at the snack bar. My treat. I won’t even make you spend the twenty bucks you won off me.”
“Great,” muttered Cameron.
“I’ll go get a table ready,” Becky said. “See you inside, Cam.” She hurried across to the food-service area, a covered awning shingled with phony palm fronds.
When she was out of earshot, Charlie said, “Ooh, Cam. I’m so in love with you, Cam.” She batted her eyes at him.
“Cut it out, twerp,” he said as he took hold of Ashley’s hand.
“Ooh! I love it when you talk to me like that,” Charlie cooed. “You are just so…so…manly.”
Sean and Lily stared straight ahead, not daring to look at each other.
Becky was waiting for them at the snack bar. Now she wore a Jurassic Park service apron with pterodactyls on the pockets. “Table for five?” she asked.
Sean glanced at Lily and the kids, and was bowled over by the idea that the five of them were functioning as a single unit, redefining themselves as something bigger than each of them—a family, he thought. They were a family.
“Yes, please,” Lily said, taking a seat and studying the menu. “We should make sure everyone eats so we don’t go to the grocery store hungry.”
“What’s wrong with going to the grocery store hungry? That’s the only time I feel like it,” Sean said.
“That’s when you impulse shop and wind up buying things you don’t need, things that aren’t good for you. If you shop on a full stomach, then you make better choices.”
Great, he thought. Shopping with Miss Making-Better-Choices was going to be a barrel of laughs.
chapter 29
In the grocery store, Lily tried to seize control. After her humiliation at miniature golf, she felt the need to show she was good at something. And of course, the real reason she was stewing was something she’d only admit to herself—she was still smarting from encountering Maura this morning.
She quickly lost out there as well. Cameron headed off to the books and magazine aisle to find the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Charlie insisted on standing at a music display with the headphones on, listening to samples of music from the “Soothing Sounds of Nature” CD collection.
That left Sean and Lily to put Ashley in the cart and do the grocery shopping. As soon as Lily saw him reach for a box of s’ mores-flavored Pop-Tarts, she knew she had to intervene. “Nutrition is the single most neglected health issue among children today,” she informed him.
“You don’t say.”
“Look at the ingredients in this,” she said, tapping the box. “It’s stuffed with carbs which turn instantly to fat.”
“These are skinny kids. They can use some fattening up.”
“With this? Type-B gelatin—you don’t want to know where that comes from. And seldane syrup—that’s actually a toxin. In concentrated amounts, it’s been shown to cause brain damage in laboratory mice.”
“Then they should quit giving it to laboratory mice. Where do you learn this stuff?” he asked.
“Anywhere I can. The big food companies would like for us to stay ignorant, but we can’t afford to do that.” Pointedly, she returned the Pop-Tarts to the shelf. Then she couldn’t help herself and said, “Today’s medical professionals do virtually nothing to raise awareness of the issue.”
Either it went right by him, or he didn’t care about a dig at Maura. “So what’s Charlie going to eat for breakfast?” He spotted something and his face lit up. “Devil Dogs! I’ve never seen them on the West Coast before. I love these things.”
Lily stared, aghast, at the strangely shaped, cream-filled cakes. “You’re kidding.”
“Have you ever actually eaten a Devil Dog?” He grinned. “Dumb question, sorry.”
Lily selected an organically grown oat crunch. “Would Charlie go for this?”
“She’d gag on that.”
After some debate, they compromised on a cereal with no additives and some raw organic honey to sweeten it. They started arguing again in the snacks aisle.
“A handful of Fritos isn’t going to kill a kid,” Sean said.
“True. It’s the trans-fatty acids that do it. Don’t keep this stuff in the house and they won’t even be tempted,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. Now, tell me, what are your views on dairy products?”
So it went, each item debated over, each purchase negotiated, until Ashley fell asleep in the cart. Lily took the opportunity to give Sean the rundown on nutrition for growing kids. To his credit, he didn’t argue with her. He even seemed to be listening.
As they waited in the checkout line, she plucked a Parents magazine from the rack. “Maybe we should get this,” she said. “There’s an