Anyone who tried... well, he’d eliminate them.
Chase... he had to go.
“Don’t do it,” his mother called out.
“You can’t stop me!”
No one could now.
Chapter Thirty
The second they arrived in the grocery store parking lot, Shelby realized something wasn’t right. She swore someone was watching her, but when she scanned the lot, all she saw were other shoppers.
Still, the ominous feeling didn’t dissipate.
Chase got out of the truck, holding Eliza in his arms, with Remmy by his side. “What’s wrong?” He read her so well.
“I don’t know.” She scanned the lot again. Nothing. And yet something kept her on edge.
She kind of felt a little like how Chase described his PTSD. That sense of always being on alert and expecting a threat to come out of nowhere.
Kyle was driving them all crazy.
“If you’re uncomfortable, we can go back to the house and—”
“No.”
Remmy pressed his body against Chase’s leg.
She shook her head, feeling like her bad vibes were infecting Chase, and that’s the last thing she wanted to do. “It’s just... Every time I’m out in the open now, I’m looking for him.”
“As you should be. But I get that it’s wearing on you.”
“Let’s pick up what we need to stock the fridge before this little one starves to death.” Shelby tickled Eliza’s belly, making her giggle and Chase smile. It also helped ease her mind. She’d focus on them, not her paranoid thoughts of Kyle coming after them. Justified though they might be, they were taking away from her happiness.
Chase hooked his free arm around her shoulders, and they walked toward the store. He grabbed a cart and went to lift Eliza into the seat up top.
“No, Daddy. I shop.” She loved to pick the items off the shelves. It took more time to allow her to do it, but it made her happy.
Chase set Eliza on the ground because carrying her for too long hurt his back. He took her hand, and Shelby pushed the cart next to them.
“Let’s start with the produce,” she suggested, turning the cart toward the left of the store. They’d work their way across the store to the bakery section, where she planned to pick up something sweet and chocolatey.
Eliza tugged free of Chase’s hand and ran for the strawberries and grapes.
Chase smiled at her. “She knows what she likes.”
“I’ll grab some lettuce and broccoli. You keep an eye on her.” Shelby moved to the wall of vegetables, pulled down two plastic bags, opened one, and chose a large head of green leafy lettuce. She set it in the cart and moved a few feet down to the broccoli crowns, picking out four and putting them in the other bag. She dropped it in the cart just as Chase came up beside her and set Eliza’s finds in the cart, too.
Eliza plastered herself to Shelby’s leg like she always did.
“I think we still have tomatoes at home, but we probably need another cucumber.” She set her purse in the cart seat and rummaged through it to find their list.
Remmy barked and let out a low growl.
She immediately turned to him, because he never growled and only ever barked at the squirrels in the yard.
Chase grunted and fell to his knees beside her.