Tender is the Nerd (2 page)

The parking lot wasn’t crowded so there was a decent chance the store wouldn’t be, either. It wasn’t a large space to begin with and during busy times shopping carts were jammed into the narrow aisles. But when she and Rylan took a cart from outside and he pushed it through the entrance, she sighed in relief. Only a few shoppers strolled through the store. This was the shopping experience she’d wanted for him.

He paused just inside the entrance as if to get his bearings. “Wow. Okay, this isn’t your average grocery store.”

“That’s why I like it.”

He looked over at her. “It’s pretty. I’ll give you that.”

“Saturated color.”

“Yeah.”

“Lots of appealing options.”

“Maybe. Pretty is as pretty does.”

“But isn’t this the feel you want for the app?”

He scanned the area. The entry doors led customers straight to the fresh produce section where bins of oranges, lemons, apples and green grapes created a visual banquet.

To their right a long counter displayed rich green zucchini, carrots with their greens still attached, purple eggplant and peppers in red, green and yellow. The misters came on, showering the fruits and vegetables until they glistened. Droplets of water slid down smooth skins and the entire produce section seemed to glow.

“Yes.” He pulled out his phone and began taking pictures. “This is exactly it. Thank you.”

She was ecstatic but had promised herself she wouldn’t gloat. “You’re welcome.”

O
kay
, so he’d been wrong. Rylan prided himself on admitting that fact on the rare instances that it happened. He’d never seen fresh produce displayed like this, probably because he avoided grocery shopping like the plague, and whoever had set this up knew marketing. He didn’t even like vegetables and yet he wanted to buy some because they looked so appealing.

Miranda was in charge of the buying, though, and for that he was grateful. She made a game of it, waving broccoli under his nose to get a reaction. He grimaced because she’d expected him to, but he was actually intrigued by how beautiful it was. He’d never spent much time looking at broccoli because he hated the taste almost as much as he hated turnips.

“You’ll like it when I’m done with you.” She gave him a taunting smile and moved on to carrots.

Damn, he was having fun in the
grocery store.
Hard to believe. Then again, maybe not. Miranda had always made him laugh. Sometimes they’d acted like a couple of morons just to irritate Frazer.

Frazer wasn’t around at the moment, so he had no excuse to act like a moron, but Miranda brought out that side of him. Before he could censor the impulse, he’d tucked a sprig of cilantro behind each ear. She cracked up, but then they’d had to buy it. You couldn’t wedge cilantro behind your ear and put it back.

“Don’t worry.” She was still chuckling. “I can use this.”

“For tonight’s dinner?” He had no idea what horrors cilantro could visit on a meal and didn’t want to find out.

“Maybe not, but I’ll figure out something. Someone worked hard to plant and harvest this cilantro. I hate wasting that kind of effort.”

“I shouldn’t have grabbed it just to fool around.”

She smiled up at him. “Yes, you should. This is exactly what I’d hoped for, that you’d realize that fresh produce could be exiting and fun.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He doubted his reaction would be the same if Miranda hadn’t been standing beside him looking way prettier than any veggie in the bin.

“You will after you’ve finished the meal I’ll cook for you.”

“If you say so.” He’d choke down whatever she made because she was so eager for him to like it. Although she’d promised not to cook parsnips or turnips, guaranteed whatever she served would be loaded with veggies he hated.

But he’d worry about that later. The shopping part had turned out to be a kick and he had some great pictures, including several of Miranda. He justified taking shots of her choosing vegetables because then he could visualize an app user doing that.

Yeah, right. He wanted pictures of her on his phone because eventually he’d finish the app and they wouldn’t be working together anymore. He’d miss having her around. Then a thought came to him that stopped him dead in his tracks. God, he hoped he hadn’t been subconsciously dragging his heels because he liked working with her.

If he had, then shame on him. The guys were counting on his expertise and delaying production meant Tony couldn’t move ahead with his plans for the company’s future. Rylan couldn’t believe that he would stall the process, even subconsciously, because of Miranda.

