Because of that Night (Book1)

chapter 15: Lila

"Can we get Cheeze-Itz?"

"Yes, we can get Cheeze-Itz."

"Can we get... Oreos?"

Lila tapped her chin for a moment, thinking on this. "I suppose we could."

"What about McDonald's for dinner?"

Lila rolled her eyes, swooping Dylan up into her arms and away from the cookies and crackers section of the aisle. "You're pushing your luck, buddy. Let's stick with Cheeze Itz and Oreos for the day."

Dylan giggled and they continued on through the aisles. Though they were in need of doing some grocery shopping for Dylan's snack times for the week, the grocery run demanded a more specific list item. It was the start of October, and September had zoomed by faster than Lila could have imagined. They had gotten much more into the swing of things throughout each week of Dylan's first month of preschool, and though the beginning had been difficult, having the steady routine brought a bit of peace to the hecticness of Lila's life.

October brought chillier weather, but it also brought birthdays, Hunter's, to be exact. Though they hadn't planned much, Lila felt compelled to do at least something. He was twenty-five, officially a quarter of a century old, and Lila believed that to hold some significance. A lot had happened for Hunter thus far in life, and much of the time she felt there wasn't much to celebrate for the two of them, so she was going to take the opportunity. She dragged Dylan towards the baking supply aisle. She picked up cake mix and frosting, both Funfetti since she knew that was Hunter's favorite. She then moved over to the candles in search for a "2" candle and a "5" candle. She found "5" with ease but realized that the "2" column seemed to be missing completely. Her brow furrowed as she searched aimlessly though the other racks, believing for certain there had to be at least one that I had just gotten lost in the mix.

She finally spotted one, pulling out three "7" candles in order to reach it. She let out an "aha!" and turned back to show off her victory to Dylan, but when she turned around, he had vanished.

"Dylan?" she called, looking up and down the aisle once and then back again. She walked quickly to the end of the aisle, looking down towards the meat market and bakery. "Dylan?" she called again.

Lila began to hear her heart pound violently in her chest. She had just looked away from him for a second, it was only for a second. She was just trying to find a stupid candle; he couldn't have gotten that far with her just looking away for that one, meaningless second. She walked down the main strip of the store, searching down aisles, stopping random shoppers as she went, asking if they had seen a small boy, about this tall, cinnamon brown hair, grayish-blue eyes. Every person began to look like the people in her dream a week or so before; faceless, emotionless, but all people who Lila somehow felt she knew, people who held too many judgements of her. Lila began to feel as though she may stop breathing if she didn't find Dylan soon.

She finally looked up and saw him. He was in the chip aisle talking with a woman around Lila's age and an older woman as he held tightly to a bag of wavy Lays potato chips.

"Dylan," Lila sighed, hearing the relief in her own voice as she pulled Dylan up into her arms. "You know better to wander off like that from me."

"Uncle Hunt likes Lays and onion dip," Dylan mumbled. "I was just trying to help."

Lila sighed again, running a hand through his soft wispy hair. "I know you are honey, but you need to ask me first before you go off on your own."

Dylan nodded, wrapped his arms around her neck as Lila finally looked into the eyes of those Dylan had been standing with. Her eyes fluttered for a moment as she began to recognize the person. Dani Dennis stared back at her, a kind smile on her face.