Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Vivian pushed her cart slowly through Harvest Market, eyeing the shelves of groceries with interest. She usually did her shopping at the general store in Rosewood Beach, since she preferred to shop in quick, short trips, but whenever she needed to purchase a great many items at once, she went to Harvest Market, the local supermarket.
She had a long piece of paper in one hand which contained a list of items written in her graceful cursive. She needed quite a few things for the pub, and she was doing some morning shopping before going to The Lighthouse Grill later in the day for a management shift.
She liked Harvest Market. It was large, and although she went there fairly often, it still felt a little bit like a giant maze filled with food. It was also fairly crowded with customers, which gave it a bustling, energetic quality.
She looked down at her list and saw that she needed several boxes of cheap macaroni and cheese. She made her way to the correct aisle and saw to her dismay that the boxes she needed were on the highest shelf. Vivian was not a particularly tall woman, and now that she was older it wasn’t as easy for her to stretch her arms up high like she used to.
Sighing, she stepped up to the shelf and did her best to reach up toward the macaroni and cheese. Her hand was still a good six inches away from the closest box of macaroni and she exclaimed in frustration.
“Do you need a hand there, ma’am?”
She turned in surprise, recognizing the voice of the speaker immediately.
“Alan!” she said eagerly, surprised but delighted. “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
“I didn’t expect to run into you either.” His smile was warm and friendly. “Are you in need of some assistance?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful. I need seven or eight boxes of that macaroni and cheese, and—well, as you can see, I’m too short.” She laughed.
“They shouldn’t make these shelves so high.” He shook his head, an exaggerated look of indignation on his face. “It’s criminal.”
She laughed as he reached up effortlessly for the boxes of macaroni and cheese and brought down eight of them, placing them carefully into her cart. “You seem to be getting me out of mishaps lately.”
“It’s been my pleasure.” He smiled gallantly at her, and she thought she noticed the same gleam of admiration in his eyes that had been there when he was at the pub. “But I have to ask—why are you getting this cheap boxed macaroni and cheese when you are surely an incredible cook after so many years in the restaurant business?”
She chuckled, pleased by his compliment. “It’s for my daughter, Alexis. She told me this morning that she was craving it, so I promised to get her a whole bunch of boxes. She’s pregnant, you see. I hope this works out—we can never be sure what’s going to satisfy her cravings because she never seems to know what she wants.” She shook her head in amusement. “Once on her lunch break, she ordered a cheeseburger with a fried egg, and then as soon as she took a bite of it, she took off the fried egg and kept asking the rest of us if we wanted to eat it.”
He smirked. “That sounds like quite an ordeal.”
“For whom, Alexis or the fried egg?”
He laughed loudly, and Vivian laughed with him, pleased that he’d been amused by her joke. “The egg, of course,” he said. “And I hope that your daughter decides to eat all of the macaroni and cheese you bought her.”
Vivian shrugged. “If not, we can make it a special on the kids’ menu. When you’re little, no pasta tastes better than this stuff. Or so my children assure me.”
For a moment, they stood there smiling at each other, and then he glanced at his watch.
“I should let you go,” he told her. “I’m sure you’ve got a busy day ahead of you as the owner of such a fabulous restaurant. And I’m quite busy myself this morning.”
“Yes.” She nodded, wanting to ask him what he had going on that day, but refraining. After all, he’d just said he should get going and she didn’t want to appear over-eager.
“I’m happy I ran into you again.” He started to turn away, then added, “I’ll make another trip to eat at the pub again very soon.”
She felt a thrill of expectation go through her. She realized in that moment how severe her crush was, but she tried to brush the revelation aside.
“Well, we will look forward to it,” she said, smiling warmly at him.
“I’ll have to get that Monte Cristo sandwich again,” he said, shaking his head. “I still can’t get over that secret sauce. So delicious.”
He waved to her as he left the aisle, and she waved back. Once he’d disappeared, she stood there staring into space for a few moments. He’d seemed just as attentive and eager to talk with her as he had when he’d been at the pub, and she felt more convinced than ever that the friendliness between her and Alan might be the start of a budding relationship.
She looked down at her list, noticing that she hadn’t included all the ingredients necessary for the secret sauce. They were usually well-stocked on those ingredients, but she’d neglected to do a proper inventory before going shopping. On a few occasions, when they’d been especially busy, they’d run out of the sauce for a few hours until someone could get the ingredients and the cooks could whip up another batch.
I can’t let that happen on the day that Alan comes back , she thought, beginning to write down the ingredients on her list with a pencil she had tucked into her purse. He mentioned the secret sauce specifically. I’ll have to make sure we have enough so he doesn’t have to go without.
She also wrote down the ingredients for the Monte Cristo sandwich. It wasn’t something they served every day, but Alan had said he wanted to try it again. Even if it wasn’t on their menu when he came back, she would make sure that he would be able to order it.
Humming softly to herself, she tucked the pencil back into her purse and continued her shopping. She thought to herself that she hadn’t enjoyed a grocery shopping trip that much in a long time. Even though she was suddenly quite spacey, and had to retrace her steps more than once, she had a cheerful, lighthearted feeling that put quite a bit of spring in her step.