Chapter Eleven: Little Shopping Trip:

We didn’t talk at first. The walk back to the store was nice. Nancy had her mind elsewhere. This should be easy, right?

I went over what we were planning to do. Nancy wanted to go shopping. But I could show her around the town for a bit. Not like anyone is going to stop us. It’s just us out here.

“So!” I spoke up. “Where all do you want to go?” She glanced out at him out of the side of her eyes.

“Just shopping,” she said.

“That’s it?” I asked. Nancy shrugged and shook her head.

“There isn’t anything around here to do,” she said. I shrugged as we walked.

“I mean, it’s a nice way to get out of the house,” I said. “I do it sometimes myself.” Nancy turned her head with a weird look on her face.

“What?” I asked. “I’m not in the house all day, you know? I get out sometimes.”

“I guess you would,” she said. I bit my tongue and just let it roll over me.

“But seriously,” I said. “It helps to get out and look around the neighbourhood.” I stretched my neck from side to side.

“Right…” she said. I frowned for a second before I made myself smile. I will be patient with her. I will be patient with her. I can do this.

We made it back to the grocery store. This one didn’t have much in it anymore. It might be time to move. Truth was, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Nancy was the one who brought it up as we walked through the baby aisle.

“What will you do when you run out of food from here?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. She turned around and looked at me.

“You can’t be serious,” she said. I shrugged at her.

“Hey, this is all I know,” I said. “I used to have friends but they’re either dead or gone.” I stared at her as she opened her mouth.

“Don’t!” I said. “Don’t say it!” She closed her mouth.

“Thank you,” I said. Nancy turned back to the diapers. Okay, we’re going to have to work on that. For now, this was going to have to do. I went off in my own direction to look for some more food. I did keep my eyes on Nancy as she shopped around. She does have a point. I hadn’t had to think about supplies since I have been alone. But now, there are two adults, a little girl, and a dog. What will I do when the store is emptied out? Will we have to go to our houses and clean them out? And then? Where would we go?

“Hey, Nancy,” I said as I looked up.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“After we get home, can we walk around the park?” I asked. “We can take Ava and the dog with us.”

“Sure,” she said.

“Cheers,” I said. There wasn’t much that I wanted out of the store. I already got what I needed days ago. How long are we going to be out here? It’s a good thing that Ava was taking a nap while we left. Nancy was okay with it.

“She sleeps like a corpse after her lunch,” she said. “And I managed to lock up everything before we left.”

“Okay…” I said. We may be the only people around in this neighbourhood but I still have my doubts. I may not know how to raise a child but I don’t think you’re supposed to leave them alone with a dog. Still, I couldn’t let her mother go alone while she was that far along while pregnant. I mean, what if something were to happen to her? I couldn’t live with myself if it did. Nancy insisted it wouldn’t take long.

Speaking of which…

“I’m done!” Nancy said. I breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

“Good,” I said, nodding. “Good.” I walked out of my aisle to meet up with her. Nancy came up to my side. She had a basket full of baby supplies. No, two baskets. I whistled at her load.

“Wow,” I said.

“I had to grab what I could,” she said. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be staying in this place. Do we just take the baskets with us?”

“I guess…” I said. I mean, who was going to stop us? It was just us here. Nancy frowned as she made a face.

“It just doesn’t feel right, you know?” she said. I just shrugged and turned toward the door.

“I mean you can do what you want,” I said. “There’s no one else around here. It’s just us.” I started to walk out of the store.

“Hey, wait up!” Nancy shouted. I heard her trying to walk as fast as she could to keep up with me.