Indie dropped the oranges into the cart and moved on to the tomatoes but out of the corner of her eye she could see Tessa standing there in the aisle, glowering at her. Then, with a sigh of obvious frustration, she turned and headed down the cereal aisle.
Indie could only shake her head and smile. Once she set her mind to something, Tessa took it very seriously. Indie had left straight from the attorney’s office and headed back to her car where she’d called her best friend from her cell phone. Once she’d shared her dilemma with Tessa, she’d taken it on as her own personal project, telling Indie to head straight home to Burlington so they could plan. Tessa was something else, always up for a challenge, especially when it involved men.
Indie left the vegetable aisle and was on her way to the bakery section when Tessa came flying toward her, all smiles. “I found him, Indie, and don’t tell me you don’t like him. I spoke to him and he’s pleasant and smart. He’s a high school math teacher. And he’s ordinary looking, just like you asked.”
Before Indie could say a word in response Tessa grabbed the trolley and began pushing it toward aisle seven.
“Hey, wait up.”
Even with her little legs Tessa was moving fast and Indie had to hurry to catch up. “Listen,” she whispered loudly to her friend’s back, “I don’t know if this is such a good idea, hunting men in the super-”
“Phillip! Hi. Fancy running into you again so quickly.” Tessa pushed the trolley toward a man wearing dark slacks and a light blue dress shirt. At the sound of her voice he turned quickly, a broad smile on his face.
“Tessa.” He looked genuinely happy to see her. “I thought I had lost you. One minute I was reaching for a box of cornflakes and the next moment you'd disappeared.”
“Oh, I just went to get my friend,” Tessa told him then she turned to Indie, looking as pleased as pie. Indie almost rolled her eyes.
“Phillip, I’d like you to meet my friend, Indiana Lane. Indie, this is Phillip Robertson.” She reached out and grabbed Indie’s hand, dragging her forward, almost making her bump into the man whose smile suddenly went stiff then slowly began to fade.
“Oh,” he said and blinked then he looked from Indie to Tessa then back to Indie. Then he stuck out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Lane.”
Yeah, right. Indie knew it wasn’t her he wanted to get to know, it was Tessa. When she’d struck up her conversation with him he must have been flattered, thinking she was interested in him. And then to be thrown a serious-looking, no makeup woman who was taller than he was? Obviously, not what he was expecting.
“Yes, good meeting you, too,” Indie said and, just to be polite, she shook his hand. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have a lot of shopping to do.”
It was almost funny to see the look of relief that passed over the man’s face when he saw that she was leaving. Almost. She was a tough bird but what woman wanted to know that a man found her so unattractive that he was glad she was leaving? That was what she got for hanging out with Tessa. Sometimes it sucked to have such a pretty little friend hanging around. It highlighted just how unfeminine she was, with her tall frame, short hair and plain face. Crap.
She was pushing the trolley toward the frozen food section when Tessa came running after her. “Indie, are you insane? Why did you go running off like that? He was perfect.”
“Yeah,” she said with a snort. “With him being four inches shorter than me and bald, how could I give up such a catch? I must be freakin’ crazy.”
“Hey, there’s no need to be sarcastic.”
Indie groaned. “You’re right. That was uncalled for and I'm sorry. But don’t you see the guy was all ga-ga over you? It wasn’t me he wanted.”
“If you’d just given him a chance-”
“Look,” Indie said, cutting Tessa off before she started to lecture her on a hopeless cause, “I know you’re just trying to help. And I know this situation is absurd, what with that stupid deadline. But I don’t think picking up men in the supermarket is the answer.”
Tessa set her mouth in a pout and folded her arms across her chest. “So what do you suggest, Miss Smarty Pants? Do you have a man tucked away somewhere that I don’t know about?”
Indie rolled her eyes. “You know I don’t. Unless you count that aid worker who took a shine to me in Haiti.”
Tessa burst out laughing. “You mean Gorilla George from New Orleans? From what you told me he's three times your size and twice your age.”
“Yeah,” Indie said with a shake of her head, “but he’s available.”
Tessa glared at her. “We’re desperate but not that desperate.” Then her look softened. “Don’t you know anybody? What about an old boyfriend?”
“I don’t have time for boyfriends.”
“Which is exactly why we’re in this situation right now,” Tessa said, looking none too pleased. “You’ve got to make time for social life, Indie. Life’s not just about saving the world. It’s also about love, and family and kids-”
“Okay, stop right there. That’s your idea of life, not mine.”
“You’re right.” Tessa’s shoulders fell and she stared off toward the cashier. Then, her mind obviously working overtime, she turned back to Indie, an excited look on her face. “I know exactly where to find men who want to get married.”
Indie frowned. Nothing good ever happened when Tessa got that excited look.
“Where?”
“In a church, where else? Men of the cloth – not priests, of course – are always looking for good women to marry. And the men in the congregation, too, they're looking for wives, aren’t they?” She began to push the trolley toward the cashier’s counter. “Come on. We’ve got some church services to crash.”
At that point Indie knew Tessa had finally gone off her rocker. “Stop.”
That brought the little blonde dynamo to a halt. She looked back with an expression that said Indie was the one who had gone bonkers. She put her hands on her hips. “Okay, that’s it. I’ve been the one coming up with all the ideas and you’ve killed every one of them. There’s got to be even one man in this whole world who you like. Come on, woman. Give me something to work with. Anything.”