Change Up Page 6

  “Don’t look at me,” I told him. “I might have a bottle of ketchup at the house, and that’s it.”

  “I guess we’re taking a ride down to Wally’s,” Dad said, referring to the local supermarket. He got up from the recliner and looked at me.

  “We’ll be back with dinner,” I said as I got off the couch and followed Dad to the front door.

  “Stay out of trouble, you two,” Mom said with a smile. “And Wyatt?” Mom said to Dad. Dad turned to look at her.

  “You stay away from Clyde Stuart,” she offered.

  Dad blew her a kiss as he walked rapidly out the door with me.

  8

  Kristin

  It only took me two minutes to get back to my apartment. I rushed inside and went into my bedroom looking for a clean shirt that was suitable to wear back to the library. I found a nice green blouse that I liked, and I had just stripped out of my soggy white blouse when Karen sent me a text message. She said since I was already home and it was quiet, she could cover the rest of the day at the library. I flopped back on my bed and relaxed for a minute, thinking about how I would spend the rest of the day.

  My first thought was to just put my pajamas on, crawl into bed and see what movies I could watch on Netflix for the rest of the day. I could enjoy a nice bowl of soup or a sandwich and just be a vegetable for the rest of the day. I threw on a pair of my plaid sleep pants and an old t-shirt and wandered out to the kitchen to see what I could fix for a meal.

  I opened the fridge, and it was like a ghost town in there. I realized then that I hadn’t been shopping for about ten days. Other than a couple of half-eaten Chinese food containers, some yogurt and what may have been some vegetables that were now past their prime in the vegetable drawer, there wasn’t anything in there that would do.

  I guess I’m going shopping I thought to myself. I walked back into my bedroom, feeling defeated because I would have to get dressed again so I could go down to Wally’s for some food. I grabbed a pair of jeans from my dresser, took off the pajama pants, and put the jeans on. I looked in the mirror over my dresser and decided to give myself a more relaxed look and tied my hair up in a ponytail. It would be a quick trip out, so I didn’t feel that I needed to look my best.

  I took my lightweight, blue windbreaker from the hook by the door and picked up a couple of my canvas bags that I used for shopping and decided to head over to Wally’s. Wally’s was just a few short blocks away, so walking was never a problem there for me. One of the great things about living in a small town is that nearly everything is within walking distance. As I got more familiar with where everything was in the town, like the post office, movie theater, places to eat, and so on, Chandler began to feel much more like home to me.

  The sun was still shining nicely, and the day had begun to warm up from the chill that was there this morning, making it feel much more like a spring day that you could enjoy outside. I walked down the street and I went passed Harding’s Diner, where I could see the usual group of older men gathered at their regular table by the window. Clyde Stuart was busy holding court there, and he smiled at me as I went by the window. The other men at the table all turned and waved to me as well, and I gave them back a friendly smile and wave as I went.

  Just down the block from the diner, beyond the flower shop and antique store, was Wally’s. Wally’s was a lot smaller than the typical supermarket I had grown used to seeing in Georgia, but it was representative of what you might find in a smaller town. It was owned and run by the Walters family, and the third generation of Wally Walters was now in charge. The store always had everything you could need, including a great assortment of fresh local vegetables and meats.

  I grabbed a shopping cart from the row by the door and began to make my way through the market. I was still feeling in the mood for some soup tonight, so I grabbed some carrots, celery, and zucchini from the produce section. I picked up some greens as well so I could have something for salads later in the week as well.

  I wandered around from aisle to aisle, picking up things here and there that I might need for dinner both tonight and in the days ahead, but my mind wasn’t really on shopping. I kept thinking back to meeting Wes Martin in the library and what that was like. He was this famous, eye-catching, older man that I know I felt some attraction to right away, something that did not typically happen to me. I thought back to the guys I had dated in college, and they were always all about my age. I would have never even consider dating a guy that was barely older than me back in school, let alone someone that was thirteen years my senior. But here I was, mooning over this man I barely knew other than that one brief interaction and some cyber-stalking on the Internet.

  I turned up the next aisle and walked over towards the meat department so I could get some beef or chicken to go with my soup. As I was walking past the corner of the aisle, my cart rammed into another coming from the left. I was startled and jarred and looked over quickly to see who I had hit. There stood Wes Martin with an older gentleman, both standing behind the cart that I had just hit.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” Wes said to me with a smile.

  I felt completely embarrassed and turned red.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said to him, looking at our carts. “I guess I was daydreaming,” I said and wanted to take it back as soon as I heard the words come out of my mouth.

  “Not a problem,” Wes said to me. “I hope you were dreaming of something good at least.”

  I laughed, hoping to cover up what I was thinking. The older gentleman, a distinguished looking man who was just a bit shorter and thinner than Wes, but looked just as strong, elbowed Wes as we stood there.

