forever - [book two in the amorous series]

eight - break time

Rick

"Okay," I said to myself, "She needs cheese, cornbread mix, sour cream, beans.."

I looked around in the dairy section for the for type of cheese Michonne asked me to grab for tonight's dinner. After successfully finding it, and the sour cream, I bent the corner, nearly bumping into someone who I didn't particularly want to.

"Oh, my goodness. Rick,"

I politely nodded my head toward her. "Lori."

"Oh," she breathed out, looking over at Judy, who sat next to her little sister in the grocery cart, "I can't believe it'll be a year in a month!"

I nodded, slightly agitated at her attempts to make conversation with me.

"Whose baby is this?" she looked over at Jada.

"She's mine."

"But she's darker than... Oh! You meant you and.. the other woman? My, that was quick," she chuckled.

I rolled my eyes at her childish remarks.

"Excuse me, Lori. I've got shopping I gotta do."

Both hands wrapped around the handle of the cart, I pushed my way past her, shaking my head as I got farther along. I reminded myself of the original task as I scanned through the shelves for the final ingredient I needed: cornbread mix. Before I could find it, Lori stepped in front of me.

"Hey, Rick," she called out, "Before you leave, could I hold Judith? Please?"

She sighed. "I only got the chance to hold her once.."

I shook my head, thinking first about what she may do with her and how Michonne would feel about it.

"Her mom wouldn't like that very much," I said, grabbing the cart to walk it in a different direction.

She hurriedly stepped in front of the basket.

"Rick," she pleaded, "Please.. Shane won't talk to me and I'm just.."

She paused.

"I need to feel something. Anything. Please."

A single tear down her cheek.

"Lori," I spoke barely above a whisper, "I can't honestly say to you that I care about how you feel. You wanna know something? You broke me. My character, my heart, my everything. You slept with my best friend. Why in the hell should I care about your feelings when you couldn't give a rat's ass about mine? Oh, I know! I shouldn't. You gave parental rights to me and from there, I made it my mission to make sure that Judith would grow up with Michonne as her mother. So thank you for trying to check up on her, but if you could just please.."

I motioned for her to leave. She nodded slowly.

"So I can assume she's better than me in bed too, then?"

My eyes widened as I looked at her, appalled at her facetious question. I scoffed.

"Goodbye, Lori."

I finally turned around with the basket and proceeded to the checkout, thinking to myself that we can just settle for takeout for dinner tonight. I continued to the line, and when I finally got my items rung up, I left as quickly as I could from the grocery store. If I'd remembered correctly, she'd left town when she left Judith on the porch and the note beside her. Maybe she fell upon hard times. Why should I care? I shouldn't.

But I do.

I mentally curse myself for being such a soft and caring person. I shook it off for just a second while I placed Jada and Judith into their respective car seats and then got the groceries in the trunk afterward.