"What are we buying myself?" Jake asked as he tagged along behind Libby at the Wheatland Shopping Centre--which contained exactly five stores: a drugstore, a grocery store, two clothing stores and a bookshop. It certainly was the place to be.

"We're not buying you anything," Libby told him. "We're buying Gage a birthday present."

"Good luck!" Jake scoffed. "Maybe you could get him a block of cheese. Wait a minute, when's Gage's birthday?"

"Next Tuesday." Momentarily she considered the cheese idea but decided against it. Perhaps she would get him a package of three pairs of underwear. Gage was always complaining how he never had any clean underwear so that was perfect. She grinned. "Where can you buy underwear?"

"Umm…Libby," Jake began. "Underwear may not be the best idea--oh what am I saying, it's GAGE."

Feeling somewhat out of place in the men's section of the clothes store that wasn't for old people, Libby sifted through the packages of underwear and wondered what size her older brother was. "Jake, how tall is Gage?"

"Why does that matter?" he asked, dancing with a blouse.

"Well, usually, when a guy is tall, he has big feet, and the bigger feet he has…" Jake stared at her expectantly. "Um, the longer the shoelaces you need."

"You are weird, Libby," Jake muttered, and hung the blouse back up. He spied a summer dress he liked and began to dance with it.

"I never pictured you as the men's underwear-wearing type of girl," Teddy said, approaching her with a grin that made you wonder what he was thinking.

"I'm buying some for my brother's birthday."

"He wants underwear for his birthday?"

"I don't know. Libby shrugged. "But he needs some. I think he must have burned holes through all of his own."

Cackling, Teddy gave her a comical look. "I don't want to know how he did that. Okay Libby, put the gonch down and lets go find something else."

Sadly, she read the package. "But it says 100% cotton!"

Jake was finished dancing and he came over to Teddy and Libby. "Ahhh," he breathed, with a satisfied smile. "Cotton--the fabric of our lives."

Teddy stared at him.

Libby took hold of both of their arms and led them away. "Teddy, this is my little brother Jake. Don't pay too much attention to him. He strives to baffle people and he does a very good job at it."

"Why hello, Teddy," Jake said with an evil grin. "Would you like to see what I have in my pocket?"

"Say no!" Libby cried.

"Uh, I'm good, thanks," Teddy said, looking over at Libby and smiling.

"Holy crap, they have a bookstore which means they have Hardy Boys books which means I am happy!" Jake exclaimed. "I'm leaving, find me later please!"

Watching him dodge a lady pushing a stroller and duck into Readers' BookShop, Libby smiled fondly. "He's crazy."

Teddy nodded. "Yeah. He'll fit right in here in this town."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." He looked at her. "Do you want to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat?"

"There's a cafeteria?" she demanded. "I love cafeterias! They have food!"

"Most of it's gross, but they make a hell of a good vanilla milkshake."

Once they were both sipping at their milkshakes and seated at a corner table, Teddy cleared his throat and fiddled with the ends of his napkin. "So, you're gonna be here awhile?"

Giggling, she nodded. "Yep. I kinda live here now."

"Do you like football?"

"I broke my pinkie playing football once with the kids in my neighbourhood when I was twelve," she said proudly, holding out her crooked finger for him to see. "I was running because I had the ball right, but this big guy who was like eight-hundred pounds came barreling at me like a freaking train and I got scared and tried to jump the fence. My finger got stuck in one of the boards but the rest of me kept going. It never quite healed properly. It was pretty cool."

Teddy was grinning, intrigued. "Shit, yeah!"

"So, sure, I like football."

"Very cool," he said. "There's a game Friday night. Do you want to go with me? Everyone else will be there too, but…you could be there with me."

For a moment, she studied the way his sandy hair seemed to do whatever it wanted to do, and his thick glasses were cute and added to his personality. She nodded. "Sure. I'd like to be there with you."