"So are we going shopping them?" Maggie asked after sharing dinner with Bianca, Reese and the kids that evening.
"Yeah!" cried AJ. "We need the food for tomorrow's feast!"
Gabby wanted to stay home with mommy but AJ and Miranda were well aware of their mission to get Maggie and Reese talking again. Neither woman had said much over dinner and certainly nothing to each other beyond pass the ketchup.
"I'll drive." said Maggie. "Just give me a minute to grab my keys."
"Sure." said Reese, but seeing the reluctance in Maggie's eyes she added. "But do we all need to go? I've still got some calls to make…"
"Yeah you do!" insisted Miranda, taking Reese's arm and pulling her out towards where there coats were kept. "You promised… and mommy can't go."
Reese, well aware that this was guilt trip, sighed.
"Okay!" she exclaimed in playfully exaggerated tones. "I was only asking."
Bianca wheeled herself out into the entrance hall to see them off.
"Are you sure you've got everything?" she asked.
"Yeah." said AJ, pulling on his coat.
"Everything?" Bianca asked again, holding out the shopping list.
"Oops." said AJ, taking the list and putting it safely in his pocket.
Bianca gave him a hug while he was in reach, and then did the same to Miranda.
"Now be good." she said.
"We're always good!" insisted AJ.
…
"We'll do the shopping cart!" AJ exclaimed, and in unison Miranda and AJ grabbed the handle and pushed it off into the store.
"Wait, don't we need the list?" Reese called after him.
"I've got it here." he said.
AJ stopped and pulled the shopping list from his pocket, thrusting it in Reese's direction.
She gave the list a quick glance.
"Right," she said, taking the lead, "Let's start with the vegetables. Where do they keep the potatoes in this place?"
…
AJ and Miranda, pushing the increasingly heavy cart between them, were watching Maggie and Reese with annoyance. The two women still weren't really talking to each other. They would ask the other to pass something or to go back and fetch this or that but not talking… not really.
"We have to do something." Miranda whispered to AJ. "This isn't working."
"But what do we do?" He asked.
Miranda bit her lip. She did have an idea, but she also knew it very naughty.
"The next time we turn a corner follow my lead." she said quietly.
…
Reese followed Maggie round to the next aisle, trying not to grin. It was nice to spend time with Maggie even if it had been forced on them, not all that subtly. And even though they still hadn't really spoken about anything more than the shopping, they were starting to share looks and smiles again and that was enough for now.
The aisle they had come to was the snack aisle. The list did indeed say chips but no specific brands.
"What chips do you like?" Reese asked turning back to the kids with the cart. Only when she looked back the shopping cart was there but there were no kids…
"Miranda!?" Reese exclaimed, stepping back round the corner to see if they had stopped to look at something in the previous aisle. "AJ!?"
The kids weren't there.
"What happened?" Maggie asked turning back from her contemplation of chips. It was clear something was wrong.
"The kids have vanished." Reese said; a note of alarm in her voice. "The cart's here…"
"Well they can't have gone far." Maggie said. She hurried off to check the aisles on the right. She looked down three aisles, empty of children, before turning back to find Reese still stood by the cart.
"But they wouldn't have just run off!" exclaimed Reese, shell-shocked. "They're not like that!"
"What were they talking about? Where would they go?"
"I don't know…" Reese said. "I mean… They wouldn't go off without saying something!"
"Hey, hey… They'll be alright…" said Maggie, rubbing Reese's her arm supportively, "We'll find them. Is there a video aisle or maybe they went to get the ice cream..? They were talking about ice cream! Where's that kept?"
Maggie was all for running off and searching the store but Reese kept a firm grip on their shopping cart.
"But shouldn't one of us wait here. What if they come back and we're gone?"
"Okay…" said Maggie stopping to think for a moment. "You wait here and I'll just run back and see if I can find them. If we can't find then in five minute we call the shop manager…"
…
Miranda and AJ were hiding in the most unlikely place they thought Maggie or Reese would look for them, behind a display of toilet rolls.
Miranda felt red-faced and uncomfortable, her stomach doing guilty backflips at the thought of the worry they were causing.
"We really shouldn't have done this." AJ said, not for the first time. "We're gonna get in trouble…"
"At least they're talking." said Miranda. But she knew AJ was right.
"How long do we wait?" he asked.
Miranda wanted to go back right now but… the longer they hid the longer Maggie and Reese would be talking.
They spotted Maggie running past the top of the aisle and ducked down out of sight. She had looked very anxious.
"We should go back." AJ said. "…We need to go back."
Miranda could stand it no longer herself, even though it had been her plan.
"Okay…" she said, "That should be long enough. But we need to bring something back…"
They were standing is an aisle of cleaning materials, not really a place a kid would go to find something.
…
Reese was frantic with worry and close to calling the police when AJ and Miranda appeared carrying a pack of toilet rolls between them.
"Where have you been?" she exclaimed, falling to her knees and hugging them both. "Don't do that to me!"
"Sorry." said Miranda. She looked subdued and quiet.
"We went to get toilet paper!" AJ exclaimed, holding the giant pack in front of him.
Reese shook her head.
"I was worried sick… Maggie's gone to scour the store for you. You know you shouldn't run off like that!" Reese exclaimed; anger had crept in after the relief. Anger that two children she considered very smart could be so dumb.
"Sorry." both kids said again.
Maggie then reappeared at the far end to the aisle, having run a full lap of the store.
"You found them!" she panted, jogging slowly over to be reunited with the group.
"We were getting toilet paper." AJ said, he was still hugging the pack.
Reese and Maggie shared a look of relief before Maggie turned back the children repeating what Reese had already said.
"That was so dumb and so dangerous… wandering off without a word. I was all ready to call the police."
"Me too." said Reese.
"We're sorry." said Miranda again.
Reese took the toilet rolls from AJ and put them in the cart.
"Look, let's get the rest of this of this shopping done..." she said. "And if you behave yourself for the rest of the shopping trip I won't tell you mothers what idiots their children are."
AJ and Miranda moved to take the shopping cart again.
"Oh, no." said Maggie stepping between them. "I'm taking the cart. You get to hang on to the front and stay in my sight at all times as we clearly can't trust you not to wander off."
"Good idea." said Reese.
AJ shared a pained look with Miranda, annoyed that they were being treated like babies… but at least Reese and Maggie were agreeing on something. They'd shared more words in the last few minutes than they had all week.
…