The beautiful man was standing again, towering over them both.“Does that mean I get these at a discount?”he joked.
The woman let out a loud laugh and Annie retreated with her cart before the beautiful man could say anything to her.
Talking was not in her wheelhouse today.
In the safety of the aisle, she regained a bit of her composure, grabbed the last two things she needed, then made her way to checkout.
Annie was relieved to see it was their regular cashier, a middle-aged lady who always gave stickers to the kids.
Leon insisted on helping unload the cart.He produced a container of chocolate chip cookies first, and as Annie tried to piece together when he’d snuck them onto the bottom of the cart, he helpfully threw a dozen eggs onto the conveyer belt.
Miraculously, the eggs didn't break.
“I, uh, made a mess in the bakery,” Annie confessed.“I can pay for whatever I spilled – ”
The cashier waved a hand.“Don’t worry about it.One of those days, huh?”
Annie nodded, hands shaking as she bagged the groceries.The rushing, the low blood sugar, and the beautiful stranger were threatening to send her over the edge.
But she wasn’t going to lose her cool.Even when the total came out $26 over budget.
She would have to take a look at the receipt at home.They couldn’t go over budget every week.
Outside, the drizzling rain had finally stopped, leaving an overcast sky.She got the kids into their car seats first, then handed a cookie to each of them.
A voice floated into her ear.“Well, didn’t you make a mess in there.”
Annie’s back stiffened.She turned.
The old woman who had almost made Leon cry stood like a statue in powder blue slacks.Gold chains encircled her neck and arms, as she stood, slowly shaking her white-coiffed head.
If Annie’s blood sugar wasn’t cratering, she would have thought of something clever to say.
But she’d had a salad for lunch, then two coffees, and she could hear Noel screaming inside the car.
So she narrowed her eyes and said, “I’d like to see you prove it.”
Annie returned her cart, got into her car, and after making sure no one was looking, stuffed an entire cookie into her mouth before driving away.
Two
Margie Clifton stood at the edge of the grocery store parking lot, her arm high in the air, waving wildly.
Annie was inside her car, her hand in front of her mouth.She paid no notice to Margie’s show as she drove off.
Margie’s arm dropped to her side.Had Annie been crying?Had she been sobbing into her hand?
It sure looked like it.What was going on?
She could call Annie – or no, better call Clara.She reached for her phone, but before she could make the call, a voice interrupted her.
“Young people are so rude these days.Always looking at their phones, never taking the time to talk to anyone around them.”
Was this person calling her young?Margie was going to be fifty-five after Christmas.It had to be someone trying to flatter her.Or –
Margie turned and sucked in a breath.It was Deborah Wills, an odious woman who forced Margie to practice her patience.
“Phones are useful, after all,” Margie said with a smile.
