Gina was wide awake at an ungodly hour Sunday morning, figures, the one time she could sleep in, she was up with the sun. She couldn't even entice Lucy to get up and go for a walk, "Lazy old lady," she muttered as the dog blatantly ignored her. She made a pot of coffee and took inventory of her pantry and frig, no cereal, no pasta, no cookies, no milk, no bread… well, at least she knew the supermarket was open 24/7! She threw on some clothes, topped off her travel mug with coffee, good thing I started drinking it black, grabbed her packet of coupons, and headed out to her car.


Baron sat in his truck with a cup of coffee and looked through the grocery store sales circular, oh good, macaroni and cheese is on sale, at least Emma won't go on a hunger strike this week. He chugged the last of his coffee and locked the SUV, grabbing a shopping cart on his way through the parking lot. He grabbed a few of the things that he needed while making his way to the pasta aisle. What brand was on sale again?, he flipped back through the circular as he walked. He looked up and stopped dead in the middle of the aisle as he saw Gina standing there in the exact place he needed to be in, looking up at the top shelf and shaking her head, she stood all the way up on her tippy toes and reached as high up over her head as she could, her fingertips barely grazing the edge of the boxes she needed. He let his eyes roam up and down her curvy little body before they focused on her ass. She was wearing leggings and a baggy tshirt and she looked downright delicious, he gripped the handle on the shopping cart so hard his knuckles turned white, the things he could do with a body like that…

She looked around the store hopelessly, the place was deserted, it was the ass crack of dawn and everyone with more than two brain cells was still sleeping. She needed those boxes of macaroni and cheese, they are sale for crying out loud, why are they so high up! "Goddammit!" she said stomping her foot before standing on her tip toes again, she could feel the stupid boxes!

"Need some help?" she heard from behind her, her stomach clenched, oh god, no, not him, of all people in this awful town, it had to be him.

She turned around and tugged her shirt back down over her ass, "Ummm, Baron, hi, yeah, maybe, a little help…" She stepped back towards her shopping cart and watched as he effortlessly reached up and pulled down every last box of mac and cheese from the top shelf, he put half in her cart and half in his.

"Nicky a big mac and cheese kid too?" he asked.

Gina felt her face flush a little, she looked down at the coupons in her hands, "Yeah! Well, no. Umm, not exactly, actually, not at all…" She heard the sexiest laugh she'd ever heard in her life, it made her insides melt.

"So, you are the mac and cheese kid of your household, huh?"

"Maybe… here, I have an extra coupon, they expire tomorrow and I can only use one at a time," she said awkwardly shoving the little slip of paper towards him.

"Thanks," he looked around, "So, where is the little guy anyway?"

Gina sighed, "Sperm donor…. I mean, my ex, its his weekend."

"Every other weekend, huh?" he said sympathetically.

She nodded, "Yeah, and instead of sleeping in, I'm trying to climb the shelves to get the last box of Kraft."

"Well it is the cheesiest," he said with a smirk.

She snorted and quickly covered her face with her hands, she looked over at his cart and noticed that he was also shopping alone. He followed her gaze and answered the question she was too polite to ask, "Yeah, Emma is with her mother's parents. They also get every other weekend."

"Oh, well, that explains why you are also making an early morning mac and cheese run."

"And apple sauce," he said, "if it wasn't for apple sauce and macaroni and cheese, I believe Emma would starve to death."

Gina laughed, it was music to his ears, he found himself smiling at her, "For Nicky its chicken fingers and cucumber slices."

"Well, you better hurry over to the frozen food section, because I think chicken fingers are on sale too."

"Oh perfect timing, I don't have a coupon for those this week."

They parted ways and Baron continued through the store making sure he had everything on his list, the only good part about every other weekend without his little princess was that he could take his time grocery shopping and doing other chores. His mind kept wandering back to the image of Gina and the sound of her laugh, goddammit Corbin, get your mind out of the gutter, focus!


Gina finished unloading the groceries and was sitting at her kitchen table with another cup of coffee replaying the conversation with Baron in her mind, god she was such an idiot, he probably thinks she's insane, way to admit that she has the taste buds of a 6 year old and she snorted! How unattractive is that? She actually snorted… she groaned and buried her head in her hands when she heard Bayley knocking on her door.

She gave her bestie a tour of the new place and poured her a cup of coffee, which she drowned in milk and 4 spoons of sugar. "Jeebus woman, what the hell is the point of drinking coffee? You should just put a pound of sugar in a glass of milk."

"Shut it, Little Miss I Drink My Coffee Black," she said laughing. "Now, I see that you have everything unpacked and put in its place, so that's not the reason you didn't want to come out last night. That means, it's got to have something to do with that bruise on your arm."

Gina flinched and tugged her sleeve down, she opened and closed her mouth and then finally blurted out, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Gina…"

"I have an audio recording of the incident," she said making air quotes, "and pictures of the bruise. I'm not going to let him get away with it, Bay, I just don't want to talk about it. Please."

Bayley nodded her head, "Fine, I'll drop it this time, but instead you will have to listen to what you missed out on last night."

Gina groaned and rolled her eyes, "Actually, I could use some help with…"

"Nope, not letting this one go…" her friend said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "You will never guess who heard you are back in town and is literally DYING to see you."

Gina sighed, "Fine. Tell me."

"Enzo!" she bounced up and down in her seat like a toddler on a sugar rush, "Gina, you have to see him, omigod, he looks amazing. He's totally been hitting the gym and he works building bikes now!"

"Bikes?"

"Yeah, bikes! Like motorcycles! Harleys! Custom bikes, its so cool! Gina, he's totally hot and he would totally want to revive your romance."

"Bayley, that was ten years ago! We were just kids! There was no romance…"

"Well, he seems to think otherwise."

Enzo? Enzo isn't exactly one to waste too much time thinking," she said getting up to refill her coffee. "Hey, I thought you said you were bringing lunch?"

"Changed my mind, let's go to the diner."

"Oh no, after that little conversation, I don't trust you one bit. Let's order Chinese."

Bayley laughed, "I have nothing planned this time, I swear! But if you want Chinese, I'm down."

Gina squinted her eyes at her best friend, "I know you too well to fall for your Little Miss Innocent Act. We are ordering lunch and that's final. So you can text Enzo and tell him your little trick didn't work."

Bayley acted offended, but quickly pulled her phone out of her back pocket when she thought Gina was in the other room looking for the take out menu. Gina was more than a little miffed, why the hell was everyone so insistent on fixing her up? She was doing just fine without a man in her life, she didn't need no stinkin man! She remembered Baron reaching up over her head this morning, how hot he looked, how he smiled every time he mentioned Emma… No Regina, focus, no men, not Carlo, not Enzo and certainly not Baron, no matter how incredibly sexy he was.