  “Oh, Kristin, this is my father, Wyatt Martin,” Wes told me.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Martin,” I said, shaking his hand. He had the same firm, strong grip Wes had in his hands.

  “Please, call me Wyatt,” he said as we shook hands. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard great things about what you have done with the library.”

  “Oh, thank you,” I replied. “I’m doing my best, trying to make things better for all of us here in Chandler.”

  The three of us stood in awkward silence for a minute.

  “Out doing some shopping?” I said to Wes.

  Nice Kristin. Of course, he’s doing shopping; you’re in the supermarket! I felt like slowly slinking away.

  “Well,” Wes began, “I haven’t been home for a while, so there’s not much in the way of food at the house right now. We thought we would have a nice dinner tonight since we’re all together.”

  “That sounds nice,” I said, still trying to think of things to say that were at least interesting, or made sense.

  I heard a man clear his throat and looked up and saw Vince, the butcher, behind the meat counter, looking at us.

  “Can I help either of you?” Vince said politely.

  Wes waved me ahead of him politely, and I walked over to the counter. I asked for some boneless chicken breasts and a sirloin steak I planned to use either for either steak or soup. Vince wrapped everything up nicely for me and handed it to me quickly so he could get to the Martins.

  I placed my items in my cart and went to move on.

  “That’s all you’re getting?” Wes asked me.

  “It’s just me, and I don’t need much I guess,” I told him. “I just kind of shop when I need to get stuff, and I’m only making soup for one tonight.”

  “Okay,” he said as his father talked with Vince, ordering some steaks. We stood looking at each other again for a few seconds again. I didn’t know how long I could stand there with him before starting to shake.

  “Enjoy your dinner tonight,” I said to him as I moved away.

  “Thank you, Kristin,” he said to me politely as he turned to go over towards his father.

  I worked to finish up the rest of my shopping as quickly as I could, getting the rest of the things I needed for my dinner so I could get out of there without feeling completely lost and tongue-t
ied again. After gathering the rest of my items, I got up to the checkout counter and waited on line.

  Mrs. Findley, a kindly, older woman, was on the line in front of me with quite a full cart, so it was taking a while to get rung up. She was chatting idly with the cashier about the prices of nearly everything that got scanned, and then she had her stack of paper coupons to get through as well. I glanced around at the impulse buy items up near the register and found myself tossing a candy bar or two into my cart while I waited. I noticed the register next to me had just opened, and Wes and his father were already unloading their cart at it. I tried not to look at them, instead focusing on the celebrity scandal magazines at the counter so I could see who was cheating on who this week.

  Finally, Mrs. Findley finished and moved on, so I could get my items up on the belt and get finished. I tried to get everything done quickly so I could get out of the store and back home. I cordially smiled at the woman who was the cashier while piling my items up to get scanned. There wasn’t much there, so the work was done fast, and I even sped things up by putting the items in my own bags. I paid for my groceries and when I looked up I saw that the Martins were already gone, letting me breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.

  I walked out of Wally’s, bags slung over my shoulder, ready for my walk home. I got up the street just before the diner when I saw Wes loading the items he had bought into the back of his pickup truck. He glanced over as he was shutting the tailgate, saw me and smiled again.

  He walked up on the curb and leaned on the side of the truck.

  “Got everything you need?” he asked me.

  “I think so,” I told him. “How about you?”

  “It was more than enough to get started, but I’m sure I’ll be back to restock things.” I tried not to stare and broke my gaze at him, looking down at the sidewalk.

  “Do you… do you need a ride home?” Wes asked me.

  I felt butterflies in my stomach for some reason.

  “Oh, no, thanks; I only live right over there,” pointing to the small apartment building two blocks away.

  Why would you say no?

  “Oh, okay,” Wes said, seeming almost like he was disappointed I said no. I struggled to come up with something else to say to him, but I couldn’t think of anything, so I started slowly stepping away.

  “Kristin,” Wes called out to me. I turned and looked at him and saw he was walking closer to me. I looked up at him as he was in front of me. His broad shoulders blocked out the sun that was slowly setting behind him, keeping the glare from my face but framing him in a radiant glow.

  “Yes?” I answered.

  “If you’re not busy, I thought, maybe… maybe you would like to get together tomorrow night, maybe for dinner, or a drink?” Wes looked impossibly adorable at this moment, like a teenager approaching a girl for the first time.

  I don’t know how long he was staring at me, waiting for an answer, but I finally snapped out of my frozen state.

  “I would love to,” I replied quietly.

  “Great,” he said, looking relieved. “We can go to Angelo’s if you like. Say around seven?”

  “Sure, that’s perfect,” I told him. “Angelo’s is only a block away from my place. I can meet you there if you’d like.”

