Free Exception to the Rule by Doranna Durgin Page A

there was Rio Carlsen.
    She didn’t hide her surprise. “Quiet for a big guy, aren’t you?”
    “It happens,” he said, which was as noncommittal a response as she’d heard for a while. He didn’t take hisgaze from her as a noisy trio of Giant Eagle employees came running up, fronted by a man in a managerial-looking green company coat. A knot formed in Kimmer’s stomach as she realized she had no idea what Rio was thinking; his deeply brown and moderately tilted eyes didn’t give away a thing. She could tell he was concerned, and that she’d startled him in some way. But she couldn’t tell what he was going to do . How he’d react. What it might mean for her—and this assignment—in the long run.
    She couldn’t tell .
    “Are you all right?” the manager gasped upon arrival, a wiry older man with grandfatherly eyebrows and frantic eyes. Then he looked at the drunk and said, “Is he all right?”
    “He stumbled,” Kimmer said, releasing the man and giving him a little push. “He’s too drunk to be out here.”
    The man, drunk or disturbed or both, was nonetheless not slow to move to safer territory. “She was leaving!” he complained to the manager.
    The man ran both hands over his face, and when his eyes reappeared they darted from the drunk to Kimmer and back. Not sure what had happened here. Worried about the ramifications to his store and his job. Uncertain how to proceed.
    Kimmer took him off the hook. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just want to get these groceries in my little motel fridge. If you know who he is, maybe you know someone who’ll come get him.”
    Relief. She wasn’t going to cause a scene. She had no trouble following the various subtleties of his body language. He said, “Thank you. I’ll take care of it.” Andto the two burly young stockers who’d come out with him in their green aprons, he said, “Take Andrew to the back, where that special order of starfruit needs to be watched. One of you stay with him and help him keep an eye on the fruit. I’ll be right in.”
    Andrew cast a furtive glance at Kimmer; for a moment she thought he might insist on staying to make sure she didn’t leave, but the stock boys had apparently been through this routine before. One to an arm, they headed him for the store, and he didn’t resist them for more than a few steps.
    When they were nearly to the store, the manager turned back to Kimmer. “I’m sorry,” he said. “He goes off his medicine, then he drinks. He’s really a very gentle person when he’s feeling well. From the looks of him he’s been on his own for days—his family must be frantic.” He sighed. “No one has any idea what it is about the food, but when he has trouble, this is where he comes.”
    “No harm done,” Kimmer said, mouthing the necessary words and long past ready to leave. Because if Rio was here , then who was watching Carolyne?
    “Thank you,” the manager said, nearly sweating relief. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
    She might not have been, had she not possessed the training to deal with the man. Had she been your average twenty-something shopping for food in an unfamiliar town. Had she not truly just wanted to walk away from the moment. To stay… apart .
    Finally, the manager seemed to believe her. He gave her a polite nod, another murmur of thanks, reminded Rio that his groceries were waiting and left for the store at such a quick walk that his head bobbed with purpose.
    Then it was just Rio. Unfathomable in the Giant Eagle parking lot, his head slightly tipped as he looked down at her. “You’ve been stonnered .”
    “Have I?” She tried to find her Bonnie Miller persona. The accent had never left, but the slightly nervous tone of a woman on the run had turned elusive. She had only her edginess and impatience.
    “I heard the phrase in town today.” His words came more casually than his regard, which, in spite of his relaxed demeanor, struck her with unsettling intensity.