"Moses! Get out from under there!" Vanessa rushes over to the bread section, bending to grab Moses' leg before he disappears completely under the lowest shelf. She pulls him out, grateful for the polished floor as it makes his retrieval easy. When his head finally appears, he's smiling and her stern expression falters. "You can't crawl in there, darlin', okay? What if you got stuck?"
"Fireman Sam'd get me," Moses decides, allowing himself to be helped to his feet and dusted down.
Vanessa sighs at three year old logic. "No, more like Fireman Ness'd have to get you. And I'd definitely get stuck if I tried to get under there." She stands and takes his hand. "C'mon, let's find the rest of them before they sneak anything else in the trolley while I'm not looking."
She grabs a brown loaf and a white loaf because Noah moans the face off her if she tries to make him eat brown toast. She gives Moses one of them to carry, hoping that it keeps him occupied enough not to run off again.
Once again she questions her desire to bring the whole family to the supermarket on a Saturday afternoon. She'd managed to coax Charity into it, assuring her that it would be an activity that they could all do together. It's difficult, when you have a teenager and two toddlers, to find activities that everyone will enjoy. Not that supermarket visits are enjoyable exactly, but at least everyone has a vested interest in it. Charity had agreed, but only if she was in charge of pushing the trolley.
They find Charity, Noah and Johnny in the cereal aisle. Noah has three boxes in his arms, and Charity's leaning on the handle of the trolley, pulling faces that are sending Johnny into fits of laughter. Vanessa sighs; they really should've insisted Moses sit in the trolley seat; Johnny's far less likely to get stuck under shelving. As they draw closer, Vanessa takes note of the types of cereal Noah has selected. Frosties, Coco Pops and Sugar Puffs. She sighs again.
"Uh, what did we agree?" she asks, placing her bread in the trolley. Moses launches his like a shotput, but he gets it in and it doesn't look too badly squashed. She'll take that as a win.
Noah, as is his habit these days, rolls his eyes. "There's no point in getting a healthy one and a bad one. Nobody's gonna choose muesli over Coco Pops."
"I will," Vanessa protests. "And the little ones love muesli with their yoghurt." She bumps Charity's hip with her own. "Your mum eats it too. Sometimes."
"Only when I'm forced," Charity mutters, crossing her eyes at Johnny, who laughs in delight and grabs her cheeks, leaning in to press their noses together.
"How about two bad ones and one healthy one?" Noah asks, giving her the eyes he knows she can't resist. His mother can, but Vanessa's powerless against his little pleading face.
"Fine," she sighs. It's a work in progress, encouraging him to eat healthier. That's what she tells herself.
"Yes!" He returns the Sugar Puffs and drops the other two boxes into the trolley. He turns to Vanessa and wrinkles his nose. "You can choose the healthy one. They all taste like sawdust to me."
She selects the brand of muesli they usually buy and shoves it in the trolley, painting a bright smile on her face as she turns to face the others. "Right, nearly done now. Just a couple of b-"
"Ness," Moses whines, leaning against her leg and rubbing his eye. "I'm tired. Can I have a carry?"
She looks down at him and puts a hand on his head, feeling guilty for keeping them out longer than intended. "Well, what if Johnny gives you a turn in the trolley instead, eh?"
"Good luck getting him out of there," Charity mumbles. "He's enjoying my witty repartee too much."
"I don't want in the trolley, I want a carry," Moses says, wrapping his arm around her thigh, almost all of his weight resting against her now. He gets like this when he's tired. Usually he's an independent little thing, always off exploring or jumping off things. But when he's sleepy, he just wants to be coddled.
"Fine, c'mon then." She stoops and hoists him up, groaning a little with the effort. It won't be long until he's too big to be carried. Johnny won't be long after him either. He settles against her, finding a comfortable position with his head tucked under her chin.
"Here you go, love," Charity says, rummaging in her handbag and emerging with Moses' blankey. He takes it from her and immediately shoves it in his mouth.
"Right, this means the two of you need to get the rest of the stuff we need, unload the trolley onto the conveyor belt and pack the bags," Vanessa tells Noah and Charity. "Because my hands are officially full."
"You never told me that was the deal!" Charity complains. "Else I'd have carried him."
"Well, he wanted me, so tough luck," Vanessa says, with a sweet smile.
She quickly divides up the remaining things they need between Charity and Noah and they go off to fetch them while she rocks Moses near the checkouts. It doesn't take long before his breaths turn into little snores and she smiles, kissing his hair. Before long, Charity returns, pushing the trolley and nodding and widening her eyes at whatever Johnny's babbling at her.
"Tell mummy what we got for when we get home, babes," Charity says, as they draw near.
Johnny twists around to see her and grins. "Popcorn!"
"I don't think that was on the list," Vanessa says, lifting an eyebrow.
"Well, I thought since we're doing all this 'family bonding' malarkey, we might as well do a movie night too," Charity says. "Johnny thinks we should watch 101 Dalmatians. Again." She leans in close to Vanessa to murmur. "But if we do, I might have to top myself, so we're still in negotiations."
Vanessa laughs softly, conscious of the sleeping child in her arms. "A movie night sounds great," she says, smiling at Charity. When they first started going out, she would never have imagined Charity planning family activities for them and their kids, but here they are.
Noah rounds the aisle holding many more items than she sent him for, and dumps them in the trolley. She sighs and gives him a playful glare. "Is any of that healthy?"
"Doubt it," Noah says. "But it's tasty. And that's what counts."
"He's a lost cause, Ness," Charity says. "Just concentrate on the other two."
"He runs it off, I suppose," Vanessa concedes. "Thank goodness for footie practise, eh?" She shakes her head fondly at the grinning teenager. "Right, checkout then home?"
"Or," Noah says, falling into step with Vanessa as they try to find a checkout that's not too crowded. "We could checkout and then McDonalds and then home?"
"We've just bought half a ton of food!" Vanessa says.
"Yeah, but, like, we can start eating that tomorrow?" Noah suggests, giving her those eyes again. "Please Ness, it's been ages since we had one."
She lets out a groan. "Oh, fine. Whatever."
Charity's shaking her head as Noah fist pumps. "Since you're getting a McDonalds, you can unload the whole trolley and work up an appetite, yeah?" she tells him, which he dutifully starts to do. Charity turns her attention to Vanessa. "You're a soft touch, you know that?"
"I know," Vanessa says. "But I did drag him here on a Saturday."
"And how has your experiment in family bonding gone, d'you think?" Charity asks.
Vanessa looks around. Noah's piling tins on top of eggs and fruit, but he's working hard. Johnny's smiling up at Charity like she's the sun and the moon rolled into one. And Moses' drool soaked blankey is slowly sliding down her neck into her cleavage.
She shrugs. "Could've been worse."
Charity tilts her head and smiles. "But back to online shopping next week, right?"
Vanessa laughs and nods. "Absolutely."