Dominoes 105a: Shopping

“Well, that was great,” I said, putting down my fork. “I just love Tomate Provencal!”

“Me, too,” Jenny said. “And the snails were great, too,” she said, snickering.

“You just ate those just to annoy me,” I said.

“You should have tried them,” Caleb said. “Well, are you ready to go shopping?”

“Oh, yes!” Jenny said, getting up in her eagerness.

“Just a sec, Jens,” Caleb said, “I have to pay.”

Not that long later we were in the car, and heading to the mall. “What are we getting, anyway?” Caleb asked, “what is this going to cost me?”

“A lot,” I said. “First of all, we need to stop and get me a ring.”

“Oooh,” Jenny said, dancing from place to place on her seat between us, “oooh!”

But Caleb said, “Two rings,” and I flushed.

“Two rings?” Jenny asked, then, seeing my bright red face, blushed herself. “Oh, of course.” She muttered.

“They go well together, don’t you think?” Caleb asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I do think.”

“Great, well, we will park by the jewelers, and then we will go do the rest of our shopping when we get done here.”

We walked into the store, and I wandered from place to place. The clerk was busy with someone else, but I really wanted to look alone, anyway. “Bobby,” Jenny said, “What do you think of this?” And pulled me over to a case, pointing out a beautiful white gold set, intertwined, with a diamond, ruby, and emerald.

“It’s beautiful, Jen’s,” I said, but went on.

“Caleb,” I said, a few minutes later, “Can we do some other shopping first? I want to think about the rings for a while.”

“Sure,” he said, “what else do you want to buy?”

“Well, I need bras,” I said, and he blushed. “And cowboy boots,” I added.

“Cowboy boots?” He asked, incredulously. He stared at me, “I think I would like the sight of that!”

“Cowboy boots?” Jenny echoed, “And bras? Actually, I could use a new bra too, and some…” she suddenly blushed, and Caleb put his arm around her,

‘It’s OK, Jens, I’m your brother now. Let’s get the underwear shopping over, and then we can do the boots thing. Cowboy boots, I like that.”

Buying bras wasn’t quite as much fun as it was in my dream, mostly because I was too shy to invite him back to watch, so I wasn’t quite as sure that he liked them. But it was fun watching Jenny blush pink when Caleb followed us into the ‘unmentionable’ department, recommending several pairs of panties to her.

“Come with me, silly boy,” I said, “and leave her your credit card. She can’t pick out anything with you there, she is too shy. Why she won’t even come to breakfast…” I let my voice trail off and Jenny turned pinker, grabbed the credit card, and darted behind a rack. “Meet us back at the rings, Jens,” I said, and, taking Caleb’s hand, went off with him.”

“Which one do you like?” I asked him, again staring at the bewildering array.

“I’m pretty old fashioned,” he said, and by the way he was standing, I knew what he wanted.

“Could I try that one, please?” I asked the clerk, who passed the ring out to me. It was old-fashioned, all right. Compared to all the others, it was plain. A gold ring, with a diamond on the end of it.

“It’s part of a set, Miss,” the clerk said, and handed me the wedding band. It was plain gold, with three small diamonds. I started to put them on, but Caleb took my hand, and the rings,

“Allow me,” he said, and slipped them on before I could even think.

The clerk looked at them, took my hand, and tried pulling at the rings, “Well, a perfect fit,” she said.

“I think so too,” I said, then, “Give the lady your card, Caleb.”

“I can’t,” he said, “Jenny has it. We will have to put the rings back until we find…”

“Got it,” Jenny said, walking in swinging the bag, “All of your bra’s and everything I needed and I even…” she looked at me, stopped, leapt forward, “Oh, did you get it? Both of them! Oh, I love them!” She said, her voice ringing with excitement.

“Good,” I said, clutching Caleb’s hand with my new, ringed, hand. “Give Caleb his credit card.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, fumbling with her purse, “Were you waiting for me? Here it is.”