She blinked at this a few times. “Do you think that making some soup will impress your girlfriend enough to get her back?” She hesitated. “To make her marry you?”
He gave a little half smile. “No. I can see that that’s not going to happen. But I’d really like to make her forgive me. I did something I regret and—” He broke off because she’d turned her back on him and gone to the refrigerator to open it.
“Not even I could make soup out of this. Where’s the wholesale market?”
“Don’t look at me, I just got here. I live in Texas.”
“Ah, right. You’re Treeborne Foods. The freezer kings.” Her tone was condescending.
Carter couldn’t help groaning. “I guess you eat only what you buy at the local farmers’ market. You turn your nose up to anything that was picked longer than two hours ago, and I’m sure you’d starve before you used anything that had ever been frozen.”
“For the last year I’ve been working at an inner-city homeless shelter and we used anything anybody gave us. People look in their pantries, see a can of beans that’s been in there for three years, and give it to us. They think they’re doing a good deed. Treeborne Foods’s fancy frozen packages would have been a step up for us. You have any more elitist remarks to make to me or you want to go find a grocery and make some soup?”
“Soup,” he said and couldn’t help his smile.
She stood by the door. “Well?” she said and he had no idea what she meant. But she was waiting for him to open the door for her. Carter rushed forward and opened it wide.
Once they were outside, he hesitated. “I don’t have a key to get back in. Sophie will probably be back, but . . . ” He didn’t seem to know what to do.
“This doesn’t seem to be a town of rampant thievery,” she said, looking up at him. “Do you have a car? Or did you come with a driver and a limo?”
“It’s a rental and I drove it from the airport all by myself.”
“Congratulations. You’re on your way to being one of the people.” They walked a block to where his car was parked and she let him open the door for her.
“Kelli,” she said when they were both inside. “Kelli Parker.”
“Lewis Carter Treeborne the Third,” he said. “Better known as Carter.”
“Is that what Sophie calls you?”
“Not at the moment,” he said. “Do you know where the grocery is?”
“The bus passed it on the way in. Turn left here. I want to know everything that’s going on.”
“Well,” Carter said, “my father is trying to make me marry some girl to seal a deal, but—”
“So you came here and tried to get Sophie to marry you because then you’d be safe. Gee. Can’t imagine why she said no.”
Carter couldn’t help grimacing. “In the Texas town where I live everybody works for Treeborne Foods. And everybody . . . well, treats me with courtesy.”
“And here you have to earn it. Poor you. Turn here. Tell me about this restaurant you’ve been left in charge of.”
“It’s not like that.” He pulled into a parking space, turned off the engine, and looked at her in speculation. “Why did you come from wherever you came from that took a bus to get here just to work in some two-bit sandwich place? I bet there are higher paying jobs back there, wherever it is.”
“Chicago,” Kelli said.
He was incredulous. “You couldn’t get a job slapping ham and cheese on rye somewhere in Chicago?”
“If we’re going to make soup I think we need to get started.” She pulled up on the door handle but Carter pressed the button and locked it.
“Who are you and what are you up to?” he asked.
“Look. I just met you thirty minutes ago. My life is none of your business, so let me out of here or I’ll start screaming.”
Carter didn’t move. “Trouble with the law? Were you working in a homeless shelter for community service?”
Kelli just stared at him, but the slight flushing of her cheeks gave her away.