smiling and I found myself reaching out to put my hand on Gideon's arm. I was surprised when I actually hit the mark, though I got his forearm rather than his bicep.
"Yes, it's for the cuts on my feet, but they're not infected. I've been treating them every day this week just to be on the safe side, but I ran out of the wound cream that I brought with me. It's just a precaution," I said.
"Oh, okay," he said. He sounded relieved.
It's the friend-obligation thing, I reminded myself.
"Are you okay with staying here while I run to get it?" Gideon asked.
Since we were next in line, I figured I could handle it, so I said, "Yeah, I'm good."
"Okay, I'll be right back." Then Gideon was gone and I was left alone with the cart. I kept my fingers on it so I wouldn't lose my bearings. I could hear the cashier and the patron ahead of me talking, so I knew the woman was done checking out. Gideon and I had already laid out our items on the belt, so I moved the cart forward when the cashier, a young-sounding kid, greeted me. To my surprise, he didn't seem to even notice my condition because he quickly scanned the groceries and then asked me if I had any coupons. There were no questions about whether or not I was really blind, and he didn't do that thing where he spoke overly loud as if I couldn’t hear him if he spoke normally.
"No," I said. "But my friend went to get one more item. Some wound cream from aisle seven," I added. I knew I was rambling a bit, because surely the kid didn't care what item I was waiting for.
"Aisle seven?" the kid said.
Then another voice, that of an older man, said, "I’d better go look for him." He sounded exasperated. "That boy done lived here most of his life. Stanley Goldfinch told me last week that he saw Mouse lingering in that aisle. That boy’s up to no good, I tell ya. He knows aisle seven ain’t where we keep the creams."
"It's not?" I asked in surprise. I wasn't sure who the guy was, but he spoke with an air of authority. And he clearly knew Gideon. Maybe Gideon had just gotten the aisle number wrong when he’d mentioned that he’d been looking at Merv's for cream a week earlier.
"No, aisle seven is where we keep—" the kid began to say, but then the older man coughed loudly.
"It's where we keep the napkins for the ladies. And other unmentionables," the older man said in a near whisper.
I must've looked as confused as I felt because the kid said, "Grandpa's talking about tampons and condoms."
"Kenny!" the older man yelled.
"What?" the kid asked. "They don't call them napkins and unmentionables anymore, Grandpa Merv. I suppose you could call them rubbers—"
I tuned out the arguing pair as I considered what Gideon had said. He’d specifically told me aisle seven was where the creams were, but he’d obviously lied about that. The question was, why? I supposed he could have been embarrassed about buying feminine products for a woman in his life. But my gut was telling me that hadn’t been the section of aisle seven he’d been looking at.
Which left the condom section.
All the pleasure I'd experienced during the foray into town with Gideon got sucked out at once and I felt a little dizzy as I realized what Gideon's perusal of aisle seven really meant. The knowledge that he was having sex with someone shouldn't have been a surprise, and maybe it wasn't exactly. But it was damn disappointing, even though it probably shouldn't have been.
So much for not letting my emotions get too wrapped up in the sexy man who’d come to my rescue more than once already.
The man I was now firmly entrenched in the friend zone with.
Great.
Chapter Twelve
Gideon
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," Lex murmured. "Just a little tired."
I knew he was lying. I just didn't know if I should call him on it. When we’d been checking out, he'd been smiling and his cheeks had been flushed with color, proof of his excitement. He’d clearly seen his journey through the grocery store as a win, but something had happened from the time I'd gone to get the antibiotic cream to when I’d gotten back and all the items had been bagged up.
I’d thought maybe Kenny had said something to upset Lex, but when he’d said goodbye