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“Let’s go shopping,” Elizabeth turned to Penelope and suggested.
“Can I go?” Anne asked carefully. “I left my art supplies at Mary’s.”
“I didn’t invite you, Anne,” Elizabeth sniffed.
Penelope opted to stay home, a sneezing fit keeping her from daring venture out into the overcast skies that had previously promised rain. At first, Elizabeth had dismissed Penelope’s prediction of rain, despite the weather forecast, in an attempt to coax her best friend out of the house, until Will arrived and offered to take Anne to an art store.
“It’s supposed to rain,” he pointed out in an attempt to keep Anne to himself, “and I remember you saying that you needed some art supplies.”
“Yes,” Anne replied, drawing out her response as she wondered how he had recalled her mentioning two days ago that she wished she had included a sketchbook when she had packed to come down here. “I did.”
“Well,” Will grinned, “I found the perfect place.”
She didn’t want to tell him that she had also found the perfect art supply store. The only problem was that the store was in North Carolina and she doubted he would be willing to drive her that far.
Anne’s brow furrowed as she realized she didn’t want to share that store with anybody besides Derek.
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“The thought you had that caused you to crease that perfect forehead.”
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his over-the-top compliment, Anne battled internally between joining him and getting to go to an art supply store or dismissing his offer and having to find it herself later.
“It was nothing,” she finally dismissed. “Let me go get my purse.”
Elizabeth perked up. “Shopping! Oh, I’d love to get out of the house!”
Will stiffened up, his face making a pained expression that only Anne could see. He never considered how that expression would cause Anne to reevaluate her already unfavorable opinion of him. It didn’t matter how trying Elizabeth could be, she was still Anne’s sister, his cousin, family.
Turning around, his mask back in place, Will smiled his most charming smile. “It’s only to the art store.”
“But there is a plethora of stores around that one store. There’s a used book store, and a confectionary that has the most delightful fudge, and this classy clothing consignment store. They had a purse in their window last week that I’m hoping is still there.”
Brows creasing again, Anne asked, “You knew about the art store last week when I asked if you knew of any nearby?”
“Yeah, so,” Elizabeth shrugged.
“You told me you didn’t.”
“I forgot.”
Lips pinching together, Anne held her tongue, closed her eyes, and counted to ten backward. She started to regret not looking up art supply stores online after she had asked Elizabeth if she knew of any.
“I call shotgun!” Elizabeth called out as she headed towards the door.
“Are you just going to leave me here?” Penelope called out from the sofa where she was reading with lackluster enthusiasm. Suddenly, a sneezing fit set her off. “Fine,” she waved off between sneezes. “Go without me.” Before Anne had made it through the doorway she added, “Please bring back soup!”
Turning around, Anne weakly smiled, “I can’t even guarantee that I’ll make it to the art supply store.” Before closing the door, she added, “But there already is some soup in the fridge. You can heat it up in the microwave.”
At first, she had considered making Penelope look for it, but she felt bad for the other girl. Nobody should suffer a cold alone.
“Thank you!” Penelope called back before sneezing.
“If you are going to sneeze all over everything,” Anne heard her father say, “then go do it in another room.”
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Derek sneezing as he entered the shop door was the first thing that had caught Anne’s attention. It had also caught the attention of the owner of the shop that spent her time glaring at Derek even though he had sneezed into his shirt sleeve at his elbow.
“Sorry!” he called out, sending her a charming smile before scanning the area. He had seen Anne darting into the shop the moment the skies opened up and rain started pouring down.
He had also seen Elizabeth – he recognized her from the various photos of the Elliot sisters that had been around Mary’s house – and somebody else who could only be William Elliot. They had been heading towards the parking lot while Anne and William Elliot were debating something before it had started to rain. Elizabeth had stopped and was looking in a window before disappearing into the store.
After the rain had begun, Will darted towards the parking lot and Anne had dashed into the store Derek had now followed her into.
