Page 39 of The Sweet Spot

She giggled a little. “I freaked out when I woke up. I thought I’d been kidnapped,” she said with her infectious laugh. “You’re lucky I didn’t start screaming.”

“I probably would have slept through it.”

Our first stop was a place called Norman’s. I expected it to be some haughty “too cool for school” place, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was a smaller specialty grocery store without the attitude. I followed Wolseley down the aisles, and every store employee knew her. Every. Last. One. And they all loved her and stopped to chat. At this rate, we were never going to get the shopping done in time.

First, we hit the meat section, where the man behind the counter, Victor, waved and asked how she was doing today.

“I’m good. How about you?” she asked him.

“Happy to be here and serve my favorite customer.”

Victor was easily in his sixties, and the way he treated Wolseley like she was a daughter made me chuckle. She had everyone wrapped around her kind little finger.

“Victor, this is Brandon. My boss. He wanted to come shopping today.”

Victor looked at me now and nearly jumped. “Brandon Warde! Captain of the Kodiaks! My grandson is going to lose his mind when I tell him you were by today.”

“Maybe one day you and I can arrange for me to meet him. In the meantime, what if I drop off an autographed jersey for him? How old is he, and what sizedoes he need?”

I thought Victor might cry. “He’s twelve. I’d say a small men’s size.”

“Consider it done.”

“Thank you very much! You’ll make his day.”

Wolseley finally got down to business with Victor and purchased some beef for Ryan and poultry for me. Victor picked the very best for her and made sure to tell me that he always made sure she left with the best cuts. Next, we hit the fish station, and once again, Wolseley knew the person behind the counter. They chatted for a moment, then we were on our way.

She explained that she only gave herself about thirty minutes in Norman’s because she had to budget time wisely for when Delia showed up. She allotted the same amount of time for Yee’s because she had to factor in waiting for Uber.

“But since you’re here with me, and I have a dedicated ride, we can spend an extra few minutes. I also trust everyone here enough to make delivery orders, but I love seeing the food myself. You know? I want to touch it, smell it, all that stuff.”

I didn’t really know, but I did understand. I compared it to playing with a new stick. I had a million that were all supposedly the same, but I needed to touch and try out each one until I found exactly what I wanted.

Because she had me along, she decided to buy more than usual. She explained that she wouldn’t have to carry around the extra bags through Yee’s. Made sense to me. We were about to get in line when one of the ladies who’d been in the bakery department came jogging over.

“Before you go,” she said, “what are you up to tonight? I have a few extra tickets to Van City Cabaret, and it’s drag night.”

She briefly glanced at me before turning her attentionback to the women. “I’m free. I could probably get one of my friends to come with me.”

“I’ll go,” I volunteered.

Caitlyn, the bakery lady, and Wolseley stared at me for the longest time. Had I sprouted a horn? Maybe a pair of wings?

“Uh, sure,” Wolseley finally said.

“Right. Yeah, that will be fun,” Caitlyn added with a note of surprise in her voice. “I’ll email you the tickets, Wolseley.”

“Why was that weird,” I asked as we got in line.

“I didn’t think you’d be interested in a drag show. I don’t think Caitlyn did either.”

I considered that. I suppose it was a fair point. “I’ve never been to a drag show. It sounds fun. Why is this so shocking to you that I would want to go?” I said.

She bit down on her lip, likely weighing what she was going to say. “You seem like a pretty conservative guy. I don’t see you doing anything outside the box.”

I laughed now. “Is that code for boring?”

“No,” she said, blushing again. “It’s just that I don’t see you going to drag shows, participating in a Pride parade, you know, that kind of thing. I don’t even see you doing mundane things like checking out a secondhand store or berry picking.”