Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  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 the talking gesture with her hand and then held her hand out like a handshake.

  You want me to shake his hand? I mouthed.

  What? She mouthed back.

  Shake his hand? I tried to ask more clearly.

  What?

  Sighing, I decided to wing it. “Excuse me, could you help me reach this bag up here?” I pointed to the end cap, but instead of handing me the bag from the top, he reached for the one in front of him. “No, I need the one at the top.”

  “But they’re the same.”

  “I still need the one at the top.”

  Huffing, he took a step forward, but when he did, he slipped on the Sixlets and his legs went out from under him. Flying onto his back, Kat raced out from behind me and jumped on the front of the cart.

  “Go! Go! Go!”

  Not knowing what else to do, I shoved the shopping cart forward and started running across the back of the grocery store, passing all the aisles along the way. My eyes widened when I saw another woman coming my way, a look of shock on her face.

  “Anna!” Kat shouted. “Get on!”

  “Do what?” I shrieked.

  Anna jumped on the side of the cart, which made it very difficult to push. It was all lopsided. But when I saw another man come screeching around the corner of the last aisle, I felt duty bound to help these women escape. Taking a hard left, I raced down the second to last aisle, narrowly missing the man and laughing as Kat ripped a bag of cheese popcorn off the shelf and tossed it in the cart.

  Glancing behind me, I saw I now had two men chasing me, and when I reached the end of the aisle, another woman came out of nowhere and paused for only a second when she saw Kat and Anna on the cart. I assumed Anna was one of the pregnant women. The third woman didn’t waste a second jumping on the other side of the cart. My muscles protested as I did my best to corner the next aisle without tipping over the cart.

  “Hurry! They’re gaining on us!”

  “Do you want to get down here and push three women on a cart?” I snapped, but picked up my pace anyway. We were in the snack aisle, and the women started snatching snacks off the shelves, tossing them in the cart as I pushed us harder to the end.

  “Oh shit!” Anna shouted, pointing her finger. “It’s Joe!”

  My eyes widened when I saw the tattooed man standing at the end of the aisle, arms out and ready to stop me. I had to be crazy to join in this fight. Glancing behind me, I saw the two other men racing toward me, while the manager ran behind them, shouting at them to stop. I spun back around just as we approached the tattooed man.

  “Stop,” Joe commanded.

  I started to slow, but the third woman turned to me and glared. “Don’t you dare stop. Keep going!”

  I picked up my pace and watched as she pulled her purse off her shoulder. I maneuvered to the side of him and just as he reached to grab the cart and stop us, the third woman swung back her purse, narrowly missing my face, and swung it at Joe. The weight of the purse hit him directly in the face and he fell backward into a freestanding stack of Ritz crackers.

  The cart started to tip as I took the next corner, so the ladies jumped off, grabbing their snacks as they took off running. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed my purse and took off after them. I felt like I was in the middle of a crime spree. The ladies rushed through the double doors to the back room and then yanked open the cooler door, rushing inside.

  “Oh, this is a great plan,” Anna snapped as the door swung shut.

  “It’s better than being with them,” Kat said, tearing into the bag of cheese popcorn.

  “What exactly was that?” I asked, still panting from my exertion. I was sweating like crazy and my legs burned from running so hard and pushing all that weight.

  “That was our crazy family, trying to keep us from living normal lives,” the third woman said. “Sofia, by the way.”

  “Lorelei.”

  “She’s Andrew’s girlfriend,” Kat informed her. “Popcorn?” She asked, holding out the bag. It was tempting, but I didn’t dare take food from a pregnant lady, especially one that seemed to be starved of good treats.

  “How is it that all of you are here?”

  “We had to come together. It’s ‘safer’ if we go in a group outing,” Anna said sarcastically. “Like grocery shopping is a dangerous event. Swiss Cake Roll?”

  I shook my head.

  “I swear to God, I can’t take any more of this. It’s ridiculous,” Sofia said angrily. She grabbed a box of chocolate granola bars and ripped them open, moaning as she took her first bite.

  “But why are they all with you?” I asked, s
till not understanding.

  “Because they’re all psycho,” Anna snapped. “And your boyfriend is one of the craziest!”

  “My boyfriend?”

