There's a voice next to her, as well as a body and a basket full of fruit and flour and eggs- all beheld by Zachary Salvatore.

"Should we call in the apple inspector? Or are you thinking of trying out for the position."

"They already hired me. Don't tell anyone, but I'm not sure what I'm doing."

She smiles when she spots the little girl hiding behind him, but lets her imagine she's gone unnoticed.

That's good. Because she is invisible and nobody can see her hiding behind her papa's legs and peering up at her.

"Your secret is safe with me. To be honest, I also have no idea what I'm doing. Usually Kelly does all the grocery shopping. Think I've gotten lost in the aisles five times now."

Kelly? She doesn't remember Salvatore being married, but he was always more Rafe's friend. Rafe knew everyone in this town; another thing she'll have to get used to going without.

"Oh, I know, it's a nightmare." It's not, really, but she can imagine most men struggle with navigating without any practice. Melissa would never have sent Rafe to buy groceries.

"Maybe I can help you find what you're looking for. I'm horrible with fruit, but I can surf these aisles like a pro."

"Uh- yeah, that'd be great. A real life saver. Is Rafe around somewhere?" He looks around the area, searching for him. "With - Scott? How are they?"

He reaches down and presses a soft hand to the top of Juliet's head, reassuring himself that she's still there.

Oh.

"Oh. You- haven't heard?"

"...no? Are they okay? I've been swamped with work - out of town, mostly."

...Juliet reaches up high on her toes and sneakily snags an apple. Monch.

Right. She's explained to so few people- barely even her family. It should be pretty simple: just the facts.

"I- he left. He- we decided- Scott's with him this- I don't-"

And now she's crying.

- Juliet drops the apple! And starts crying too. She's sorry.

!!! Oh no oh no oh no. This is the opposite of what he wanted -

"Ah- It's-" He reaches out to her and - stops and quickly picks up his crying kid. Panicking and awkward. He tries to calm them both down. "I'm sorry! Why don't we-"

He has no idea what to do. What does he do?

Melissa- pulls herself together. She can't just break down crying on the first person who tries to talk to her about this. Especially not- the poor thing...

"It's okay, honey," she says, sniffling. "It's going to be fine. See?"

She offers a watery smile.

- she reaches out to her, still crying and trying to wiggle out of Zach's arms.

"Um...."

It's easier to put on a brave face for Zach's kid than it is for Zach, who is basically a stranger. She smiles at her, taking her hand.

"I'm just having a bad day. Adults have those, sometimes, but it's hard to cry when you have people to talk to about it."

Hopefully that's- a valuable lesson to teach a child and very distracting from the fact that she just cried in front of her.

Juliet is very unsure about this.

Oh good. He... thinks. "Do you want to talk about it? We were just going to spend the day at home. Making pancakes. I could make you pancakes."

Oh no. Okay. She tries to calm down. Just the facts.

"Scott is with his daddy right now. We decided we weren't going to live together anymore, so now Scott lives with him sometimes and with me sometimes. I'm feeling a little lonely today, and if you don't mind, I'd love to come 9ver for pancakes."

She says all of this to Juliet, making minimal eye contact with Zach, although it's an answer to his question.

... is that allowed. They've never had actual people over before. Not really.

Zach squeezes her reassuringly. He's not actually sure himself. She's been doing so well lately. But.

But also he be can't just leave Rafe's - ex? like this. Alone and crying in the local supermarket...

"We'd love to have you," he says to them both.

"Thank you," she says. She thinks of half of a joke about fruit but that sends her thoughts down the rabbit hole again, and she has to stop.

Melissa holds Juliet's hand as they leave. She doesn't end up buying anything; it's just her at home.

Zach does end up checking out the contents of his basket, ingredients for their pancakes.

After, as they walk to the car. "Have you been to the Boarding House before?"

It's not unusual for townsfolk to have stayed a night or two, or just had dinner there, when it was running as an actual boarding house - before Juliet was born and the eighty some years preceding it.

"No, I never visited."

Rafe talked about it, though, in some of his wild stories- the fun was always in guessing which ones had actually happened.

"I only moved in just before Scott."

- right. Yes. He knew that.

"It's pretty far on the edge of town. A lot of sharp turns and gravel road. Probably be easier for you to come with us in my car, and I can drive you back here after?"