Then, I cringed at the thought of making him wear the linen getup again. Calculating, I figured I could spare enough to buy Clay a decent set of clothes and hunted the store for the best bargains. Finding the store band denims on sale, I guessed at his size and tossed a pair in the cart. Next, I stumbled upon a returned three pack of t-shirts, looking 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 hid within the mass of other shirts on the clearance rack. I looked it over closely. The fall line clearance should not start for a few weeks yet. Then I spotted why. 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. Then, I paused. Would he stay that long? He showed no sign of wanting to leave. I looked for some warm socks and guessed on shoe size based on the feet that I saw last night.
Waiting in the checkout line proved painfully annoying. I couldn’t avoid men standing still. However, I did manage to find an open lane with a female cashier. Two men lined up behind 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 sat in the back seat watching for me. His steady gaze tracked my progress. I smiled at him looking forward to showing him what I managed to purchase.
Unfortunately, the man who’d just pulled into the space beyond my car thought I’d aimed the smile at him. Mentally groaning, I kept pushing the cart toward my car while the man climbed down from his truck still watching me. With my car between us, I wasn’t too concerned. Then, the man stepped out from between the vehicles waiting for me. Clay tensed inside the car.
“Hi, there. Need a hand?” the man offered when I stopped the cart near the trunk.
“No, thanks, I got it,” I replied a bit stiffly. 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 the need for an oil change could be determined just by looking at the car’s 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 loading groceries.
Dale didn’t take the hint and leave.
“He’s a handy guy then?” He grabbed the potatoes and set them in the trunk for me, moving closer.
“Yes, very.” A brief conversation sometimes worked to get rid of a pest.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” he fished.
I could see Clay through the back window crouched down watching the man though the small gap between the trunk lid and the trunk. Putting a bag in the trunk so Dale wouldn’t see, I rolled my eyes at Clay. His gaze briefly flicked to me before returning to Dale with serious intent.
“Gabby,” I said introducing myself as I closed the trunk. “Thanks for helping me with the groceries, but I got 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 not bothering to bring it back into the store as I liked to do. Dale would probably just follow me the whole time.
“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 growled within and Dale backed away a step.
I nodded in acknowledgement and slid in behind the wheel. Braving Clay’s wrath, Dale closed the door for me. Not looking at Dale, I pulled through the empty spot in front of me to leave faster.
“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, which made Clay happy.
“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 to put everything away. Taking the pile of things I’d bought for him, I tapped on the door. I heard the water running, but I warned him just in case. “I’m coming in, so please stay behind the curtain.”
Steam already filled the bathroom, billowing out the door as soon as I opened it.
“I have some clothes for you. Better for looking at a sink than the ones I bought yesterday.”
The stuff from yesterday hung neatly in my closet with the exception of some under clothes, which I’d hidden in my bottom drawer. I’d grabbed a few things from that drawer before coming in. It made it less personal if I didn’t over think it. Instead, I concentrated on the main purpose for him to dress as a man and realized I’d never asked him.