  “Yeah, he’s been riding the crazy train with Eric, not allowing us to walk up steps or—“

  “Paint my own apartment!” Sofia interjected.

  “Yeah, and despite him stealing me a pizza, he also ate half of it,” Kat griped.

  The door started to open and Anna leapt forward, snatching the handle and yanking it back. “Help me!”

  Kat and Sofia jumped in, helping her hold it closed.

  “Ma’am, this is the store manager. I’m going to need you to come out of the cooler.”

  “Never!” Anna shouted, which I thought was a little drastic. They all still had coats on. I had given mine to Kat and now I was freezing.

  “Ma’am, I’m going to have to call the police if you don’t come out.”

  “Good!” Kat shouted. “Call Jack and get him down here. Tell him to arrest Robert and Joe!”

  “Hey, we’re just trying to protect you,” a man protested from the other side.

  “By depriving us of basic needs?” Sofia asked.

  “Granola bars aren’t a basic need, baby.”

  Sofia scoffed. “Like you would know. When was the last time you carried a baby?”

  “Well…never, but that’s not the point.”

  “That’s exactly the point! And…I’m holding this baby hostage until my demands are met.”

  I frowned at her, but she just shrugged. The other women seemed to think it was a great idea.

  “That’s right. We have demands and we’re not coming out until you give us what we want,” Kat shouted through the door.

  There was arguing on the other side and then the manager spoke again. “I’m going to negotiate on behalf of the men. I think we can all get what we want if we just calmly talk this out.”

  “Well, we have Lorelei here to talk on our behalf. She’s our negotiator.”

  My eyes widened and I was suddenly yanked forward to speak for them.

  “Uh…Hi. My name is Lorelei and I’m an innocent bystander in all this.”

  “Hi, Lorelei,” the manager said. “Now, what exactly are their demands?”

  “Give me a minute.”

  I spun around to face the ladies. “What are your demands?”

  “We want them to stop carting us around everywhere like we’re eggs.”

  “Eggs?”

  Anna sighed. “Yeah, you know, fragile.”

  “And I want to walk upstairs by myself,” Kat said.

  “And I want to choose what food I eat,” Sofia added.

  I nodded and turned back to the door. “Okay, I have a list of demands here.”

  “Alright, I’m listening.”

  “Um…they want to be able to walk around by themselves.”

  Anna slapped me. “Tell him about the egg thing.”

  “And they want to not be treated like eggs.”

  “Like eggs?” the manager asked in confusion.

  “Right…um…fragile. And they want to walk up the stairs by themselves.”

  “And down!” Kat shouted. “I can damn well walk up and down the stairs by myself!”

  I placed a hand on her arm to calm her. “Right, and also…down the stairs.” This was by far the weirdest thing I had ever done.

  “Um…I’m confused. What exactly…” The manager sighed, then whispered, “I thought you said they were dangerous?”

  “Oh, they’re dangerous alright. You just haven’t seen them when they don’t have chocolate,” one of the men said.

  “Then maybe you should let us have it!” Anna shouted.

  “Calm down,” I whispered, trying to ease her.

  “Any other demands?” the manager asked.

  “Um…yes, they also want to be able to choose their own foods.”

  “Lorelei?” I heard Andrew’s voice from the other side.

  “Yeah?”

  “What are you doing in there?”

  “Um…negotiating a hostage situation?”

  There was a moment of silence. “What exactly is being held hostage?”

  I huffed out an irritated breath. “I’m not sure. The babies? But eventually we have to get out of here. I’m freezing. Kat has my coat.”

  “Why does Kat have your coat?”

  “Because she was trying to disguise herself to hide from your brothers.”

  “Can we get back to the point here?” Kat snapped.

  “What is the point?” Andrew asked.

  “We’re tired of having our rights stripped of us. We want our freedoms back, and for the whole damn town to stop following us around!”

  “They follow you around?” I asked Kat.

  She nodded. “And worse, when one of them can’t take us someplace, there’s a volunteer sheet that people can fill out to take turns driving us around. But first, they have to pass a special driving test.”

  My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Seriously?”

  “Are you sure you want to be part of this family?” Anna asked. “They’re all crazy.”

  “Hey, who locked themselves in a cooler,” one of the men shouted.