“Derek?” she asked from where she was looking at the fudge on display. “What are you doing here?”
“I went to your house, but your father said you were out shopping with your sister and William Elliot,” he admitted.
“Well,” she hesitated, “why were you at my house? Is Isa okay?”
“Isa and her new boyfriend, James, are perfectly fine,” he grinned down at her.
Suddenly another sneeze overtook him and he turned around to sneeze into his sleeve again.
“You never did have a good immune system,” she sniffed.
“My immune system is perfectly fine.”
“Only you would get a summer cold.”
“I got stuck in the rain yesterday when Sophy wanted to walk down the beach right after we finally got settled in. It took two days to get a rental car.”
“It’s been an abnormally rainy summer this year,” Anne stated. “Why did you come down here?”
“I thought that it was obvious. I came here for...”
But before he could finish his sentence, Will entered the shop and interrupted their conversation.
“Oh,” Anne snapped into position, shaking her head slightly. “Derek, this is my cousin, Will Elliot. Will, this is Derek Worth.”
“Nice to meet you,” Derek politely replied, holding out one of his hands. Mentally he hoped that Will would catch his cold and be out of commission.
“Adopted cousin,” Will corrected, ignoring the proffered hand in front of him. “We aren’t related by blood.”
“You are still my cousin,” Anne replied with an eye roll. “What were you saying, Derek?” she asked, turning her body to face Derek and intentionally shutting Will out of their conversation.
However, Will wasn’t having it. “I’m parked at the curb, Anne,” he interrupted.
Turning back towards where Derek was watching them, Anne struggled to say something. She suspected that Will hadn’t exactly parked legally. “Derek, I...”
“I’ll see you later,” he promised her as Will practically pulled her out of the store.
Turning towards the owner – who had been watching the exchange – he pointed towards the fudge sampler that Anne had been eying when he entered the store and the lemon Bundt cake that had caught his eye.
“I’m amazed that you didn’t sneeze on anything,” the owner replied as she packaged up his selections.
“I’ve worked in food service before,” he answered, remembering the job he had taken two years before he realized that tutoring paid better for the amount of time spent. “I learned a few tricks.”
“Impressive,” was all the owner said as she rang up the order.
Looking out the window, Derek wondered if they were heading back towards their house, or if Elizabeth was sending them off to parts unknown to him.
Across the street, he saw an art supply store and it beckoned to him. Looking up at the water falling from the sky, he shook his head, waved goodbye to the sales clerk, and darted out into the rain and across the street.
Nearly skidding to a halt at the overhang, he shook himself off before entering the store. “Lovely weather this time of year, isn’t it?” he joked.
Shaking his head, the cashier rolled his eyes. “How can I help you?”
“Sketchbooks and drawing pencils,” Derek replied.
“Aisles five and seven,” the cashier directed before returning to the book in front of him. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Okay.”
Heading over to the sketchbooks, he wondered if he should pick her up another new book when there was a blank book stashed in his suitcase. He had stashed it and the other art supplies in the rental car when he went to her house.
Glancing over at the cashier, he felt bad about entering the store and not buying anything. It wasn’t as if this was a big box store that could afford somebody walking out without paying for something.
“Is something wrong?”
“There are so many choices. I don’t know what my girlfriend would like,” Derek lied.
“You might need to bring her back before you buy anything,” the guy suggested. “I know my girlfriend doesn’t always appreciate the gesture if I buy the wrong thing for her.”
“You might need a new girlfriend,” Derek retorted, “if she doesn’t appreciate the small gestures.”
“Says the person staring at sketchbooks,” the cashier countered.
“Good point,” he replied. “Is your girlfriend an artist?”
“No.”
“You?”
“Of course,” he answered, nearly rolling his eyes.
“Then you understand the sketchbook dilemma versus simply being ungrateful.”
“Good point.”
“We’ll be back,” Derek promised before walking back in the rain. He suspected this had been Anne’s initial destination before Elizabeth had taken over the shopping trip.
