Chapter 25

“Wait. You want to what?” Jamie asked, as she was drying her hair. “Spend the day with you. It occurred to me that I’ve never seen what you do during the day when I’m at work.” He said, and Jamie looked at him strangely. “What’s the catch?” She asked him as she started to put on a pair of jeans. “No catch. Just figured it would be a nice change of pace.” Noah said, as he laid back on the bed. Jamie looked over at Noah. She thought for a second, and then walked over, climbing onto the bed, to straddle his waist. “I didn’t mean to sound like a bitch. It’s just strange to have you curious after all this time.” She said, and Noah propped himself up on his elbows. “You know, keep this up, and we might not make it out the door to go shopping.” He said, and Jamie smiled, before slapping his chest. “Maybe later. We need to go shopping.” She said, and got up, pulled on a shirt, and walked out of the room. Noah chuckled to himself a bit, before getting up off the bed.

Driving into town, Jamie pointed out a farmer’s market that was in the same place every week. She told Noah about how she discovered it almost by accident, but still went back the week after. “You had to be there.” She told him, and Noah chuckled. “Okay. I’ll take your word for it.” He replied. As they walked around, Noah took some mental notes about the people walking around. Most of them ignored the fact that Jamie was walking around with him, and figured that they probably thought she was his daughter, since that was a common fact. He did take notice of a few strange looks that Jamie got, but judging by the little to no reaction that she had, it seemed like she was either used to it, or just plain ignored it. Stopping to pick up some fruits from a older woman that sat with a straw hat, Noah noticed that the two of them talked like they were old friends. “Is this your boyfriend? He’s much more handsome than you said he was.” The woman said, and Noah found himself with little words to say, other than an embarrassed “Hello.”

Jamie introduced Noah to the woman, a Patricia Walker, very sweet old woman in any case, even gave Jamie a bundle of peaches, even though she tried to refuse them. As they walked around, Noah seemed to notice that no one cared about what Jamie looked like. They treated her like any other customer, and some even struck up conversations with her like they were best buddies for years. He made notes about the way she acted, the way she reacted to things, to the way that the people around them acted, then realized, maybe he was the one that made her seem like an outcast. “You okay?” Noah heard Jamie ask, and looked at her quickly. “Huh? Sorry. Lost in my own thoughts. You were saying?” He asked, and Jamie just looked at him weirdly. “I asked if you wanted to try some of this.” Jamie asked, and held a small cup of what looked to be some sort of smoothie. “Sure. What is it?” Noah asked. “Honeydew Melon, Blueberry and Kale. I think.” Jamie said, and looked back at the person behind her, who confirmed it.

A little more shopping, and Jamie had everything she needed. Some nice Salmon for dinner, even a local made wine that the person sold to her without question. Fruits, veggies, almost anything short of clothing, house and car. But, what surprised Noah again was the people that ran those booths, normal people, selling things to a young woman that looked half her age. And no one questioned her. “Was there something else that you needed to get?” Noah asked, and Jamie looked into her bags. “Some olive oil, but we can pick that up on the way home. Do you want to get some lunch?” She asked, and Noah looked around. “Anyone here good?” Noah asked, and Jamie nodded. After a couple of sandwiches, and splurging for some frozen yogurt, the pair were finally heading back home.

“So. Did you find the answers you were looking for?” Jamie asked suddenly, which caught Noah off guard. “What?” Noah asked, and glanced over at Jamie, who sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window. “Was there a question I didn’t know about?” Noah asked, and Jamie looked over at him, pulling one knee to her chest. “You wanted to know didn’t you? What I did during the day?” She said, and Noah sighed lightly. “Oh, right.” He said, and gave her another glance. There was something on her face that said that she knew something was up, but Noah didn’t want to press the issue. “Oh, hey stop here.” Jamie said, and pointed to a small shop. After finding a parking spot, Noah followed Jamie into the shop, owned by a friendly Italian family, and was busy looking over bottles of olive oil, when he noticed the look on Jamie’s face. “What?” He asked. Jamie just smiled. “It’s nice to get out once in awhile. Just the two of us.” She told him.