She stood out like a sunflower in a field of wheat.
Everyone else was a pale comparison. Her dark hair was curly and longer than mine, reaching her waist. She was tall, thin, and her almost perfect features held a certain innocence. She reminded me of someone, especially those startling green eyes. I gritted my teeth. What were the odds?
She grinned. “I’m Daemon’s sister. My name is Dee.” She placed the undamaged carton of eggs in my cart. “New eggs!” She smiled.
“Daemon?”
Dee gestured at a hot-pink purse in the front of her cart. A cell phone was lying on top of it. “You talked to him about thirty minutes ago. You stopped by…asking for directions?”
So the dickhead had a name. Daemon—seemed fitting. And of course his sister would be as attractive as him. Why not? Welcome to West Virginia, the land of lost models. I was starting to doubt I was going to fit in here. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone to call out my name.” I paused. “He called you?”
“Yeah.” She deftly pulled her cart out of the way of a toddler running amok through the narrow aisle. “Anyway, I saw you guys move in, and I’ve been meaning to stop by, and when he said you were here, well, I was so excited to meet you I ran over. He told me what you looked liked.” I could only imagine that description.
Curiosity filled her face as she watched me with her intense green eyes. “Although, you don’t look anything like he said, but anyway, I’d know who you were. It’s hard not to know pretty much everyone’s face around here.” I watched a grubby little kid climb up the bread rack. “I don’t think your brother likes me.”
Her brows furrowed. “What?”
“Your brother—I don’t think he likes me.” I turned back to the cart, fiddling with a package of meat. “He wasn’t very…helpful.”
“Oh no,” she said and then laughed. I looked at her sharply. “I’m sorry. My brother is moody.”
No shit. “I’m pretty sure that was more than being moody.”
She shook her head. “He was having a bad day. He’s worse than a girl, trust me. He doesn’t hate you. We’re twins. Even I want to kill him on days that end with a Y. Anyway, Daemon’s kind of rough around the edges. He doesn’t get along with…people.” I laughed. “You think?”
“Well, I’m glad I ran into you here!” she exclaimed, changing the subject yet again. “I wasn’t sure if I would’ve been bothering you if I popped over, with you getting settled in and all.”
“No, it wouldn’t have been a bother.” I tried to keep up with the conversation. She went from one topic to the next like someone in bad need of Ritalin.
“You should’ve seen me when Daemon said you were our age. I almost ran home to hug him.” She moved excitedly. “If I’d known he was going to be so rude to you, I would have been likely to punch him instead.”
“I can imagine.” I grinned. “I wanted to punch him, too.”
“Imagine being the only girl in the neighborhood and stuck with your annoying brother most of the time.” She glanced over her shoulder, delicate brows creasing.
I followed her gaze. The little boy now had a carton of milk in each hand, which reminded me that I needed milk. “Be right back.” I headed over to the refrigerated section.
Finally, the mother of the child had rounded the corner, yelling, “Timothy Roberts, you put that back right now! What are you—?”
The kid stuck out his tongue. Sometimes being around children was the perfect abstinence program. Then again, not like I needed a program. I carried my milk back to where Dee waited, staring at the floor. Her fingers twisted over the handle of her cart, squeezing until her knuckles bleached.
“Timothy, get right back here this instant!” The mother grabbed his chubby arm. Strands of hair had escaped her severe bun. “What did I tell you?” she hissed. “You don’t go near them.” Them? I expected to see someone else. Except it was Dee and…me. Confused, I glanced at the woman. I was shocked to see her dark eyes filled with disgust. Pure revulsion, and behind that, in the way her lips pressed into a hard line and trembled, there was also fear.
And she was staring at Dee.
Then she gathered the squirmy boy into her arms and hurried off, leaving her cart in the middle of the aisle.
I turned to Dee. “What the heck was that about?”
Dee smiled, but it was brittle. “Small town. The locals are weird around here. Don’t pay any attention to them. Anyway, you must be so bored after unpacking and then grocery shopping. That’s like two of the worst things ever. I mean, hell could be devised of those two things. Think of an eternity of unpacking boxes and grocery shopping?” I couldn’t help grinning as I struggled to keep up with Dee’s nonstop chatter while we finished loading our carts. Normally, someone like that would wear me out in five seconds, but the excitement in her eyes and the way she kept rocking back on her heels was sort of contagious.
“Do you have more stuff to get?” she asked. “I’m pretty much done. I really came to catch you and was sucked down the ice cream aisle. It calls to me.”
I laughed and looked at my full cart. “Yeah, I hope I’m done.”
“Come on then. We can check out together.”
As we waited in the checkout aisle, Dee rattled on, and I forgot about the weird incident in the milk aisle. Dee believed Petersburg needed another grocery store—because this one didn’t carry organic food—and she wanted organic chicken for what she was making Daemon fix her for dinner. After a few minutes I got past the difficulty of keeping up with her and actually started to relax. She wasn’t bubbly, just really… alive. I hoped she rubbed off on me.