the back pocket of his jeans. She wondered if they’d fit him as well as she imagined. Currently, his coat hit mid-thigh and hindered her view.

Shamed by the direction her thoughts took, Dani felt heat suffuse her cheeks and she ducked her head as she took lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, and oranges out of the cart.

“Maybe. Thanks for last night, Miss …?”

“Latham. Dani Latham,” she said, holding her hand out toward him. “Call me Dani.”

“Dani. I’m Gabe.”

“Gabe. Like Gabriel, the angel?”

He smirked. “There’s not a whole lot angelic about me, Dani.” He released the hand she’d been acutely aware of him still holding and nudged his cart forward.

Skin tingling from the contact with his, Dani tamped down the urge to wipe it along the side of her jeans.

Act like a grownup, you ninny, she silently chided herself, then smiled at Gabe. “I’ll keep an eye out for you, Mr. Grinch.”

He scowled but tipped his hat. She caught the hint of a wink as he turned and pushed his cart outside.

So much for acting grownup. She felt more like a thirteen-year-old with her first crush.