Chapter 4

Minutes later Ed came back into the kitchen. Sarah was at the sink washing the iced tea glasses. "We do have a dish washer for that, you know," he laughed. "Just trying to keep busy," she replied. Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out four one hundred dollar bills. "Would you mind going to the grocery store and picking up some food"? He asked. "You better shop as though we have nothing to eat in the house because we don't." He smiled, "Remember your living with a bachelor now and if it can't be micro waved it must not be food." "I would like to eat in tonight." "We will be out most of the day tomorrow," he said. Before she could ask where they would be going tomorrow he said, "Better check on what spices and such you will need." "I doubt that there is much of that stuff here." "If you are going to need any paper goods for cooking, you had better check on that too." "Is there anything that you don't like or won't eat," She asked. Ed shook his head no. "I pretty much eat anything, pizza mostly." Sarah wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Would you think I would be imposing if I asked you to cook dinner"? He asked. "I have a few things that I have to finish for tomorrow." "You can cook, can't you," he added with a grin. Sarah threw the towel at his head. Ed grinned and moved sideways and the towel landed on the table.

"You know that I have no idea where a grocery store is in this town," She said. Ed went into the office and pulled a map off of the Internet and brought it in to Sarah. He sat down at the table and wrote down a few items that he wanted her to pickup for him. "You had better pick up woman stuff that you will need like soap, shampoo and conditioner," he said. "I don't think you would like a man's type of soap and such."

Sarah jumped when she heard the doorbell ring. She had not heard a car come up the driveway. "Will you get that while I pull the Explorer out of the garage" Ed said as he walked out of the kitchen. Sarah looked out of the window and saw a telephone company van sitting in front of the house. She opened the door and the young man looked at his clipboard. "Mrs. Sensa, I'm here to change the phone lines over," the he said. Sarah let him in and asked him to wait. For some reason she did not correct the telephone man's assumption that she was Mrs. Sensa, She was pleased that he had assumed that she was Mrs. Sensa. Ed was just walking back into the kitchen when Sarah did. "Ed, there's a telephone man in the front hall to change over some telephone lines," she said, "Will you tell him what you want done.' "I just want him to change your bedroom phone over to a private line," Ed said. "He only has to move two wires in the electrical closet in the basement." Sarah looked at him. "You don't have to do that," She said. "Sarah, you need your privacy," he replied. "Once you start with Shadow you'll probably get calls at home." "I'm going to put a cordless phone with an answering machine and fax in your room so that you can carry the cordless phone to whatever room your in," he added as he left the room. Ed took the telephone man to the basement, waited while he swapped the lines over and let the man out.

Ed came back into the kitchen and handed Sarah a cell phone. "If you get lost just hit the larger button on the side and it works like a walkie-talkie, he said. "I'll either come get you or get you unlost," he said with a grin. Ed reached in his pocket and pulled out some keys. "Here is a key to the house and a spare set to the Explorer," he said handing her the keys. "All of the doors are keyed alike so what ever door you want to come in you have the key for that door." "The garage door opener is over top of the sun visor so just pull right into the garage with the groceries." "Blow the horn and I will come out and give you a hand." Ed went back into his office. Sarah checked in every cabinet to see what Ed had already in stock and found that he was right, there wasn't even enough to make one meal. She went up to her bedroom, got her purse and went outside.

The Explorer was a larger vehicle than she was used to driving but she didn't have any trouble with it. It was certainly bigger and better than her old Nissan Sentra. The old Sentra gave up the ghost about three weeks ago. Sarah had little trouble following the map. She only made one wrong turn and quickly corrected her mistake. She pulled into a convenient parking space and went into the supermarket.

The supermarket was huge and well stocked. Sarah could tell that it was fairly new and it was as clean as a pin. The vegetable section had large selection and everything was first class. Sarah picked up everything she would need to make a nice salad. She went through each aisle thoughtfully selecting items for dinner. The spice aisle had every spice that she would need. As she was looking at the fresh meats a man walked up to her and introduced himself as the manager. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Sentra," he said. "I saw you when you came in." "We've been open two weeks and I haven't seen you or Mr. Sentra in yet." "How do you know I am Mrs. Sentra," Sarah asked. The manager smiled, "Well, it's hard to mistake that SUV with ED SENTRA-ARCHITECT in gold letters on the door." "Are you finding everything you need," he asked.?" Yes, she said with a smile. "How do you know Ed Sentra'? She asked. He hesitated before answering, "Well he did build the shopping center and this store you know." "I guess he still owns the shopping center, but you would know more about that than me." "Have you figured what type of meat you are looking for"? He asked. "Sarah quickly glanced at the selections available and told him that she was looking for some steak for tonight and maybe a nice roast for the weekend. "Will you just wait here a minute'? He said as his walked back into the cutting room. He came to the window in about five minutes and showed her two t-bone steaks the were the finest she had ever seen and a roast that any chef in the world would kill for to be able to work his magic on. "Will these be OK"? He asked. "Yes, they will be fine," she replied. The manager had the steaks and the roast wrapped and brought them back to her cart. Sarah thanked him and started move away to continue shopping. "Your husband is a fine person, although I am sure that you know that," he said. "My daughter will never be able to thank him enough" "If he hadn't bought the two hearing aids for her I don't know what we would have done." "I sure couldn't afford them on my salary and our insurance doesn't cover hearing aids," he said. "I'm sorry, Ed never told me the full story why your daughter needed the hearing aids," Sarah said. The manager sighed, "She got a high fever when she was an infant and she lost a good part of her hearing because of the fever." "She couldn't learn to talk very well because she could barely her our voices." "Ed would never tell me how much they cost, but being custom made, I know they cost a lot and they will have to be changed as she grows older." "But Ed already paid for any changes that have to be made," he added. Sarah smiled, thanked the manager for his help and continued shopping. "Apparently Ed Sensa loved helping strays," Sarah thought to herself. Sarah maneuvered the cart to the checkout. As she was checking out a young man came and stood next to her cart. "Is anything wrong'? She asked. "No ma'am," he replied. "I was told to help you get the bags into your car." Sarah looked over to the office and the manager gave a small wave. The young man helped Sarah load the groceries into the car. He refused to accept a tip.

Sarah realized that Mr. Ed Sentra had many secrets, although they seemed to be all good secrets. She would try to learn more about this interesting man at dinner. On a whim Sarah stopped in front of a liquor store and picked up a bottle of wine. She figured maybe the wine would get him to open up a little. Sarah knew that she would be in trouble if Ed had not run into her. She made a promise to herself that she would accept no more gifts or financial help from him. She would just have to make it on her own. Ed had helped enough and was more than anyone could expect.