Danville, Illinois

August 15, 2001

Grocery shopping – a troublesome but necessary chore for many, but especially so for mothers. Linda supposed she could have gotten a babysitter, but she'd rather have saved anything extra in her budgeted babysitter allowance for a night out with the girls. Thus, she found herself towing two children around Danville's Shop 'n' Save – or, rather, supervising one pushing a toy cart and leading another on his toddler harness. Linda had once been one of the vocal critics of "leash people," as she had called them, figuring them for parents who couldn't be bothered to keep track of their own children. Then Phineas had come along. He was so inquisitive and, like most toddlers, not particularly forward-thinking. He'd shrug out of his stroller harness and dash off to check out whatever had caught his eye at a moment's notice. Linda had tried reinforcing the straps; she had tried holding one of his little hands firmly at all times. Unfortunately, she couldn't perform all tasks one-handed, and Phineas was still remarkably creative at finding new ways to get out of his stroller. And, so, reluctantly, Linda had found a monkey backpack that doubled as a toddler restraint system. She didn't like it, but it did keep Phineas close and as much as she dreaded the thought of becoming one of "those" people, her son's safety was her priority.

Fortunately for Linda, Candace had always been one of those children who liked to stay close to her mother when out in public from the start. For her birthday this year, Grandma Betty Jo had given Candace a toy shopping cart, which Candace proudly took out with her every time they went to the Shop 'n' Save. It was remarkably convenient, too, as Linda could ask Candace to get something an aisle over, where she would still be close enough to shout if there was any trouble, and it not only shortened the shopping trip but let Candace feel like she was helping.

As Linda perused the back of the cereal box in her hand, it occurred to her that she wasn't feeling the gentle tug on her wrist of Phineas reaching the end of his tether and sitting down to consider his options. She glanced in his direction and her heart jumped into her throat as she saw a stuffed monkey and his straps lying on the floor. Obviously, Phineas had figured this one out, too. She raced to the next aisle over to collect Candace and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Phineas sitting in the basket of Candace's cart, giggling. As much as she was glad to see her kids enjoying some sibling bonding time, finding a sitter for grocery shopping was sounding better by the minute.

Linda collected her children and headed back to the cart. Phineas didn't like riding in the cart's seat, as it cramped his ability to explore, but Linda wasn't going to give him any other options, at least not today. As she strapped Phineas in where he would be right in front of her, she felt someone bump into her from behind.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Linda heard – a soft British accent, one she'd heard before. She turned around, hopeful, and thought that today might have been her lucky day after all. Lawrence Fletcher grinned at her, a bit sheepish. "Oh, hello."

"Hi." Linda waved, a bit self-conscious. Yes, he was wearing a wedding ring, so she wouldn't actively pursue him, but she was definitely smitten. They had passed in the hallways a couple of times at the Historical Society, nothing more than hi's and hellos, but Linda liked him. She liked him a lot, and her friends had insisted she shouldn't get so invested in something that wasn't going to happen. They were probably right, but the little emotional surge she got every time she saw him was worth it, at least for now. "How're you?"

"Oh, fine, fine," Lawrence replied. "Yourself?"

They continued to exchange niceties until Linda noticed a small, green-haired boy sitting in the basket of Lawrence's cart. "Aw, is that your son?"

Lawrence smiled – a clear proud-daddy grin. "Yes. Ferb, this is Ms. Flynn."

The boy looked up briefly and waved.

"He's quite intelligent, actually," Lawrence explained, "but he doesn't like to talk."

Linda chuckled. "That's okay. Mine hardly ever stops talking, unless he's up to something." Speaking of which, Phineas had been unusually quiet. She glanced back to her cart and saw him scaling down the side of it. Linda leaned forward to catch him, but missed by inches and Phineas went trotting over to Lawrence's cart, rising up onto his toes to peer into the basket.

"Hi!" Phineas said, waving at Ferb. "I'm Phineas!"

Ferb glanced at him, then stood up and climbed up and over the side of the cart to join Phineas on the floor. "My name's Ferb."

Linda smiled at Lawrence. "Looks like you've got a bit of a handful, too." She suspected the boy's hair color was due to an ill-fated run-in with Kool-Aid or something similar.

Lawrence returned the smile. "I'm a bit surprised, actually. He's a good child, but he isn't terribly social."

"That's all right." Linda continued to grin, charmed as she watched the two boys interact. "Phineas is social enough for the both of them."

As the boys played together and Candace played with the doll she'd brought, Linda got the chance to talk with Lawrence some more. She found out that Ferb's hair was naturally that color, which he'd inherited from his mother. Linda sighed inwardly – Mrs. Fletcher must have been one heck of a woman, the way Lawrence talked about her. Linda supposed she should have been happy for them, but she couldn't help a hint of jealousy. Nonetheless, when Lawrence – who was still amazed at the way Phineas seemed to be drawing Ferb out of his shell – suggested a play-date, Linda jumped at the chance. Phineas loved playing with children his age and she loved hanging out with Lawrence, so it worked out well. She would behave herself. After what she had been through in her marriage, there was no way Linda would take up with a married man. And with the way Lawrence talked about his wife, he didn't seem interested in taking up with anyone else, which was as it should be. He was a nice guy. A very nice guy.

Why were all the nice ones taken?

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My apologies for the delay in getting a new chapter up - it's been a busy week here at Chez Audrey. But I get a bit of down time this weekend, so hopefully will get some good writing done. I also hope to have Chapter 11 in the next day or two to make up for the delay in getting this one done and posted. Thanks for your patience and the reviews! And, now, I must go let Agent R (my cat, Radka) into my room...she may disappear for hours a day, but in pet mode she has not yet figured out how to use a doorknob. This is probably a good thing. (She's the kitty in my profile pic if you wanna see her...I'm a proud kitty mommy.)