Chapter 6: Surprise

The first place John stopped was an old fashioned feed and hardware store. As they pulled in all three of the young Hispanic men standing in front of the small barn threw up their hands and called, "Hola, John!" John waved his hand in acknowledgement.

"Give me just a sec," John told Kathy when he stopped. Parking to the side close to the barn; leaving a path so he could drive out the second gate. Kathy sat and looked around the yard of the store while John opened the back door of the truck, and reached behind the seat retrieved a plastic tarp to give it to one of the young men. She was intrigued at the assortment of new and used farm implements along with fencing, drain pipes and other farm related items. She had no idea the purpose or name of most of the items. John then opened her door and held out his hand to help her out.

"You don't have to do that every time we go somewhere. I did figure out how to do that a few years ago." Kathy spoke her face alight with mirth.

"Young lady, I was raised to be a gentleman." John responded with a grin of his own. "Besides, momma would come back from the grave and slap me upside my head if I didn't, so get used to it." The banter continued until they reached the little building and John once again held the door for her motioning her inside.

Once inside Kathy thought for a moment she had stepped back in time. There was no apparent system of organization on how products were placed on the shelves; nails were beside horse bits and over electric fence parts. It was marvelous jumble of which made one want to stop and look for hours. There seemed to be everything under the sun on the shelves, Jeans were stacked on top of boxes of pressure cookers and beside chicken waters. Kathy instantly loved it.

"Hi, John!" All three men behind the counter hollered out. They ranged from mid thirties to the eldest, a man Kathy knew must be in his seventies. All looked please to see John. Kathy could never remember being greeted by name in any store in her life.

John stepped to the counter as the youngest asked, "Your usual, today?" at the same time the eldest flirted, "Who this little filly with you today?"

"Yep, And Oh, this is Kathy" John answered both men at once. John introduced her as if it was an everyday thing and he expected them to remember her.

"Hello, Kathy." Each responded and she found herself shaking each man's hand, the oldest holding it a touch longer than necessary. "We hope you come back and see us again real soon. You're a whole lot better looking than this old coot." he told her with a wink.

By this time, John had already given his credit card and signed the receipt. The whole process from entering the store to when Kathy found him leading her out was less than ten minutes. All three men called after them, "Y'all come back soon!"

Kathy laughed, "You're not even going to shop at all?"

"I did, didn't you see?" John looked at her truly confused. "I came in and got what I needed and left. What else was I suppose to do?"

"How about look around? You might see something you need or wanted."

John laughed. "There's always something you want in there. If they don't have what you need they can get it in three days usually. But, I have other things to do today, Little Bit. That means no time for hardware stores."

They got back to John's truck and Kathy saw the men had loaded the feed against the tailgate and wrapped it in the tarp to prevent prying eyes and rain from getting to it. John held her door again and they were off.

"Where are we going now? Kathy was almost afraid to ask, but her stomach prompted her to overcome her fear.

"Cracker Barrel for breakfast," John's happy reply relieved any trepidation Kathy felt.

I can ask him questions without him getting angry with me, she thought to herself. Out loud, she told him "I've never ate there before."

"You'll love it. I don't know anyone that doesn't like Cracker Barrel." They spent the rest of the trip with John telling her about the iconic restaurant with the country store motif. Pulling into the parking lot John told her, "Patty and I used to come here sometimes for breakfast. They have a country breakfast that we used to split. It was more than both of us could eat and also a great sample of their food. If you want we can do that, if not order anything you want."

"The shared breakfast sounds fine with me, John"

John then exited the truck and while Kathy watched him walk around to her side she couldn't help thinking, a girl could get used to this. John led Kathy on a short tour through the store before heading to the hostess. They were soon seated. Kathy was amazed at the décor. The walls were covered with old advertisements, farm implements and antique photographs. There was a great stone fireplace with an actual fire in it. On each table was a little oil lamp and a brain teaser game made of wood and golf tees.

True to John's words the breakfast was delicious and plentiful. The table was covered with food, scrambled eggs, grits, hash brown casserole, biscuits and cornbread, sausage gravy, apple butter and a huge slice of country ham. When all the dishes were empty, both John and Kathy were stuffed.

As they lingered over their coffee, Kathy gave a sigh. "That was the biggest breakfast I think I have ever had. I will be lucky if I get hungry again before tomorrow."

John felt the same way but just smiled. He knew she would work it all off very shortly. He then took her hand and led her back to the store and told her to browse while he paid the bill. Afterwards he found himself a quiet corner and just watched the girl wonder through the store. The looks of surprise and pure joy as she discovered new and interesting items lit her face like sunshine. She was just so very beautiful. John felt his chest swell with feelings he had not had since Patty and he were first dating. He pushed back his habit of over analyzing things and just drank in the beauty that was this young woman who had entered his life. She may go on to break his heart, but for now she filled it with happiness.

John gave her a good ten minutes to look and then approached her. "You ready to leave?" He asked.

Kathy looked up at him smiling. "With you, I'd go anywhere. Wait! I already am! Okay, let's go." The giggle that accompanied her joke was like spring breeze through John's soul.

It was just a short drive to John's destination. When they pulled into the parking lot of the outlet mall, Kathy was struck speechless. She had never seen anything like it. The parking lot alone was bigger than any Wal-Mart. There were stores after stores. She didn't recognize some of the names but others were known even to her with her limited background, names like Lane Bryant, Nike, and Gap. She turned and looked questioning at John.

He answered her unasked question. "I know you need clothing. You need things to get a job, things to wear to work, things to wear around the farm as well as a few nice things to wear when we go out in the evenings. I don't do Wal-Mart and to tell the truth haven't been shopping in years, but we are going to get you some things. So, I guess I'll just have to suffer through a Woman's' Shopping Trip."

Even through Kathy could see John's smile and hear the teasing tone in his voice; she could not believe it was not a dream. When she started to protest he held up his hands. "I'm serious, Little Bit. I don't want you looking like a Goodwill cast off." John's face grew serious, "I think you need a few dresses, some skirts and blouses and such. So, we might as well start on this side and work our way around. Okay?"

Kathy was unsure of herself; she had never thought of shopping in some of these stores, Wal-Mart was the highest she had ever experienced. But she followed; knowing arguing with him would be fruitless. She knew somehow she would pay him back for all his kindness. Maybe when she got a job and started making a little money. She definitely needed to start looking; she couldn't continue to live off him forever.

At the first store, Kathy was sure the sales people would ask her to leave. The clothes were so much nicer than anything she had seen where she shopped. They looked like rich people's clothing and her tee-shirt and jeans seemed to scream "Poor Person Pretending!" When John asked her size, she could only look at him like he was crazy.

"I can't afford these," She whispered. "I'll never be able to pay you back." she protested, only to be met by his comeback.

"Let me worry about the affording."

John knew he had to break the buying ice, so to speak. He figured once she had a few things it would be easier. So not really knowing what he was grabbing, he selected four dresses off the rack and gave them to her. "Try these on, Little Bit."

Kathy had no choice but to take the dresses and head to the dressing rooms. The first dress she tried on convinced her that unless she wanted to look like either a clown or a scarecrow, she had best take a very active part in selecting the clothes. Unbeknownst to John, he could not have picked a better dress to motivate the latent shopper in Kathy. The dress he had randomly chosen was covered in huge flowers and had to be the ugliest dress ever sewn. Kathy quickly changed back into her clothes and returned to the sales floor. At John's bewildered look she told him.