Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Beryl grabbed a hand basket, selected a few things she usually had for lunch and doubled her luncheon choices.
The Supernova Supermarket deli made a nice sandwich, wrapped up and ready to go, with mayonnaise and mustard packets on the side to customize any offering.
She added a plastic knife and some extra napkins to her basket.
She strolled down one of the snack aisles and grabbed a bag of her favorite kind of potato chips. She stopped by the produce section and selected apples, a banana and a small container of prewashed grapes that were ready to eat.
Fruit was often all she ate as a dessert, but she decided to grab a couple of large cookies from the bakery, which she thought was appropriate for a picnic, especially a first date picnic.
On her way to the checkout, Beryl stopped in front of the refrigerated beverage station for a couple of bottles of cooled water to round out her picnic.
“Picnic for two?” Tanya asked as she rang up Beryl’s purchases. She didn’t try very hard to hide a knowing smile.
“Yes,” Beryl said, resigned to the fact that she lived in a small town and this was the way earthlings acted around each other. “I’m having a picnic with Jake today.”
Tanya grinned. “I’m so glad, Beryl. I really am. I think you two make a perfect couple.”
“We’ll see.” She paid for the food and Tanya put everything in a paper grocery sack for her.
Beryl didn’t know if Tanya had heard about her tragic left-at-the-altar story.
The cashier had never mentioned it, but it wouldn’t surprise her.
The moment Beryl had gone out and about in Alienn after settling in, she overheard someone she didn’t know mention it in a whispered conversation while waiting in line at the post office.
Beryl had pretended not to hear. She had hoped she’d have a few months before everyone knew about her past.
“Have fun,” the cashier said as Beryl passed the now silent ice machine and went through the front sliding doors of the store.
Beryl walked quickly, her pace faster than usual, anxious to get to the place where they were going to meet up.
Then they could head to the park in the center of Alienn.
She usually sat on a park bench, but she’d snagged a blanket out of the trunk of her car.
Today, she and Jake could sit at a picnic table.
The skies above were crystal blue without a cloud in view. Perfect day for a picnic in the park with a guy she couldn’t wait to get to know better.
As she rounded the corner a block from the park, Beryl saw that Jake waiting for her. The lingering panic that she would get stood up faded as she closed in on him. The light changed as she reached it and she had to wait before crossing the street.
Jake had not seen her yet. The spark that she seemed to feel around this man arced across the street to where she stood. Dang. He was fine.
At long last, the light changed and the little green man on the Walk signal lit up. She got halfway through the crosswalk when he saw her. He smiled and stood up straighter, one hand lifting to wave at her. Beryl waved and hurried to join him.
“I hope you haven’t been waiting long,” she said as she stepped close and put a hand on his arm. She wanted to feel that spark—and she sure did. Wow.
“Not too long. I might have come a little early because I was so anxious to get here to meet up with you.” His gaze shifted to the grocery bag she held. “I see you brought us a feast.”
“Not really a feast, but I hope it’s enough for a nice picnic.”
“I have no doubt. There’s the added bonus that I don’t ever remember being on a picnic, so this will likely be the best picnic I’ve ever had.” His grin was infectious and she giggled.
Beryl gestured toward the park. “There’s a space that I usually go to near the fountain, but if there’s someplace else you’d rather go, I’m open.”
“Nope. Lead on. If I’ve ever been in this park, I don’t remember it.
And I’m afraid you’re going to be hearing that phrase quite a lot.
I don’t remember much but I will tell you everything I know.
” A wistful smile played around his mouth.
He was likely as tired of not remembering as she was about hearing strangers talk about her disaster of a wedding.
Beryl nodded and thought again how awful it was that he’d lost his memory. Hopefully, the two of them would make some new ones for him.
They walked companionably down the sidewalk toward the fountain, veering onto a grassy surface between the basketball courts in the playground, where a scattering of five picnic tables waited.
Only one picnic table was occupied. A mother with two small children was trying to get them to eat something; they were clamoring to head for the playground and skip lunch. Beryl couldn’t blame them.
Beryl handed Jake the bag of groceries. She took the blanket folded over her arm, shook it out and spread it over the picnic table. It was the perfect size.