  Anna got right up against the door and slammed her palm against it. “Hey, you’d better watch it, buddy, or you’re not getting any tonight.”

  “Yeah, like I get it any other night,” he muttered.

  “Maybe if you weren’t such an ass—“

  “Alright,” I interrupted. “I can see this is getting us nowhere. Can we agree on terms?”

  “We’ll concede to not taking you shopping,” one of them said.

  “No, it’s all or nothing,” Sofia snapped. “No more carrying me around. No more asking my belly if it’s okay. No more cutting up my food for me because you’re afraid my knife might slip and cut me!”

  I chuckled next to her. Now I understood the mad dash through the grocery store. These guys really were crazy.

  “Look, it’s not like you can just sit in there all day. You’ll eventually get too cold and need to come out.”

  Yeah, like right now. I was shivering and in desperate need of a coat, but I wasn’t crazy enough to take my coat back from the insane woman beside me.

  “Did someone call the police?”

  “Jack!” Kat shouted. “Arrest them!”

  “For what?” he asked, sounding a little thrilled by the prospect.

  “For…”

  Kat turned to me, a pleading look on her face. I scrambled to think of something.

  “False imprisonment!” I shouted through the door.

  Kat’s shoulders sagged as she shot me a look that said Really?

  “You locked yourselves in there,” one of them said.

  “But you…falsely imprisoned them…in their daily lives,” I said. “And…forced them to…abide by laws…um…”

  “Alright, I think we got the gist,” Jack said. “I think we can all see that the only way to get the ladies out of the cooler is to take the men down to the station.”

  “Or we could just open the damn door,” one of them muttered.

  “Not until our demands are met!” Anna shouted.

  “Fine. Do you boys agree to their demands?”

  I heard grumbling on the other side and finally one of them relented. “For now, but one sign of you slipping or getting heartburn or even getting too tired and your ass is back on twenty-four/seven watch.”

  I turned to the ladies, hopeful that this was enough. They didn’t really seem too excited about this. “You guys, this is a good concession. Is this really the hill you want to die on?”

  After a few grumbled no’s, I turned back to the door. “Okay, I’m opening the door and we’re coming out.”

  “Back up,” the manager shouted. Why was he shouting? I slowly pushed on the handle, feeling the rush of warm air hit me like a furnace. It was amazing. And then I looked around to see what looked like a good percentage of the tow
n staring at us, filming us, and pointing at us like a circus attraction.

  I held the door open for the ladies, who grudgingly came out and finally got my coat back from Kat. I hurriedly put it on and zipped it up. The girls walked out, looking at me strangely.

  “Well, it was…nice to meet you,” Anna said.

  Sofia grinned. “Yeah, not usually how you meet someone.”

  “Hey, you really came through for us back there,” Kat added. “And you’re pretty good at racing with a shopping cart.”

  I smiled slightly. “I’ll keep that in mind for future ventures.”

  Andrew walked over, a huge grin on his face. “So, I leave you alone for a half hour and you’ve started a cart race through the store that ended in a hostage situation with my sisters.”

  “Hey, I was just getting oranges. I have no idea how it spiraled out of control from there.”

  He slung his arm around my shoulders and pointed me toward the double doors that led back into the store. “What do you say we get out of here?”

  “I still need groceries.”

  “Groceries first, then home.”

  Home. I liked the sound of that. “Any chance this won’t end up on YouTube.”

  “Nah, it’s very unlikely.”

  I blew out a breath. “Thank goodness.”

  “But there are already over three hundred likes on the town Facebook page.”

  Andrew

  We went in search of her shopping cart, finding it abandoned at the end of the snack aisle. Kat’s coat was still inside, along with a shitload of snacks.

  “Did you have the munchies?”

  “The only thing in the cart that’s mine are the oranges.”

  “So, where did the rest of this stuff come from?”

  “The girls. They tossed stuff in the cart as I hauled their heavy asses around the store.”

  “You think we’re fat?” Kat said from behind me.

  Lorelei sighed, shaking her head at Kat. “Of course I don’t think you’re fat. But have you ever tried pushing three grown-ass women around a store?”

  “No,” Kat grumbled.

  “Exactly. I’m going to be feeling that little escapade for days.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me, inhaling her sweet scent. “I’ll make sure to massage every kink out of your body.”