“Can he still?”
“I don’t know. We’ll need to ask him. We also have another shipment of security gear coming in tomorrow.”
“Fine.” She yawned.
He drove closer to the grocery store; it was small and still open but wouldn’t have anything terribly fresh, and that was not something she particularly liked. “I’d rather hit a bakery first thing in the morning and get fresh bread, if that’s a choice,” she muttered.
“There’s got to be some benefits to being in France. We’ll pick up a few things here,” he suggested. “I’ve got a coffeemaker somewhere in the back of the truck that I didn’t even think to pull out.”
She stared at him indignantly. “You mean that I could have been sucking back on coffee this whole time?”
He grinned. “You could have, yes, my bad. Totally my fault.”
“Wow, I assumed you didn’t have anything like that yet, so it never occurred to me to ask.”
“And you assumed wrong,” he stated, “so maybe it really is your fault after all.”
She snorted at that. “In your dreams.” She hopped out and, with him at her side, wandered through the store, picking up a few things.
“We’ll hit a bigger grocery store later.”
There were a few croissants, though perhaps a little stale, but she was hungry. She picked up a couple.
Damon asked, “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “We’re not done working tonight, and I need food.”
“We can pick up lots of fresh stuff at the other stop we have to make.”
“Have you already ordered it?”
“I have.”
She put the croissants back, grabbed milk, some coffee, some cream, and a pack of cookies, then wandered around and picked up some cheese, then put it back.
“Again in the morning?” he asked, a question in his tone.
She nodded. “I still prefer good food.”
“Fine.”
With that, they paid for what they had and hopped back into the truck. As they pulled out of the small parking lot, she asked, “Do you think the other food is ready?”
“It should be,” he muttered.
They pulled into the next place, which was a small restaurant. He disappeared, leaving her in the truck. She sank down below the window, so she couldn’t be seen as she waited, but was in danger of falling asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. She wasn’t kidding that she needed food. Mostly to keep herself functioning when it came to times like this. It was all she could do to keep plowing forward if she didn’t get sustenance.
She often wondered if she had blood sugar issues when she needed food this badly; otherwise she got the shakes. But she hadn’t had the time or the real desire to put forth the effort to get it checked out. She wasn’t too worried about it right now either. No guarantee she would live until morning anyway. At the attempted dry humor she opened her eyes and watched as Damon walked back out of the restaurant, checking around the area, even as he walked toward her.
He hopped in. “It’s all good. We can go now.”
She smelled the pasta inside the huge carry-out box that he had. “Did you order enough?”
“I would think so,” he replied, “particularly if we’re coming out in the morning.”
“Yeah, but who’s coming out in the morning?” she asked. “You don’t want to do this too often.”
“Nope, but we can make an exception for tomorrow because we still have to pick up a delivery.”
“Ah, well, that makes sense. How early is it coming in?”
“Should be first thing.”
She nodded. “A couple good bakeries are around here. We need to hit them.”
“We’ll also need meat and cheese,” he reminded her. “And maybe some fruit.”
“I’ll make a list.” Immediately She brought out her phone, opened up a note, and started typing in things that she needed to get. By the time she was done, they were already back at the warehouse. She hopped out and grabbed the groceries they had picked up.
He carried in the takeout, and she followed him into the warehouse. As they entered, they found Terk standing in the middle, his eyes closed, his hands outward at his side.
“Terk, you okay?” she called out. There was no answer. Frowning, she walked closer.
However, Damon grabbed her arm. “Remember. Don’t touch.”
She nodded. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
At that, Terk opened his eyes and stared at her directly.
She made a small shriek and stepped back. “God, I hate it when you do that,” she cried out.
He cracked a smile. “How do you think I feel when people step into my space?”
She glared at him. “I was just checking to make sure you were okay.”
“That is the only reason you’re still standing too,” he replied in a mild tone.
She raised her hands, palms up. “You always were touchy about that.”
“What? That I don’t like people stepping into my space? Yes, I am,” he muttered. He sniffed the air around him. “Food.”
“Yeah, that was hard to figure out, wasn’t it?” she asked, a wide-eyed look in his direction. And then she smiled. “Come on. We need to eat. We’re all crashing pretty fast.”
“That’s actually what I was doing,” he muttered.
“What? Crashing?” she asked.
“Ha, ha. No, recharging.”
“Well, if you can recharge like that,” she noted, “you’re better than the rest of us.”
He nodded. “I probably am.”
She rolled her eyes, and then was immediately distracted by the smell of the food, as Damon pulled it from the bag. She didn’t know what it was, but it looked like lasagna, heavy with meat and cheese. “Oh my God.”
He served up three portions onto paper plates that they had picked up at the grocery store and handed one to her.
She grabbed a fork and sat down, and then, holding the plate in her hand, she ate several bites, trying to slow herself down so she didn’t just shovel it in. But that was hard because it was so good, and it was at the perfect eating temperature, a little on the hot side, hitting the spot like so little could.
She looked around when she emptied her plate. “I’ll need to crash soon too.”
They nodded and pointed off to the other corner, where the boxes were stacked, and she noted an outdoor camping mat and a blanket. “Great, not exactly what I was hoping for.”
“No, but for the moment,” Damon explained, “it’s the best answer.”
“Says you,” she muttered. She headed to the washroom, assessing whether she’d had enough to eat or if hunger would wake her up in the middle of the night. By the time she decided she was probably good to go, she headed back out. “I need at least an hour.”
“You’ve got several,” Damon stated. “Go grab whatever sleep you can get, while we finish setting up this stuff.”
She hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t need me?”
“If we do, we’ll wake you,” Terk replied.
The thing is, she knew he would, and trusting that was how this evening would play out, she crashed on the temporary bedding and closed her eyes. She heard them behind her, talking in a normal tone of voice about the security. She wanted to disconnect from it all, but it was hard.