by JA Lafrance
After hitting the alarm button on my car, I open the door. Hopping in then placing the key in the ignition, she fires right up. I drive along in utter silence the five minutes it takes me to get to the store. Once there, I park in the designated area for the employees. The store is already busy this morning. I can tell before I even punch in that it’s going to be another hectic day.
Back in the locker room, I place everything, but my coffee and thermos in my locker then head to the time clock to punch in. Following the arrows, I head to the front of the store to find Cindy to see which register she is going to place me on today.
“Good Morning, Cindy. I see it’s already crazy in here today. Which register do you want me on?”
“Morning, Nicole. Yes, there was a line to get in the store before we even unlocked the doors this morning. I think David is going to have to pull one of the cart guys to stand at the door and count people as they come in. We can only have so many in here at a time, and we’ve already just about reached our limit. Will you be okay on the twenty items or less register? Some of the other cashiers just can’t handle taking charge and telling people they have too many items in their cart for that line.”
“No problem, let me get my drawer so I can get set up then start helping out. If it’s okay, when I don’t have any customers with twenty or fewer items, I will pull one person at a time over to my register to help keep things moving.”
“Yes, please. That sounds perfect. Follow me; we will get that drawer for you. Make sure you count it and mark down exactly how much you have in there.”
“Believe me; I always count the drawer. There have been too many times that whoever had it the night before didn’t count correctly. Most of the time, it’s just a few cents, but lately, it’s been as much as thirty and forty dollars short. I’m not getting fired over someone else's mistakes.”
Cindy just shook her head as I followed her. Once she handed me the drawer, I quickly counted it three times to make sure my count is right. This drawer is only short ten cents, so at least that much is a good start to the day.
“All good, Cindy. The drawer was only ten cents short. Instead of writing the person up for it, I threw in the ten cents, so the drawer is perfect. We are all going through a rough time right now, and it’s the least I can do to help someone out who needs this job.”
Cindy just nods at me then goes back to helping one of the other cashier’s bag someone’s groceries. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me as I make my way to the first register. They want to see where I am going so, they can jump online as quickly as possible. At the register, I start it up then place the drawer in it. Once that’s done, I flip the light on for my register. Picking up the phone for the PA system, I announce that register one is open for customers with twenty items or less. Before I even laid the phone back in its cradle, I had three people in line waiting to be rung up. Yeah, it’s definitely going to be another long day.
Chapter 4
What a horrible morning. Almost every customer that got in my line had carts overflowing with groceries. No one wanted to hear that this was the express lane for twenty items or less. I don’t even see how some of them were able to get so many things in their carts. We did get two deliveries overnight that the night shift packed out, but still, that wouldn’t fill the shelves.
Oh no, here we go again, another lady with too many items in her cart. Sometimes I hate my job. Most of the time, I love it and the people that I help. This pandemic has brought out the worst in people. At a time when we should be coming together to support one another, they only give a damn about themselves.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but this register is for twenty items or less. You will have to go to another line.”
“I’ve been waiting in line for thirty minutes, you bitch. I’m not going to another line, so you can just start ringing up my groceries.”
She starts throwing her items on the conveyer belt, cursing me the whole time she is doing it. Before I even got a chance to call Cindy over, the customer behind her spoke up.
“Ma’am, there is no excuse for you being so rude to this young lady. She is only doing her job. She even announced over the PA a few times while we were waiting in-line that this register is for twenty items or less. If you hadn’t had your head up your ass and been on your phone cursing like a madwoman, you might have heard the announcements.”
On the verge of tears from a horrid day, I hear a voice that curls my toes with its smoothness. Glancing at the gentleman that’s next in line, my jaw drops open. Even with the mask on, his handsome features shine through. He has the bluest eyes that I have ever seen with dark wavy hair that I want to run my fingers through. So caught up in my thoughts, I almost missed hearing what he told Miss Rude Ass.
“Well, I never! How dare you speak to me that way.”
“I’m sure you haven’t. If you had gotten laid, you’d been in a better mood and not such a cranky bitch.”
All I can do is stand there, staring at both of them arguing. Thank God for masks because I know my mouth is hanging open with drool running down my chin. Just then, I hear Cindy’s voice asking what is going on. Again, the handsome stranger speaks before either my customer or myself can say a word. After he told Cindy everything that had transpired and that I was not at fault, but the woman in front of him was Cindy re-explained to the woman that I was right in telling her that she would have to go to one of the other registers.
“Well, fuck all of you. I’ll go somewhere else to do my shopping from now on. Your store sucks anyway.”
The lady shoved her cart as hard as she could, then stomped out of the store, cursing and yelling at the top of her lungs. Cindy took the cart to return the items that were in it so that someone else could buy them.
Looking at my name tag, the handsome stranger decided to talk to me.
