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"You what?"
"I accepted a dinner invitation to Grace Sutter's for the both of us."
"When?" The last thing Kate wanted was to be stuck at a dinner table with Rob Sutter. She hadn't seen him since the night he'd kissed her. That wasn't quite right. She'd seen him. He worked across the parking lot, but he hadn't come in the store for five days. And every time she'd seen him, she'd gotten an odd little bubble in her chest. Kind of like nerves, but not the good kind.
"She called about half an hour ago."
"That isn't what I meant." Kate paused as Iona Osborn labored to the counter, her quad cane making a ka-chink-thud across the hardwood floors.
"How much are these?" Iona asked and set a bag of Doritos next to the cash register.
Kate pointed to the price clearly marked on the bag. "Four nineteen."
"It always had a sticker before."
Kate took in Iona's blue eyes, chubby jowls, and mile-high gray hair and forced a smile in place. Iona wasn't the first person to give her grief over the sticker issue. She wondered if there was a conspiracy to drive her insane. She took a deep breath and explained yet again, "Items clearly marked from the manufacturer don't need a sticker."
"I like having a sticker."
Kate held her hands palms up, then dropped them to her sides. "But the stickers were always the same as the clearly marked price."
"There's always been stickers on stuff."
Kate was giving serious thought to smacking a sticker on Iona's forehead when her grandfather interceded. "How's that hip?" he asked.
"I'm a little stoved-up. Thank you for asking." Iona's leather purse hit the counter with a heavy thunk.
"Have you thought about getting one of those power chairs like they advertise on TV?" Stanley asked as he rang up her Doritos.
Iona shook her head and dug into her bag. "I don't have that kind of money, and my insurance won't pay for it." She pulled out a wallet so full of cash and coupons that it had to be held closed with a rubber band. "Besides, I can't sit in one of those while I work all day at the diner." She searched all her coupons, then pulled out five one-dollar bills and laid them on the counter. "Would be nice though, if you provided one of those chairs for seniors like they do at that ShopKo down in Boise."
"That's certainly something to think about," Stanley said as he took the money and made change. "How much do one of those things cost?"
Kate glanced at her grandfather as she placed the Doritos in a plastic bag. He couldn't be serious.
"About fifteen hundred."
"That's not too bad, then."
He was serious. He wouldn't spend a dime to upgrade his bookkeeping system in order to make his life easier, but he'd blow fifteen hundred on a power chair that the kids in town would jump on and race around the store. "I don't understand you," she said as soon as Iona left. "You won't make your life easier, but you'll buy a power chair for the occasional customer. That doesn't make sense to me."
"That's because you're young and your bones don't ache when you get out of bed in the morning. You don't have trouble getting around. If you did, you might think differently."
That was probably true, so she let it go. For now. "When is Grace's dinner?"
"Tomorrow night."
Now the tricky question. "Is Rob going to be there?" Kate asked as if she didn't care one way or the other. But the reality was that if the answer was yes, she'd have to come down with cramps or something.
"Grace didn't say. I could ask her."
"No. I was just wondering. It's not important," she said as she grabbed the feather duster and headed toward the canned vegetables and fruits aisle. If Rob was going to be there, she'd have to suck it up and pretend he didn't bother her. That the kiss he'd given her hadn't affected her at all, which of course it hadn't. Sure, she'd felt little warm tingles, but that didn't mean anything. Lots of things gave her warm tingles. She couldn't think of any at the moment, but she would.
The jars of olives and jalapefio jelly she'd ordered had arrived the day before, and she placed them at eye level on the shelves. No one had purchased any of her gourmet items, but it had only been one day. Maybe she should take an hors d'oeuvre plate to Grace's dinner. If Grace liked the hors d'oeuvre, she might talk them up. Word of mouth was important to sales.
She wondered what Grace was serving, and if her house was as enormous as her son's. It wasn't.
The second Kate walked into Grace Sutter's home, she could tell a woman lived there by herself. The furnishings were comfy and cozy and soft. Lots of pastel colors and white wicker. Belgian lace, cut crystal, and fresh flowers. Very unlike her grandfather's house, and completely opposite her son's. The home was filled with the smell of roast beef and baking potatoes.
