“Gag, no thanks,” I said, making a gagging noise to emphasis my point.
He giggled at my response. “Okay, how about these?” he asked, holding up a can of sardines.
“Are you nuts?” I said as we both burst out laughing at the same time.
“Well, you said we needed to eat cheap. You get like six little fishes in this one can,” he added, smiling at me impishly.
“I’d rather eat dirt,” I said, ruffling his hair as we headed for the next aisle.
“Yum, can we have spaghetti?” he pleaded, holding up a big jar of his favorite sauce.
“Sure, but without any meat,” I said, feeling bad when his face drooped momentarily in disappointment.
“Okay,” he said, rebounding quickly.
I grabbed several boxes of different pasta noodles off the shelf since they were buy one, get one free and added the biggest jar of sauce they had, figuring it would get us through several meals.
“Well, that should do us,” I said, pushing the full buggy to the front of the store.
“Can I get a candy bar?” Kevin asked, eyeing the multiple rows of chocolate near the register.
“We'll see,” I said out of the corner of my mouth as Max stepped up to the end of the conveyor belt to bag our stuff. I was mortified as he diplomatically bagged up my personal hygiene items.
“How’s it going, Kevin?”
“Hey, Max,” Kevin said happily, abandoning his stakeout by the candy to give Max an uncharacteristic hug around the waist.
I watched Kevin come alive as he and Max bagged up the groceries together, easily falling into their favorite conversation about superheroes. I tried not to be obvious as my eyes drank in Max’s appearance. It had only been a few days since I had seen him, but my heart kicked into overdrive as he threw his head back to laugh at something Kevin said.
“Cash or charge, sweetie?” Susan, the nicest of the cashiers asked, interrupting my gawking session.
“Cash,” I said, pulling my eyes reluctantly from Max. “Oh, Kevin, you can pick a candy bar,” I said, noticing we had just over four dollars left over.
“Sweet,” Kevin said, grabbing his favorite brand.
“Do you need a lift home?” Max asked.
“No, Old Man Wither said he’d take us home,” I said, pointing toward Mr. Wither as he exited Max's dad’s office.
“Oh, okay,” Max said, sounding disappointed. “Have a good Christmas then,” he said, ruffling Kevin’s hair.
“Thanks, you too,” Kevin said as I choked back a sudden lump in my throat. I yearned for things to be different. I missed his touch more acutely than I had ever missed anything in all the years that I had left cherished items behind.
“Katelyn,” Max said, reaching out to grab my hand. His touch was as warm and soft as I remembered it.
“Yeah?” I asked, making the mistake of looking up into his eyes.
“Have a great Christmas,” he said as the pad of his thumb gently rubbed the top of my hand.
“You too Max,” I said with sudden weak knees as he continued to hold my hand.
“Let’s go, Katelyn,” Kevin said, standing by the atrium doors that kept the cold temperatures from flowing in every time someone opened the door.
“I have to go,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Right,” Max said, finally releasing my hand.
My hand felt irrationally lost without his. Like I was missing a limb, I couldn’t help thinking as I slowly walked toward Kevin.