  “Okay,” Wes looked at me and saw his father coming out of the diner behind me. I turned to look as well and saw the group of men staring out the diner window at the two of us.

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I said as I started walking up the street again. I tried hard to contain the big smile on my face as I walked past Wyatt Martin. Wyatt tipped the cowboy hat he was wearing to me.

  “It was nice to meet you, Wyatt,” I told him as I walked by.

  “Same here, Kristin,” he said as he smiled. I glanced up at my viewers in the diner window, all of them still smiling down at me.

  I couldn’t help but feel that Wes was watching me as I walked down the street, and I took a quick glance over my left shoulder, catching him looking at me as he was climbing into the passenger seat of the truck.

  I guess I have a date tomorrow, I thought with glee, my mind racing about how I would have to get ready for tomorrow.

  9

  Wes

  Shopping at Wally’s, or anyplace in Chandler for that matter, was never something that I relished. Don’t get me wrong – I love people that are fans, and I am more than happy to stop and pose for pictures or sign autographs. After all, it’s the fans that allow me to do what I do, and I am appreciative. But, the problem with being in your hometown is that everyone feels like they are an integral part of you and what you do, and they all want to give you advice regarding what to do. When I became a free agent years ago, everyone in town had advice about where I should sign, what I should do, what to ask for, and so on. I never had any intention of leaving the Pirates, and the team knew that from the start, so it was just a matter of time before I signed with them, but I would still get people coming up to me in a panic over it.

  Things were not going to be any better now that I had been released from the team, and I wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with all the questions and advice. Dad drove us to Wally’s in his pickup, and he could see some concern on my face.

  “You know, Wes,” he said as we pulled up in front of the diner to park the truck, “there aren’t going to be a lot of people in Wally’s this time of day anyway. You don’t have to worry about getting bombarded. Besides, at some point, you are going to have to deal with it. It might be better to get things over with sooner rather than later.”

  “I know Dad,” I told him as I took off my seatbelt to get out of the truck. “I just hate having to listen to it and talk about it.” I got out of the truck and closed the door, stepping onto the sidewalk. I looked over at the diner and saw Clyde Stuart and his gang at their table, arguing over something, and they quickly pointed when they saw Dad and me. I gave a wave and walked right into Wally’s so I didn’t have to deal with them, and Dad quickly followed.

  To be honest, I had no idea what I needed at the house since I hadn’t been there since January. During the season, if I knew I was going to be home either for a day, during a break, or when the season was ending, Dad would stock the house for me or I would have the service that cleans the house do it for me. But, since no one knew I was coming home this time, it wasn’t prepared. I figured I would just get some basics and what we needed for dinner and that would be it.

  “How about some steaks tonight?” Dad said as we walked in and right towards the meat counter.

  “Sounds good to me,” I answered, looking around briefly to see what was going on in the store. Dad was right; there weren’t many people in the place at this time of day, which was a relief to me. We walked down one of the aisles, and I grabbed just a few things on the way to the butcher. As we get to the end of the aisle, we collided with another cart. To my surprise, it was Kristin.

  She seemed just as shocked as I was to see her. Her blonde hair was pulled back nicely into a ponytail, and she wore a simple pair of jeans, and a t-shirt that was barely visible underneath the windbreaker she wore. To me, she looked even more attractive than when I had seen her in the library in her work clothes.

  Kristin apologized for the cart collision, and we both tried to make some small talk, but we both seemed to fumble for our words. I introduced her to Dad, who was his usual affable and charming self. Dad had a much better way of talking with people than I ever did and seemed more at ease with everyone. It didn’t matter if it was a friend he had for forty years or someone he just met – he still could engage with them right away and make them feel at ease.

  I did the gentlemanly thing and let Kristin order from the butcher before us. I found I couldn’t take my eyes off her as we waited, and Dad noticed this, especially when I saw her reach over to the top of the counter where the butcher had placed her packages. Her reaching pulled her windbreaker and shirt up just a hint to reveal a bit of bare flesh between her shirt an
d jeans.

  “Don’t stare, Wes” Dad whispered as he elbowed me. He then went over to order our steaks while I talked with Kristin again briefly. I was watching her walk away again when Dad returned to the cart with the steaks, a big smile on his lips.

  “So?” he asked me.

  “So, what?” I said, oblivious to what he was asking.

  “Did you ask her out?”

  “No, I didn’t,” I said as I pushed the cart towards the produce so we could get some vegetables to go with dinner.

  Dad just shook his head at me. “I went to get the steaks to give you some time to talk to her. Jesus, Wes, you are bad at this. I saw the way she was looking at you. Izzy was right about what she said. You should just ask her out.”

  “I didn’t realize I needed dating advice from my father,” I said as I walked over to grab some Russet potatoes to go with dinner.