“I forgot to get a tablecloth,” she said. “I grabbed this out of my car so we didn’t have to eat on possibly radioactively contaminated picnic tables. I mean, you never know who ate here before, including squirrels and other varmints.”
“I don’t know what a varmint is, but I know this is perfect.” Jake sat down and placed the sack of groceries on the blanket between them.
She sat across from him. Jake looked pensive, like he had no idea what a picnic was or what happened on one, if his expression was an indication.
“I have to say, it would be so odd not to remember my life beyond a couple of weeks.” Beryl reached into the paper sack and started pulling things out one by one and setting them on the table. His expression shifted from pensive to interested in an instant.
“It is odd not to remember anything,” he said. “But I will also say that the friendships I made before I lost my memory were clearly good ones.
“Frederick, my manager, has been invaluable to me. Not to mention all my neighbors and several regular customers who have been remarkable in their support, even though I can barely remember anyone’s name on any given day.”
Beryl pulled out a turkey sandwich wrapped in cellophane. “I hope you don’t have any food allergies that you don’t know about.”
Jake smiled. “Not so far, which is good. Many of the neighbors on my street brought over a lot of food after I got out of the hospital. I got quite a bit of something called casserole, even though each container I ate was different.”
“Ah, yes, the infamous Midwestern casserole can take many forms. There are some that are quite delicious.”
“Yes. Many were delicious. Others?” He shrugged. “Still, I truly appreciated what amounted to strangers graciously feeding me even though I didn’t remember a single soul.”
Beryl handed him one of the turkey sandwiches and showed him how to put on mayonnaise and mustard with the little plastic knife in the packets she brought. She opened the large bag of potato chips and shook a few out onto a napkin.
Even though she was not starving, Beryl took a bite of her sandwich. Deli smoked turkey with provolone cheese, lettuce, honey mustard and mayo was her favorite.
Jake made his sandwich exactly like she made hers and then took a bite. As he chewed, his eyes slowly closed and a yummy sound came from his throat. “Wow. That is so good,” he said.
Beryl reached down and grabbed a potato chip from the napkin, gesturing that he should try one as well. It was clearly love at first crunch. His eyes practically rolled back in his head with joy. She then produced the fruit she’d procured. He liked the apple and the grapes, too.
As the they ate their sandwiches and chips, the conversation leaned more toward the mundane. The weather was lovely. The park was nice. Alienn, Arkansas, seemed like a great place to live.
As they chatted, Beryl commented on the fact that she had also not lived in Alienn very long—then had a moment of panic when she realized she couldn’t tell him where she was from. She couldn’t confide in a human. That was Rule Number One. Hiding in plain sight. Always.
Her family had a story they used, of course.
All new Alphas arriving on Earth had to pretend to be from somewhere.
She and her siblings were all supposedly from a small town up north that no one had ever heard of.
Most folks didn’t dig. They just seemed to accept vague concepts when it came to where newcomers had lived before.
It was a fairly common story in the tri-city area of Alienn, Old Coot and Skeeter Bite.
“I’m supposedly from up north as well,” Jake said with a rueful grin. “Although, I don’t even have the benefit of a small town to name.”
Beryl’s gaze narrowed. Her mind went to the unlikely idea that maybe he wasn’t human after all. Stop it. He’s human. Don’t say anything you shouldn’t.
“I honestly can’t imagine,” she said, serious in the notion of his lack of a past being a difficult concept, especially since he didn’t have any family in the area.
At least Beryl had her siblings and her parents with her in this new home.
If Beryl lost her memory in a similar fashion, her family would bring her up to speed on every minute detail of her life for decades.
She rummaged in the grocery sack for dessert, producing the very yummy chocolate chip cookies she’d brought. “Here, have a cookie.”
He took the offering, his gaze lingering on her eyes for a couple of beats before unwrapping it and taking a bite. This time, his eyes did roll back in his head in joy. “That is amazing!”
“Glad you like it. I can’t believe you haven’t had a cookie yet.”
He shrugged. “I know what they are. I just hadn’t tried one, post-memory loss.”
“As a grocery store owner, I may make it my new mission to introduce you to all the amazing foods you have forgotten all about.”
“Challenge accepted. I’ll look forward to whatever you bring for me to try,” he said with a warm smile.
She was so smitten.