"People who believe in retail therapy," she said dryly, picking up a toaster.
"I don't know. It does seem to be relaxing me though," Vincent admitted. He took the toaster from her and switched it for another.
"What was wrong with that one?" she asked sharply.
"This one is better," Vincent said with a shrug as he set his substitution in the cart. "It's chrome and black and will match the rest of the appliances."
"So was the first one," she pointed out impatiently.
"But this one is a cool shape and it will toast four slices," Vincent pointed out.
Jackie rolled her eyes. "There are only two of us. We don't need a four-slice toaster."
"There will be four of us. You forgot my aunt and myself," Vincent reminded her.
"You don't eat," she said with exasperation.
"I do," Vincent corrected. Not often, he acknowledged to himself, but he would start eating more while she was here.
His gaze landed on the next appliance in the aisle and he brightened. "Oh, look, a waffle maker. I've had waffles. They were good."
Vincent pushed the cart further along the aisle to look at the contraption.
"What do you mean you eat?" The question burst from Jackie as she trailed after him. Some of her annoyance appeared to have eased, replaced with confusion by his claim. "Your kind don't eat, you suck blood."
Vincent smiled at an older woman pushing a cart past them in the aisle. Jackie's words had made her stiffen and glance their way with shock.
"We're practicing our lines for a play," he lied with a charming smile. The woman relaxed and smiled uncertainly back, then began moving again. Vincent waited until she'd left the aisle before turning an arched eyebrow on Jackie. He needn't have bothered, she was already bright red with embarrassment over her slip.
"Sorry," she muttered, taking the waffle maker from him and placing it in the cart. She insisted, "But you don't eat. None of you eat... Except for Bastien. He used to eat in business meetings, just to be polite I think. He's started to eat just lately, but I gather that has something to do with Terri."
"Well, I eat," Vincent informed her.
"Then why is your kitchen completely empty of food?" Jackie asked archly.
"I eat out a lot," Vincent muttered, and條eaving her to chew on that梙e moved further up the aisle to the next contraption, an ice cream maker. "Do you like ice cream?"
Vincent glanced at Jackie and found her grumpy expression briefly gone. She was eyeing the ice cream maker with something close to lust.
Realizing he was watching her, she schooled her expression into one of indifference and shrugged. "Ice cream is okay."
He wasn't fooled. Smiling to himself, Vincent set the ice cream maker in the cart.
"I think we have everything. We should go. We still have groceries to get," Jackie reminded him.
"There's one more aisle. We should?
"Trust me, Vincent, I think you have almost everything they sell. You couldn't possibly need anything else," she said impatiently. Jackie paused and frowned when she saw the way he'd stopped and was smiling at her. Her voice was wary when she asked, "What?"
"I like the way you say my name. So sharp, so concise?
"So annoyed," Jackie said with exasperation. She added, "We do have everything. You've picked up one of every appliance in the store."
"I suppose you're right," Vincent conceded, taking pity on her beleaguered expression. "I guess we can check out."
He pushed the heaped cart to the front of the store and then paused, his gaze moving over the checkouts until he spotted the beaming manager waving him to an end aisle where their other two carts were already unloaded onto the checkout belt. Vincent was really quite impressed with this store. Once the first cart had been full of table linen, dishes, and silverware, he'd gone in search of somewhere he could leave it while he filled a second one. The manager had taken the cart for him and sent someone to watch at a discreet distance while they'd filled the second cart. The moment it was full, the store worker had appeared with another empty cart and switched with him.
"Excellent service," Vincent complimented as the manager and clerk began to help him unload.