It was another cold winter Saturday morning in February. My routine this time of year was to go shopping and run errands in the morning. I had already picked up my dry cleaning, stopped at the pharmacy, and was now walking into the grocery store.
I’m a creature of habit and I always entered this store on the right side near the produce department. I liked getting those items first and putting them in the small area of my shopping cart, like fruits, veggies, and eggs.
Grabbing a cart, I turned toward the produce section and noticed a tall, well-dressed, brunette woman. As I walked closer, she glanced up and looked at me. Oh crap, she caught me checking her out, I thought. I gave her half a smile and a bit of a nod. I then realized I was dressed casually in a gray and black tracksuit and baseball cap. I looked again quickly and admired her well-put-together outfit.
As I shopped for my items, I moved around the section, trying to keep my distance from her, stealing quick peeks at this mystery woman. She looked close to my age of fifty-five, but younger by about five years, I guessed. She wore a funky all-black outfit of jeans, a V-neck t-shirt, a leather jacket, and Converse shoes. She was about five-nine tall, had brown eyes, and soft curls in her hair that went past her shoulders. I would call her body “curvylicious,” as she was probably a size 10/12. She looked like she’d be great to cuddle with on the couch to watch a movie.
I moved toward the banana table, and as I looked over the green bunches, she stopped on the other side of the display. “They’re all so green,” she said in a semi-whisper.
“I agree,” I said without thinking.
We both looked at each other and said, “Hi.” We both froze. I broke the silence by saying, “I’m going to Target later. Hopefully, they’ll have a better selection.”
I spun my cart to the left and moved toward the nearby shelving to grab a bottle of salad dressing before continuing down the aisle. While in the third aisle, I noticed in the foreground someone entering at the other end. I looked up to see the brunette beauty.
I was telling myself, Say something. Don’t be a pussy. You’re always complaining about how there are no single women in their fifties in Oak Valley. Now is your chance! Introduce yourself!
I found my item, tossed it into my cart, and stepped toward where she had stopped. As I passed, she turned, having selected a can off the shelf, and we smiled again. I softly said, “Hi, again.”
This continued for several more aisles before I headed to the checkout register. It was only 9:30 am, and the store had only one register open, so I took my place in line behind her. After getting her receipt from the checker, she turned slightly, smiled, and told me, “Have a good day.”
I thought I was going to melt. As the employee started emptying my cart and scanning the items, I looked through the large windows and followed the brunette beauty to see her stop at a white Jeep SUV and open the back hatch. I returned to focus on my business, swiping my debit card in preparation to pay. I was praying I could catch the woman in the parking lot and ask for her name and phone number.
As the automatic doors opened, I pushed my cart out and veered to the right, knowing the white Jeep was in that direction. My heart sank as the parking spot was empty. I looked around the lot and saw the SUV turning left on Oak Valley Boulevard. She must live on the west side of town, I reasoned.
As I loaded my groceries in the back seat of my truck, I wondered who the tall, curvy, attractive woman was. What does she do for a living? Is she from Oak Valley? Do we have any common friends?
Throughout the day, my thoughts would return to my grocery store encounter, and I’d yell at myself for not being more direct. I had been divorced for almost three years and had been trying online dating sites for nearly two years. I quickly learned that few attractive, educated single women are in their fifties in the Oak Valley area, or within a thirty-minute drive. Most of my online matches were a thirty-to-sixty-minute drive to the larger cities near Oak Valley. That evening, I decided to go back to the store next Saturday, at the same time, hoping to see the mystery woman.
**
I pulled into the store parking lot and scanned where she parked last week. No white Jeep. I looked all over but did not see her car. I was disappointed but hoped that she might arrive as I shopped. As I closed my truck door, I looked at myself in the reflection of my window. I was dressed much nicer in gray jeans, a light blue button-down, and a navy V-neck sweater. I looked good. I told myself, be confident! I purposely moved slowly, getting my provisions as I milked my usual twenty-minute shopping trip into thirty. When I checked out, I decided I would try again next week at the same time.
**
The following week was beginning to look like a repeat, with no white Jeep in the parking lot. I slowly moved through the produce section to get my items, and each time I heard the automatic doors open, I’d look to see who came into the store. No, no, no, yes!
The fourth time was a jackpot! In walked the tall brunette. She grabbed a cart and headed in my direction. I watched her take every step before she finally looked in my direction. I smiled and said hello. She kept walking right toward me.
As she approached, I joked, “Are you following me?”
She laughed. “How long have you been waiting for me to arrive?”
“Only five minutes,” I said. “But I did come at this time last week looking for you. Hi, my name is Scott.”
“I’m Kari,” she told me.
“If we’re going to see each other in every aisle like last time perhaps we should shop together and get to know each other. What do you think?” I asked.
“That sounds great. But I need to tell you. I already know a little about you,” she said sheepishly.
“What do you mean?” I said.
Kari blushed, “Well, I was telling a friend about you after we saw each other a few weeks ago. After I described what you looked like, she showed me your Facebook profile.”
I was a bit confused. I asked, “What do you mean?”
“OK, I was telling a friend that I saw a guy at the grocery store and how we said hello several times.”
Kari told me how she described me to her friend as a “handsome guy, a bit older than me, tall, over six-foot, wide shoulders, brown hair and eyes, with glasses.”
“Who is your friend?” I asked.
“Terry. Terry Linz. We work together,” she said.
I laughed, “Yes, Terry and I grew up around the corner from each other. She’s two years older than me, and her husband & I played Little League together as kids.”
Over the next thirty-five minutes, Kari and I moved through the store, shopping, talking, and getting to know each other. Kari owns the hair salon where she and Terry work together. Both are hair stylists, and the salon offers nails, facials, brows, etc. After I loaded her groceries in the back of her Jeep, I knew I had a decision to make.
“Would you like to go out sometime? Something casual like coffee or a glass of wine?” I asked.
She smiled. “Terry said you’re into craft beer. Let’s meet for a beer at one of the breweries.”
Before I knew what had happened, we made plans to meet later that afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at Water Tower Brewing.
**
Kari and I met that afternoon at the brewery and munched on an order of Loaded Tots as we sampled a tasting paddle of five craft beers. I learned she was fifty-two, had an eighteen-year-old high school senior daughter, had been divorced for ten years, and had been married for sixteen years. I learned that I knew her older cousins in high school.