Till The Clock Strikes Gone

28 | my only love

"You never asked me how I came here," William said to Eliza as he pushed the cart while she walked alongside him and scanned the list for the items her father had listed.

They were at the local mall and due to the snow, there weren't many people around. The mall was rather empty for morning business.

"Hmm?" Eliza said but didn't look at him.

"You never asked—" he began again but Eliza stopped him.

"I heard you the first time. I'm just not interested in answering."

William felt his cheeks heat up. Maybe this is what people called tit for tat. He used to say the same things to his wife whenever she asked him something.

"Uh...okay," he murmured as he continued to follow her quietly.

"Wait here," she said, stopping suddenly. "I will grab some things from the next aisle. Don't move."

She strolled off before he could speak.

"Yes, boss," he sighed.

He waited for her patiently when he saw a woman trying to reach a jar kept at the top of a shelf. She was wearing a short dress and had a coat on and even though she wore heels, she couldn't reach the jar. He thought of being a gentleman and helping her. He pushed the cart as he moved up to her.

He placed his hand above hers and caught hold of the jar to bring it down. She was startled at first but when she looked at him, she gave a smile. He handed the jar to her.

"Thank you," she smiled and he returned the action.

As he turned to go back, she stopped him by holding his arm. When he looked at her hand, she let go and smiled again, shyly.

"I'm sorry. I was just wondering if you can help me with some more products kept on the top shelf," she said as she blinked her eyes at him, her smile not dropping even for a second.

"Huh...sure," he said and at once her smile grew wider.

She was a pretty woman with thin lips and brown eyes. Her auburn hair was long and she had it tied in a high ponytail. William wondered how Eliza would look in a ponytail. She never had one on. The woman ushered him to follow her and he complied. She pointed at two or three items on the top shelf and he brought them down. It was after the fifth item that he realized that she was just messing around with him. They were the same bottle of pickle and her cart was already full of them.

"You need all these?" he asked and she looked at him as her mouth turned into a sly grin.

"Okay. You caught me," she beamed.

"Excuse me?"

"I was just thinking of ways to talk to you. You seem new in town," she said.

"Oh!" William exclaimed and propped his elbows upon his own cart as he leaned forward to talk to the lady.

"Yeah I am new," he said and she grinned.

"So I thought. Where are you from?"

He never thought of answering that. "Nearby," he answered, not knowing what else to say.

"I am Aubrey," she said and put out her hand to him. He took it and gave a firm shake.

"Nice to meet you, Aubrey," he said and tried to release his hand from her grip but she held onto him as she looked at him.

"You remind me of my ex-boyfriend," she said suddenly and William was amused. "He died."

This was trouble. He was bad at being around emotional people, especially women. That was one of the reasons he never attended funerals until his parents died.