Her Kind of Hero - Cindy Kirk Page 0,23

in impatience. Was Winn the reason she was hesitating? Or did she simply want to hang with her friends this evening? God, he hoped not.

“Forget it.” Keenan swiped the air with his hand in a careless gesture. “You’re here because of the book club—”

“Can you really believe I want to spend the rest of my evening discussing some horrid story that I haven’t even read?” She curved her fingers around his biceps, and those luscious red-painted lips curved in a sly smile. “It’ll be like a jailbreak.”

Glancing around the warm and homey interior, at the table with its mountain of food, Keenan thought of the cell that had been his home in the Rawlins penitentiary. Jail? Not hardly. Still, he’d play along.

“Do you have a hideout in mind if Joel and Kate turn the dogs loose?”

Mitzi’s smile widened. “Of course I do.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see.”

Though it would have been Keenan’s preference to slip out unnoticed, good manners dictated otherwise. Mitzi strolled into the family room to tell Kate, while he pulled Joel aside outside. Then they were free, and the winding road down the mountain beckoned.

Mitzi’s snazzy sports car zipped around curves then picked up even more speed on the highway into Jackson. She said she’d lead the way and he promised to follow. He didn’t expect the abrupt turn into the parking lot of a big-box store on the edge of town.

He wheeled his clunker next to her sporty BMW and got out. “Remembered some last-minute shopping?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Without looking to see if he would follow, she began walking toward the front of the store. “Tonight is Tuesday.”

He hurried to catch up. “Thanks for the news bulletin.”

The automatic doors slid open. The metal beams and fluorescent lights reminded him of a similar place that had been his second home growing up. That store had everything an impoverished family needed, including air-conditioning during the hottest summer days.

“It’s sample night.” Mitzi tossed her head, sending her glorious mane of hair scattering around her shoulders like falling autumn leaves. “Every Tuesday they set up food stations in the grocery section. You can eat for free.”

She was serious in her glee, and a spark of anticipation made her blue eyes shine.

Her enthusiasm made Keenan smile. “How do you know stuff like this?”

“I spent my share of years living on little to no money. I consider myself an expert on finding ways to conserve.” Mitzi smiled at the woman in the bright red smock and continued with purposeful steps past the customer service center to the grocery section. “They have this once a week. Every Tuesday. Until you get on your feet, you might want to keep it in mind.”

Until you get on your feet.

She understood—no believed—he wouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck forever.

“I knew this night was on an upswing.” Her eyes lit up at the sight of the first sample station. “Shrimp. Yum.” For a second, he thought about mentioning the fried chicken and all the fabulous side dishes at Joel and Kate’s. But then he realized this wasn’t about food. It was about adventure, doing the unexpected and helping out a friend.

“I’d like a sample, please.” Mitzi flashed the older woman with the tightly permed gray hair a bright smile then accepted a small plastic cup holding three boiled shrimp.

Keenan waited.

Mitzi gestured with her head toward him. “My friend, he’d like a sample, too.”

Her friend. It had a good sound.

Keenan held out a hand for the shrimp.

Mitzi enjoyed the hour she spent with Keenan wandering up and down the aisles, sampling everything from black-bean chips to tiny bites of cake. The only item she refused was the chewy coconut macaroons.

“I hate anything with coconut,” she confided to Keenan, even as he eagerly reached for the sample.

So far she’d enjoyed the outing. With Keenan, she could be herself. Mitzi liked exchanging stories from childhood. Stories that others would find difficult to comprehend or perhaps even think she was joking.

She told him about studying every evening in the dilapidated library near her home because the place had air-conditioning and an internet connection. He confided spending time at home, even when he would have preferred to be running with his schoolmates, because he didn’t trust his mother’s “friends” around Betsy.

Because Mitzi wasn’t interested in Keenan romantically, it was easy to be honest. Once they’d visited the last sample station, they stepped out into the Indian-summer-night air. Being on the edge of Jackson was almost like being in the country.

Mitzi paused to gaze into