“Nicole, I’m sorry. I hope that I didn’t get you into any trouble. It’s just that woman was so wrong in the way she treated you. No one deserves to be abused like that, especially when you are risking your own life and health by coming here every day to help the people that come to the store. By the way, my name is Tom.”
“Thank you, Tom. Don’t worry. You didn’t get me into any trouble. We have had a lot of customers that acted just like her. I feel bad, but I have to follow the rules, you know.”
“I get it believe me. I am a firefighter. If we don’t follow the rules and procedures, we could end up getting someone or ourselves killed. This pandemic has made people extra crazy. I’m sorry that you have to deal with that kind of crap on a daily basis.”
As he spoke, I rang up his groceries. His voice is so deep and masculine that every inch of me vibrates with desire listening to him. I just wish I could see under that mask of his.
“Your job has to be fascinating compared to mine. I do the same old thing day in and day out. I really do appreciate you taking up for me. It means more than you could possibly imagine. I’ve worked seven weeks straight without a day off. A few of my co-workers, who are also friends, got the virus. My best friend, Lisa, died from it. The worst part of that is she fought cancer and beat it. Four years later and we lose her to COVID. It’s been heartbreaking, to say the least.”
“Nicole, I understand. We’ve lost a few of my brothers at the fire department too. Young, strong men who’ve never been sick a day in their life here one day and poof they were gone the next. It’s still hard to wrap my head around it.”
“Tom, I’m so sorry for your losses. It’s never easy to lose the ones we care about.”
“Thank you, Nicole. No, it isn’t easy, but we have to keep moving forward and honor their memory. Sorry, but a quick change of subject. Would you consider having lunch or dinner with me one day?”
“Um, wow, I really didn’t expect that. We would have to wait until after the pandemic because of self-quarantining. If you’re still interested then I would love to have dinner with you.”
“I have a crazy idea, but it would keep us both safe, an
d we can have dinner together tonight if you want to. One of the guys at the station has been doing this with his girlfriend, so he doesn’t take a chance of infecting her since we are around so many people. They choose a restaurant that does takeout, and he orders their food. After picking it up, they meet at the park near where she lives. He has his car parked facing one direction when she gets there, she parks right beside him, but in the opposite direction. This way, they can spend time together and are still keeping the required social distance. What do you think?”
“You know it sounds kind of crazy, but I’m willing to try it if you are. It will be good to get out of the house for a little bit, and to have someone to talk to instead of being alone so much.”
“Great, will six o’clock be good for you?”
“I get off at five. What do you say we meet at about five-thirty?”
“That works for me too. Do you have a preference for where we get our dinner from? I eat just about everything, so it’s the lady’s choice tonight.”
We spent the next couple of minutes working out the details of food and where we would meet. Tom seems like a great guy. For the first time in a long time, I can’t wait to get off of work so I can see him. He slips me a piece of paper before he leaves with his phone number on it. This way, I can call him if something happens that will make me late.
Chapter 5
The last two hours of work took forever to end. At five twenty-five, I finished with my last customer, cleaned up and sanitized my register, then punched out so I could meet Tom. I waved bye to David on my way out of the store, glad to have work behind me. It only took a few minutes for me to get to the park we had decided to meet at.
Driving through the park, I notice some picnic tables. They are big enough that if we sat on opposite sides and ends, we would be far enough apart to keep our social distance. It would be a lot easier to eat than sitting in our cars too. A few seconds later, I spotted Tom leaning against his car. When he saw me approaching, he started to get into his car. I honked and waved for him to wait a second before getting into the car.
I pull up beside his car, “Hi Tom, what do you think about eating at the picnic table instead of in our cars? It would be a lot easier to eat.”
“That sounds great. Go ahead and pull over there. I’ll be there in just a second.”
Once both of our cars were parked, he grabbed our food, and then we walked to the table together. I waited while he placed our food on the table. He had the restaurant bag our food separately so that he didn’t have to touch mine. After placing my bag on one side, he went to the other. It’s such a gorgeous day out. Just then, my stomach decided it wanted to growl when I got a whiff of the food. Totally embarrassed, I couldn’t help blushing.
“I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who is hungry. My stomach was complaining, sitting in the car, smelling the food. That’s why I was standing outside of it when you pulled up.”
“It does smell really good, and yes, I’m starving. Unfortunately, I had to work through my lunch break today. Then again, that’s been most days lately. The store stays so busy, plus the fact that we are short-handed at the moment doesn’t help any.”
“Doing what I do is bad enough, but at least I get some downtime in between calls. I can’t imagine doing your job for eight hours with no breaks.”
“Actually, I’ve been working ten and twelve-hour shifts. Yeah, I know, I’m a sucker for punishment. I hate leaving the store short-handed by going home, so I stay and help.”