But as he watched her pushing the cart, her long dark hair catching the gleam from the overhead lights, he wasn’t entirely sure. Thinking back to the first day she’d arrived at the office, he remembered a jolt of pleasure at seeing her again. Although she and Frazer had remained friendly after the breakup, they didn’t hang out together anymore which meant Rylan hadn’t seen or talked to her in several years.

He’d thought about her, though, and had even considered meeting her for coffee – just as friends, of course. Then he’d nixed the idea. It had felt too much like disloyalty since she’d been the one to initiate the breakup. Frazer had said he was fine, no broken heart or anything, but meeting Miranda for coffee hadn’t seemed right.

Now they were colleagues, though, so he could spend time with her guilt-free. That was certainly true of tonight’s adventure because she’d suggested it. If he had a breakthrough because of this trip to the store, Frazer would highly approve.

“Rylan?”

He came back to earth. While he’d stood lost in thought she’d continued to shop and was now about thirty feet away.

She gazed at him. “Everything okay?”

“Sorry.” He used his long legs to good advantage and was beside her in no time. “Got distracted.”

“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t traumatized by the turnip display.”

“Didn’t even see them.”

“They were right beside you. I picked up a few.” She took one out of her basket and held it up.

“That’s a turnip?” He peered at the cream-colored vegetable with a wash of purple across the bottom. “It doesn’t
look
all that vile.”

“Some are more bitter than others. The ones I buy here are fairly mild. I like combining them with carrots and adding a sweet ginger glaze.”

“You don’t cover them in white gravy?”

She shuddered. “No. Is that how –”

“Oh, yeah. They were little chunks of hell hiding under this tasteless white ooze. I could never decide whether to shove the whole mess in with my mashed potatoes and turkey gravy or eat them real quick by themselves so they wouldn’t pollute the rest of the meal.”

She pressed her lips together but her sparkling green eyes gave her away. She ducked her head and covered her mouth, but a little snort of laughter escaped, anyway. Clearing her throat, she glanced up. “I’m sorry. Someone you love cooked those for you and I shouldn’t laugh.”

“My mom did, and it’s okay. She announced a few years ago that she’d never liked to cook and hadn’t been interested in learning how. She’d ten times rather be studying a black hole than cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but when we were younger she thought she should make the effort.”

“That’s touching.”

“She doesn’t like vegetables, either. My dad can take them or leave them. Except for Thanksgiving we were pretty much raised on fast food.”

“That explains a lot.”

“Exactly. I’m genetically predisposed to dislike veggies.”

“
No.
” She put her hands on her hips and gave him a mock glare. “That wasn’t the point I was planning to make.”

“It’s the point I was planning to make.” He’d always loved sparring with her, too. Her cheeks got pink and she’d argue forever but she was good-natured about it. “I’m sure you’ve studied the blood type research connected with diet. I’m Type O. My ancestors ate the wooly mammoth, not turnips.”

“Actually they ate lots of termites.”

“You’re making that up.”

“Cross my heart.” She used her finger to make an X over her left breast. “Google it if you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t want to believe you. That’s gross.” But her cute little gesture had drawn his gaze where he’d promised himself it wouldn’t go. He quickly looked up again and gave himself a stern warning. There was no reason to admire her breasts. He had no intention of ever being more than her friend.

Liar.
Although he’d disciplined himself to think of her only in terms of friendship and had studiously avoided looking at her chest, he hadn’t been able to totally ignore it. He’d done his best to smack down any sexual feelings for Miranda but they kept popping up like a game of Whack-a-Mole.

Then a couple of weeks ago Blake Pearson, a jerk who had to be on the team because his father was their largest investor, had groped Miranda. When Rylan had heard about it, he’d been ready to annihilate the creep. His violent reaction probably indicated that he considered Miranda’s breasts, or any part of her body, to be privileged territory. And though he tried to deny it, he yearned for that privilege.

“I’m pretty much done here,” she said. “Have you taken all the pictures you need?”

“For now. I noticed they have a little café with a few tables and chairs. I might come back this weekend and work there.”

“Excellent idea.” She beamed at him. “You don’t know how excited I am that you like this place. I have a better feeling about the app.”

“Me, too. I can send these pictures to the company creating our images so they’ll know what I’m looking for.” As they approached the checkout counter, he pulled out his wallet. “Oh, and I’m buying.”

