Salad, Sandwiches, Dainties and Punch

Chapter 24

"Let's go to Canadian Tire." Bill came into the living room where Teresa was holding a crossword with no intention of doing it. Teresa who had been catching up on her stories looked up at him. "Why on earth do you need me to come to Canadian Tire with you?" Not that she was opposed to going but the identify of Beau's real father had been building for weeks and Teresa didn't want to miss the reveal.

"We're going to buy a new standing mixer," he said as he jangled his keys impatiently at her. "I thought you were going to try and fix the old one," she said not taking her eyes off the screen. "Life's to short to fiddle with mixers." Teresa looked up from her show. Bill was ready, hat on, keys in hand. If she couldn't watch her show without Bill standing there, she'd rather not watch it all.

"I'll get my purse," she said dropping the crossword onto the coffee table. She rolled her eyes as she headed back to the bedroom to retrieve her purse. This was an errand he could have run himself, but Teresa knew that Bill wouldn't be caught dead buying a standing mixer. The guys would never let him hear the end of it and on a sunny day in the middle of the week was prime time for old men in Canadian Tires.

They drove comfortably in silence they way couples who have been together forever can. The trip to the store was a short one. The air conditioning hadn't even had time to convert the hot air into cold by the time they parked and Bill turned off the engine. The air conditioning inside the store made her shiver. "Before we go to kitchen appliances, I want to check out the garden centre," Teresa called behind her as Bill stopped to talk to a friend in the plumbing aisle.

"Take your time," he called out as she walked away as if she was the one who could talk about plumbing for twenty minutes straight. Teresa didn't need anything, but still liked to go into the little plastic sheeted green house to be around the plants, and garden tools and hoses. She fancied herself a bit of a gardener. "Teresa," Linda waved carrying a pair of garden clippers.

Teresa smiled, "Linda. Great job on the funeral preparations. Everything turned out great. It really did." Teresa was sincere and she was probably the most surprised that Linda had rise to the occasion. "I mean if only I could control Janice," she whispered, "I heard about the whole graveside incident. Can you imagine if she would have driven right into that grave!" Teresa giggled, "I can't even imagine what Dottie thought of the whole incident. Leave it to Janice."

"It was good to see your girl, Rachel. She looks good." Teresa gladly accepted the compliment on Rachel's behalf. "She used to chum with Art's boys you know. Was good to see a group of those kids there. Not that they're kids anymore!" Linda agreed. "Where does the time go?" And with that she was gone. Bill came to find her about fifteen minutes later. She was already in the household/kitchen section looking at knives.

"Ready to roll?" he asked. "Didn't we come here to buy a mixer?" Teresa responded. "You didn't pick it out yet?" "No I was waiting on you." Together they perused the colours and models and chose the same model, but in a more neutral tone. "These crazy coloured appliances are just too distracting," she said thinking of Rachel's teal coloured mixer. "You don't need cool colours," Bill agreed, "just good recipes." Teresa was not one for gimmicks. It was a mixer for Pete's sake, not a sport's car.

Bill turned onto Main Street.  "We going for coffee?"  The inflection in Teresa's voice going up at the end indicating that this was a question and not an observation.  "Aren't we?" Bill asked as he was all ready pulling up to park in front of the cafe.  "You'd think in this heat we'd be getting ice cream instead of coffee," she remarked getting out of car.  Bill walked her up the familiar ramp of the cafe to join their friends inside, "You'd think."