“Wow, I thought I was a workaholic, but I have an excuse. We have to stay at the station when we are on duty. Four days on then three days off, unless there is an emergency. If that happens, they call us all back to duty.”
We talked all through dinner. The food was terrific, but getting to spend time with Tom was the best thing that has happened to me in forever. Sheesh, where has he been all my life? I can’t believe how close we live to each other and haven’t run into each other before today.
“Thank you so much for dinner, Tom. I’ve had such an incredible time just sitting here talking to you.”
“Nicole, believe me when I say the pleasure has been all mine. It’s been a long time since I have enjoyed myself this much.”
“I just thought that myself. If I didn’t know better, I would think that you were reading my mind.”
“I wish I could, that way I would already know the answer to my next question. I have another day off, then back to the grind for the following four days. How would you like to have dinner with me again tomorrow? Same time, same place, a different restaurant, what do you say?”
I can’t believe he wants to see me again, even though I had prayed all through our meal that he would ask. Once we took our masks off to eat, I had a hard time not staring at him. Tom is even more handsome than I had imagined in the store. Tall, dark hair, neatly trimmed beard, and his eyes are like the most transparent blue pools of water you have ever seen.
“I would love to have dinner again. The only people I see are the crazy’s at work. Once I go home, I don’t see or talk to anyone until the next day when I go back to work. I’m an only child, and both of my parents passed a few years ago, just a few short months apart.”
“I’m sorry, Nicole. That had to be rough. You know, even though I’m at the station, we can Skype if you want. We can do pretty much anything that we want as long as we don’t leave the building.”
“Let’s see how tomorrow goes. Who knows a second date may have you wanting to run the other direction when you see me coming down the street.”
We both laughed at that, “Ah, I think you would be the one running from me thinking that I’m a creepy stalker or something even worse.”
“Hmm, at least you’re a good-looking creeper.”
That had both of us laughing even harder. We talked for a few more minutes then walked to our cars. Once we said our final good-byes, we both drove off in different directions. All the way home, I couldn’t stop thinking how good-looking Tom is and hoping that this will grow into something more. Time will tell that’s for sure.
Epilogue
Tom and I have spent every minute together that we can since our first date. It’s been three months since he came to my rescue. When we can’t meet at the park, we Skype for hours. There have been times one of us has fallen asleep with the camera still on. I couldn’t help but laugh the first time he fell asleep. I swear that man has a chainsaw inside of him as loud as he snores. One of the guys at the station threw a pillow at him to wake him up so the snoring would stop. Tom told me that they’ve done worse to him.
The pandemic is still raging on around us, but we have found sanity in the middle of the chaos. I haven’t said it yet, but I’m falling hard for Tom. All I can do is pray that he feels the same way towards me. I’m going to find out tonight. He’s on call, so he will be at the station, but we will be skyping with one another.
So far, we have told each other everything about ourselves. We have teased each other a little bit at the sexual tension we both feel. Lord knows he has starred in many of my dreams. I’ve masturbated to thoughts of him while listening to messages he has left on my voicemail. I sent him a message earlier to be someplace in the department where he is alone when he skypes me tonight. I ordered a sexy teddy online that arrived in the mail today. It’s all lace with a tiny bit of satin trim and a thong.
I can’t wait for him to call, is he ever going to be surprised. Then again, he can’t be any more surprised than I was that I could find Mr. Right in the middle of a pandemic. Finally, my laptop is ringing, letting me know that he is calling. Time to surprise Mr. Right, tonight I’m going to tell him that I love him and see what happens from there. If I am lucky, he loves me too, and we will both get a happy ending while we watch each other masturbate.
Tapping the mouse on Skype to answer the call, I can see that Tom is indeed alone. That’s when I step in front of the camera so that he can get a good look at me. The butterflies in my stomach
were almost my undoing until I heard the moan escape his lips. That’s when I knew, pandemic or not, love would find a way to burst into flames when given a chance.
The end…for now.
About Leah Negron
Leah Negron has been an avid reader from a very young age. She has an insatiable need to read the written word, devouring as many books as possible. Leah has been a promoter for authors for about twelve years. Sharing their work, entering them in contests, and telling everyone who will listen about their books. She started writing her own poetry in late 2016. Sharing one poem with an author friend lead her to write more. Fine-tuning her craft, she is now in several poetry and short story anthologies. Leah has published a few books of her own and continues to write. She has been asked to be a part of several more anthologies. This has gotten her recognition not only as a poet but as a storyteller as well. In her spare time, she is an animal advocate and volunteers with a local shelter. She helps with TNR, adoptions, and is a foster to fur babies. Leah is a happily married woman and has been with her spouse for 23 years.
https://authorpoetleahnegr.wixsite.com/author
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