“Why?”

“I just . . . want to.” He scrambled for a reason when there really wasn’t one other than he had a testosterone-driven urge to treat. “You’re going to cook for me. At least let me pay for the food.”

“That makes no sense. I’ll give you a little bit of this tonight, but mostly it’s stuff I’ll be eating for the next few days. My groceries, my expense.”

“I know, but –”

“Unless you want to expand the experiment and eat several vegetable-based meals with me?”

“Yes, absolutely. I’d love to do that.” He should have his head examined.
Several vegetable-based meals
? He hadn’t even made it through one yet. But the key words had been
with me
. She was giving him the opportunity to spend time with her and it was all in the name of research for the app. He could explain it to Frazer with a clear conscience.

His conscience would be clear, too, because he would keep everything strictly G-rated. He just flat-out liked being with her. He’d forgotten how much until they’d started goofing around in the grocery store. They got along and he would love to be friends with her if he didn’t think Frazer would be ticked off.

Maybe when her consulting job was finished he’d ask Frazer if it would bother him for his little brother to maintain regular contact with Miranda. He didn’t want to lose touch with her like he had before. Her friendship was important to him.

She’d brought her own bags for the groceries, which didn’t surprise him. He helped her load everything in with a feeling of satisfaction. Bagging fresh produce was more interesting than bagging the items he usually bought – cans of soup and frozen dinners. He was handling vegetables and kind of liking it.

Besides the veggies she’d also bought some fruit. He’d never had a real problem with fruit so that was actually fun. The fuzzy little kiwis made him think of something he shouldn’t, especially in combination with a banana.

He decided against making any jokes about two kiwis and a banana because that would take them down the wrong road. They could kid around about a lot of things, but sex wasn’t one of them. In that area he didn’t trust himself. The conversation could get out of hand way too easily.

Once they were back in the car he noticed something else. “Those groceries smell great.”

“I know, right? That’s one of the perks of buying a lot of produce. The trip home is like an aromatherapy session. Tonight I especially notice the lemons. I’m so glad they’re in season.”

“What do you mean, in season? You can always buy lemons.”

“That’s true, but right now they’re ripe in the California citrus groves, which means they don’t have to be shipped as far and they arrive with more vitamins intact. Out of season they come from a greater distance and logically would lose some of their nutritional value.”

“That never crossed my mind.”

“Not everybody thinks about that, but I’d like to include it in the data. I didn’t mention it before because I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but wouldn’t it be cool to have a color-coded map to show what’s currently in season in different parts of the country or the world?”

He wasn’t so sure, but she was excited and he didn’t want to rain on her parade. “Do you think people will care about it?”

“Yes. Not everyone, but there’s more interest all the time. Local food sourcing has become popular. Some restaurants use the words
locally sourced produce
as part of their marketing strategy.”

”Huh. Didn’t know that.”

“I’m picturing people using the app when they go out to dinner as well as in the grocery store. If we want to consider making the app interactive, users could send in reviews of restaurants that do a great job with fresh produce.”

“I like that.” He took a deep breath. “Wish we’d talked about it earlier.”

“I tried. You weren’t enthusiastic about my ideas. “

He thought back to their preliminary discussions and cringed. “You’re right, I wasn’t.”

“At the time I couldn’t figure out why you were being so negative about my concepts. But knowing your background, I get it. You look at fresh produce and find nothing to love.”

“I’m not so sure. Those kiwis looked pretty cute.” That was as far as he would take it.

“Have you ever cut into one? They’re a beautiful green inside.”

“Never cut into one, never even noticed them until tonight. I don’t think you understand how I traditionally shop for food. I stick to three aisles. One provides me with frozen dinners. The cereal aisle gives me breakfast options and the soda display is where I find my favorite beverages and enough varieties of chips that I don’t have to eat the same kind two days in a row.”

She groaned. “No wonder you’re stuck! If the app went live tomorrow, you wouldn’t use it!”

“No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t create it.” And he would, by God. He’d do it because it was a good idea that would benefit a lot of people. He’d also do it because the future of BMUS was at stake. But mostly he’d do it because building a great app would make Miranda happy.