Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

items. I wasn’t even sure when the power would be back on. I could ask Andrew if I could stay with him, but he was already living in a small apartment with two other people. So, as much as I wanted to stay with him, I would just have him take me home. If he chose to stay with me, great, but I wasn’t about to beg. I had taken care of myself long enough that I didn’t need a man. I just wanted one.

Entering the grocery store, I grabbed a cart and headed for the produce section first. Even though oranges weren’t as good this time of year, I really wanted some. Besides, I could make smoothies or something. I was just grabbing a bag of navel oranges when a woman rushed over and crouched down behind the orange stand. I looked at her curiously, but she held up her finger, telling me to be quiet.

I averted my eyes, making sure not to give her away, though I wasn’t sure who hid in the produce section. Glancing around, I saw a man wandering through the store, obviously searching for someone.

“Stalker?” I asked, not looking at her.

“Brother-in-law,” she whispered.

I glanced back over at the man, frowning. He looked familiar…”Do I know him?”

“Maybe. Do you know the Cortell brothers?”

My eyebrows shot up. “That’s one of them?”

“That’s Robert. He’s a lawyer. My husband is Eric.”

My eyes lit up as I looked down at her, but she waved me away. Rolling my eyes, I watched the oranges again. I felt stupid standing here next to them for so long. Like anyone took this long to pick out oranges.

“Eric is doing work on my house.”

“You’re Lorelei?” she perked up.

“Yes, and you must be Kat.”

She reached up between the stand and my cart, holding out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Really? Eric and I don’t really talk that much.”

“Not from him,” she whispered. “From Andrew.”

“Oh.” I glanced down at her again. “Can I ask why you’re hiding in the oranges?”

She sighed. “Because all the Cortell men have lost their minds. Well, all except for Josh. He’s the only normal one.”

“And why have they lost their minds?”

“Because Anna, Robert’s girlfriend, myself, and Sofia, Joe’s girlfriend, are all pregnant.”

“Okay,” I said slowly.

“Okay, long story short, I lost a baby almost two years ago. Now, they all think that we can’t be trusted to be on our own, like we’ll step inside the grocery store and suddenly lose our babies.”

My brows furrowed. I was guessing she was being dramatic. “Maybe they’re just worried.”

She glared at me. “I haven’t been alone in weeks! I’m not allowed to go to the grocery store alone. The only reason I’m allowed to go to work is because I work in a hospital, but my husband even called and talked to my supervisor about my ‘delicate condition’. I swear to God, I can’t take this for the rest of my pregnancy.”

I glanced over, noticing the man was gone and she finally stood.

“Quick, let’s move over there,” she pointed to an aisle with odds and ends. I didn’t need to go down that aisle, and I wasn’t finished in the produce section, but she seemed so desperate that I went along with it. There was a rack of cheap winter hats, and she quickly grabbed one, pulling her hair up and then shoving the new hat down on her head. “Do I look different?”

I shook my head, shrugging out of my own coat. “Here, put this on.”

She quickly unzipped and shoved her coat in the shopping cart, then pulled on my coat.

“That’s better.” I pulled a pair of reading glasses off another rack and handed them to her. She quickly put them on and I shrugged. “Well, it should be enough for a little bit.” We started walking down the aisle, watching for the infamous Robert Cortell the entire time. “So, explain to me how grocery shopping is dangerous.”

“If I knew that, maybe I would understand this whole situation.”

She ducked down beside the cart, so I stopped moving, just stood stock still in the middle of the aisle.

“Uh…what are we doing here?”

“Just look busy,” she hissed, shuffling around behind my legs.

“It’s kind of hard to look busy when you’re hiding behind my legs.”

“Robert’s at the end of the aisle,” she hissed.

I looked to my left and checked out the different holiday decorations for sale. With Christmas coming up, there was all kinds of shit all over the store.

“Grab the Sixlets.”

“The what?” I asked, trying not to move my mouth too much.

“The bag of candy, the Sixlets on the third shelf.” I started to bend over. “Don’t move!”

I paused mid-bend and glanced down the aisle. Robert was still standing there, talking on his phone, not looking at me. “Why am I not moving? I thought you wanted the Sixlets.”

“You’re going to have to get them without moving your legs,” she hissed.

Sighing, I bent over awkwardly and reached for the bag. I looked like an idiot. This whole thing was ridiculous. Snatching the bag, I straightened, then handed them to her behind me.

“Alright, slowly start walking forward.”

I smiled at the stupidity of this. It was like I was being held at gunpoint in a grocery store. I walked down the aisle, trying to appear as natural as possible.

“Move off to the right side,” she whispered.

I did as she said, but when she tugged on my pant leg, I came to a stop, examining the shelf beside me. I heard the bag tear open and thought maybe now was not the perfect time to get a candy fix. Then I heard the slight tinkering of something hitting the ground. I glanced down to see Sixlets rolling past the cart, right to the man’s feet. She kept shoving them toward him and then yanked on my leg again. I glanced down and saw her motioning me to do something, but I had never been good at sign language. She made