Read Online Getting to the Church On Time by Erin Nicholas - Free Book Online

interesting,” Jim said.
    Levi grinned and glanced over his shoulder at his friends getting out of the trucks. “That’s one word.”
    “So they’re just shopping?”
    “Yep,” Levi said. “I don’t even know what all they need. We need to stop down at Anderson’s Hardware too.”
    Jim shook his head with a chuckle. “Can’t wait to see how this turns out.”
    “Yeah.” Not for the first time Levi wished that Kate was here to see this. She’d be getting a huge kick out of it.
    Everyone crowded into the store but Levi held them back near the door. “Okay, when I say ‘go’ you’ll have—”
    “Hang on,” TJ said. “What are you talking about?”
    “I have to make you all start at the same time,” Levi said. “To keep things fair.” Actually, it was to keep things interesting, but he wasn’t going to tell TJ that.
    “Come on, TJ,” Tucker said, smacking his brother in the chest. “You worried about getting beat?”
    “I didn’t realize this was going to be a race,” TJ said, his opinion of the idea clear in his tone. “Why can’t we just go in and get what we need?”
    “What if you all need the same thing?” Levi asked. There was actually no reason to make this a race, but he thought it would be funny.
    TJ sighed. “Seriously?”
    “Ever seen Supermarket Sweep ?” Levi asked of the TV game show.
    TJ cocked an eyebrow. “Did you really just ask me that?”
    Okay, so TJ Bennett wasn’t really the TV game show type of guy. Levi grinned. “How it works…you all start here. When I say go, you head into the store. You have five minutes to gather what you need—or as much of it as you can—then come back here to check out.”
    TJ rolled his eyes. The truth was, the store was small. It wouldn’t take them five minutes to locate their items. Levi knew that. He just wanted to see Tucker, TJ and Ty racing.
    Ty shrugged out of his coat and handed it to Hailey. “Let’s go.” He got into a starting position much like he used for the road races he ran.
    TJ took his place next to Ty, still in his coat.
    Tucker took his off too and handed it to Delaney. “Ready.”
    Delaney leaned in and whispered in his ear. He nodded. “Got it.”
    “Ready, set, go!” Levi said.
    Tucker and Ty took off at a jog, Tucker toward the refrigerated section and Ty to the right, where the cereal and bread was. TJ grabbed a cart and walked toward aisle five.
    Two minutes later, Tucker, with his arms full of things including cream cheese, whipped topping and a graham cracker crust, came back to the front, frowning.
    “Where are all your candy canes, Jim?” he asked the store owner.
    “Aisle five. With the other candy.”
    “I checked there.”
    Jim shrugged. “I had a bunch.”
    Tucker swung in that direction—just in time to see TJ wheeling his cart back to the front full of boxes of candy canes.
    “Hey,” Tucker said. “I need one of those boxes.”
    “Sorry,” TJ said with a shrug. “Guess I won this race.”
    Tucker turned to Levi. “He can’t have all the candy canes.”
    Levi couldn’t wait to see what TJ and Hope were making. He was very fond of candy canes. He shrugged at Tucker. “You’ll have to figure it out with your brother.”
    Tucker handed all his stuff to Delaney, who managed to balance it on top of Tucker’s coat.
    “Dammit, TJ, give me one of those boxes,” Tucker said, planting his hands on his hips.
    “Um.” TJ pretended to think about it. “No.”
    “Are you fucking kidding me?”
    “It’s not just this race,” TJ said. “Seems to me that if you need candy canes and I have them all, then we have an advantage in the contest in general.”
    Ty came strolling back up to the front, whistling “Jingle Bells”. He carried a pack of gum. He tossed it on the conveyor belt next to the register and then dug out a dollar that he laid down too. “I’m ready to check out.”
    “You didn’t get anything,” TJ said with a frown.
    “I got gum.”
    “You need gum for your