Free Love Is a Battlefield by Annalisa Daughety Page B

of old sweats, a faded T-shirt, and flip-flops. Maybe not her best fashion statement, but she didn’t care. As Sam watched with interest, Kristy took off her makeup and brushed her hair back into a ponytail. With her comfy clothes and no-longer-made-up face, the image looking back at her in the mirror hardly resembled the glamour girl Robert would’ve seen if he’d bothered to show up.
    Aside from yet another blow to her self-esteem, the downside to her dinner date standing her up was that now she had to provide her own food. And there were no groceries in the house except for dog food and Pop-Tarts. Neither sounded appetizing. Once again, Kristy wished a restaurant would deliver to her house. Unfortunately, that was one of the drawbacks of living in such an isolated area. So even though she didn’t feel like it, she would have to go out.
    She took Sam along for company on the short drive to the grocery store. Kristy pulled into a space and rolled the window down a tad so he could get some air. Judging from the nearly empty parking lot, she knew she was one of the few shoppers at the Four star General store. And that suited her just fine.
    She mindlessly filled her cart with treats to make herself feel better. Chocolate bars, chips, a honey bun; she was Denise Austin’s worst nightmare. As she rounded the corner to the frozen food aisle, she saw him. Ace Kennedy.
    Just my luck.
    She quickly opened the door to the ice cream section and held it open until it started to frost over. There were probably icicles forming on her face, but if she stayed hidden behind the frosted door, maybe he wouldn’t be able to see her. Please don’t want ice cream tonight. She could see his blurry outline as he made his way down the frozen food aisle. If she could’ve crawled into the freezer, she would have. And if she stood there much longer, she’d be frozen in place.
    He came right over and parked his cart beside hers.
    Go for the vegetables, Ace. Walk away from the ice cream. S he tried to urge him, telepathically, to leave the area, but it didn’t seem to be working. Not that she believed in that, but she was desperate.
    He reached for the door she was hiding behind, and they had a little tug-of-war.
    He won.
    â€œKristy?”
    She didn’t know which was worse, the possibility of him figuring out that she’d been stood up, or him seeing her again in a less than attractive state. At least this time she was fully clothed.
    â€œHello.” Her teeth were chattering a little. “I’m just trying to decide which ice cream flavor to buy tonight.”
    â€œRight.” He looked amused. “Tough decision, but chocolate always gets my vote.”
    Maybe we do have something in common. S he picked up the Breyer’s smooth-churned chocolate and put it in her basket. “Sounds good to me, too.” Kristy just wanted to get her calorie-filled cart out of there. “I’ve gotta go.” she finally closed the freezer door. It was highly possible that she’d just thawed out the entire section. “Thanks for the input on the ice cream.”
    â€œAnytime.” He looked like he wanted to say more.
    Please don’t ask me about my date. S he grabbed her cart and forced her lips into a smile. “See you at work tomorrow.”
    â€œActually, tomorrow is my day off,” he informed her.
    â€œOh. So you have ‘real’ weekends off?” she wondered briefly if he had some kind of inside connection at the park. Since the park was open seven days a week, not many employees had Saturday and Sunday off.
    â€œSure do. How about you?”
    â€œI’m off Sundays and Mondays.”
    â€œI see. Well, hey. That means tomorrow is like your Friday.” He looked at her intently.
    â€œYes.” she nodded, suddenly aware of her bare face and ponytail. “I need to go. Sam’s in the car.”
    â€œHave a good evening.”
    She could feel