By early evening, Claire finally gave up on paperwork and announced the house had "no actual food left."
Which sohow resulted in:
Phil getting distracted by a hardware store advertisent,
Luke disappearing before grocery bags could be assigned,
and Gael ending up alone in the car with Claire on the way to the store.
"This feels like they planned it," he said while fastening his seatbelt.
Claire started the engine with a tired sigh.
"They are experienced now."
"Fair point."
The drive settled into easy conversation almost imdiately.
Traffic crawled lazily through the city while soft music played low through the speakers.
Outside the house, Claire felt different sohow.
Still sarcastic.
Still controlled.
But quieter without everyone constantly pulling her attention in six directions.
"Your account survived Gloria and Haley shopping together?" she asked eventually.
"That depends. Are flamingo-shaped lamps considered good investnt?"
Claire groaned instantly.
"She almost bought one?"
"She defended it."
"That sounds accurate."
Gael laughed quietly while Claire shook her head to herself.
"You know," she muttered, "sotis I think Gloria creates chaos for fun."
"That sounds familiar, actually."
Claire glanced sideways imdiately.
"Excuse ?"
"Your entire family operates like that."
"That's not true."
"You emotionally adopted through exposure."
"That sounds manipulative when you say it out loud."
"Still accurate."
Claire tried not to smile.
Didn't entirely succeed.
The grocery store itself turned into chaos almost imdiately.
Luke texted six separate cereal requests.
Phil sohow added power drill batteries to the shopping list.
Haley demanded snacks for what she called "ergencies."
anwhile, Claire moved through aisles with terrifying efficiency, tossing items into the cart while keeping a ntal track of everything automatically.
"You're disturbingly organized," Gael observed while pushing the cart beside her.
"That's because nobody else in my house understands preparation."
"That sounded personal."
"It was personal."
At one point they stopped near the coffee aisle.
Claire reached automatically toward a shelf before pausing slightly.
Then grabbed the exact coffee Gael usually drank.
Neither reacted imdiately.
Until they both did.
Claire looked down at the bag in her hand.
"…I bla Haley."
"That feels like misdirected accountability."
"She leaves your coffee in my kitchen constantly."
"She steals my hoodies," he pointed out.
"That is unrelated."
Gael smirked faintly while Claire rolled her eyes and tossed the coffee into the cart anyway.
A second later, another shopper slowed near them with a polite smile.
"You two are cute together," the woman said casually. "My husband never grocery shops with ."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Claire blinked once.
Gael stopped pushing the cart.
The woman kept smiling, entirely unaware.
Then Claire laughed suddenly.
Quick.
Surprised.
Almost too imdiate.
"Oh my God," she said while covering part of her face briefly. "No—we're not—"
"She's my girlfriend's mother," Gael added at the exact sa ti.
Which sohow made it worse.
The woman looked horrified instantly.
"Oh! I am so sorry—"
"No, it's fine," Claire answered too fast, still visibly laughing from sheer surprise now.
The woman apologized one more ti before escaping into another aisle.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then Claire looked over at him again.
Still smiling slightly.
"Well," she muttered, "that was traumatic."
"That felt personally offensive."
Claire laughed again before taking the cart from him briefly to steer around another shopper.
"To be fair," she said carefully, "you do have weirdly dependable energy."
"That sounds close to suburban father criticism again."
"You voluntarily compared oat milk prices."
"That was financial awareness."
"That was forty-five seconds of yogurt analysis."
Gael shook his head while Claire smiled to herself and kept walking.
The mont should have faded after that.
Instead, sothing about it lingered quietly between them afterward.
Not awkward.
Just… noticeable.
Near checkout, Claire reached absentmindedly toward the collar of his jacket.
Gael froze slightly.
"There's lint," she murmured before brushing it off naturally.
The gesture lasted barely a second.
Still long enough that Claire realized what she was doing midway through it.
Her hand pulled back almost imdiately.
Then she grabbed the shopping list instead.
"…We forgot lemons."
Gael watched her for half a second before taking the cart again quietly.
"Right."
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