Week 10 - UDC 10 - Grocery Store Reunion, part the second...

46. Tetchy

They rounded one more corner and were suddenly in the meat department, and Chelsea had to pause at the sight of a bouncy, happy twelve-year-old who was being stared at by two grown men and a teenager, all with varying expressions of disbelief or amusement. "Oh."

"I agree," Helen breathed beside her. "It's too bad Alan didn't join us. Wow."

"Bean with Bacon?" Nick wondered, still staring at Pete. "Really?"

"That explains it," Helen spoke up, and she motioned Pete over and he smiled up at her. "Well?"

"Best day?"

"Glad you think so."

"Ma, is there something about Bean with Bacon soup that we're missing?"

Helen nodded. "Yes. Just like lighting a candle this morning for his father."

47. Prudent

Noah frowned at that, at the mention of a man missing going on five years now, and didn't miss how Chelsea had plucked Maggie out of the shopping cart seat and was holding her closer. His gaze shifted to Pete, who was still bouncing but less so, and suddenly he didn't seem nearly so young. As if her words had tempered him, reminded him of the present. He wanted to pick him up again and let him be joyful for longer, to be lost in the moment, but didn't dare move.

Nicky protested the sudden loss of Nick's hand and his attention was drawn to his son, who looked up at him with that guilelessness that only a two-year-old could pull off. To be that innocent again... "Pete? We have some things for you out in the car."

When he looked over at him again, Pete was frowning. "Things?"

"Yes. We'd have given them to you sooner, but..." There was always a but in there somewhere, wasn't there?

48. Daring

Glancing away from the sudden tension between Pete and Noah, she noticed what Walt had put in the other cart and frowned for a moment or two. "Walt? We'll probably need more eggs and crackers if that's what I think that is."

"It is," he told her and she nodded. "And I'd thought of that, too. Ran into these two, though." Their son frowned at them. "Dinner tomorrow night, Nick."

Noah sighed, finally. "This is awkward, isn't it?"

Nick glanced between them. "This? Nah. Awkward is Pete asking me who I am first thing in the morning." Noah frowned at him. "Happened yesterday."

Noah looked at Nicky, who was watching all of them curiously, and nodded. "Happened more than once to me, too. And I think I like Alan more than Harry. You have no idea how much."

"Well, Harry was mean," Pete spoke up. "And rude, and those assessments really were boring."

At that, Noah couldn't resist a chuckle.

49. Ornery

Helen frowned down at Pete. "Assessments?"

"Learning assessments," Chelsea explained as she slowly set Maggie back down in the cart seat. "Might have been the one thing Harry Burrows got right with Pete."

"Even if we did have to bribe him," Noah interjected humorously and Pete glared at him. "What? We did! And really, Pete, you're the one who took the toaster apart and put it back together again, and then had to do it a second time because you forgot the heating element." Walt frowned at that. "He loves to fiddle with mechanical things when he's bored."

"Oh?" Walt leveled a look at the twelve-year-old. "If you want to fiddle, we'll talk about that, too."

"The toaster worked better afterwards?"

50. Jovial

A snort of laughter drew their attention to Nick, who couldn't hold it in any longer. "Sorry, but... really?"

"There's a reason we were talked into learning assessments," Chelsea said with a smile and reached over to tap Pete on the shoulder. When he looked at her, she nodded. "Yes, the toaster worked better afterwards, but you could have also burned the house down."

Pete nodded. "I know better now."

"Glad you do."

He grinned. "Of course now, there's woodshop and they let me use the lathe." He waited, then shrugged. "Do you think Mr. Jenkins might like an ashtray?"

Nick snorted in laughter again at the thought of Alan's face if the man were ever presented with an ashtray made in shop class.