The jar of pickles shifted on top of the two boxes of mini-donuts. “Horrible placement, Kevin,” Kevin mumbled, knowing that he said it audibly.
He pulled the cart down the next aisle, watching the turn of the cart make the pickles roll safely atop the boxes the opposite way.
Wadded in his pocket was a list of ingredients Jackie didn’t want. He thought the list was about five items long. He remembered MSG was one of them. He had forgotten to check the labels of the things that were already in the cart.
Kevin was watching the jar of pickles roll on top of the mini-donuts like a fussy baby in a crib and his cart almost took out the tan Achilles tendon of the woman in front of him.
His eyes elevated up the leg, and about mid-thigh of the black tights, he knew it was Jana.
“Invading my personal space a little, Crawford?”
Kevin’s sister-in-law always called him by his last name, which was fine with him because she sounded identical to her older sister. If she had called him Kevin it would have been weird.
“I was trying to make sure my pickles didn’t bust.”
Jana looked into Kevin’s shopping cart, smirked, and immediately bent and started rearranging the contents.
Kevin could see an outline of areola through her white bodysuit and slightly erect nipples.
When Jana looked up abruptly he was certain she knew he was looking.
“What should I get Jack for Valentine’s Day?” he blurted. It was an attempted coverup for his little visual scan of Jana’s body, but something that had been termiting his thoughts for a week.
Jana paused, motionless. She was looking directly in Kevin’s eyes.
It was an “I know exactly what you were doing” look.
She held the look and the silence beyond the uncomfortable stage, and into what could only be described as the punishment phase. Then she scowled.
“Nothing they carry at Kroger’s,” Jana said firmly.
She paused again.
“Nothing they carry at any grocery store,” she clarified.
“So, like something big is what you’re saying,” Kevin asked.
Jana shifted. She pulled her down ski jacket around herself.
For a second Kevin thought she might zip it up, cover the bodysuit, the small breasts he had been caught gawking at.
Jana looked around. One old woman was slowly stacking frozen food in her cart.
Jana looked back at Kevin.
“No,no, I’m not saying that. Do you really want my advice about Valentine’s Day?
Kevin nodded silently, sort of slow, non-commital.
“You sure? Because it kind of just seemed like a deflection from ogling me.”
Kevin let his head drop back to the jar of pickles, which was now wedged safely in the front corner of his cart.
“Don’t pout, Crawford. The whole world has seen my tits anyway. It’s just kinda gross because you’re married to my sister.”
Jana had dated a guy who took her to Mexico, she went topless on the beach, he took a few shower shots. When they broke up the guy revenge-porned her on Tumblr.
The reminder made Kevin feel a thousand times as guilty as he had thirty seconds before.
He looked up, lasered in on Jana’s eyes.
“So like jewelry or something?”
“Try to listen Crawford. No. Nothing big, or performative, dramatic like jewelry. Don’t get her anything for Valentine’s Day.”
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