Page 63 of Rules of Engagement

“How long will you be gone?”

“Minimum of a couple hours. It could be as many as four. The military's famous for hurry up and wait.”

“Ok. I'll go to the grocery store. You eat a lot more than I do.”

He laughs, opens his wallet, takes out a couple of hundred-dollar bills, and lays them on the table. “I’m pretty easy to please. I’m a meat and potatoes man. Steak, burgers, roast, chicken.”

I nod. “I'll get some of each.”

He sucks his lips, “Come on, Luce.”

Lucifer gets up and the new alpha males in my life walkout.

* * *

“So, did you enjoy your coffee this morning?” Margie laughs into the phone.

“As a matter of fact, I did.” I laugh with her. “What time do you get off today?”

“In ten minutes. Why?”

“You won’t believe what happened last night.”

“What?”

“It’s too much to tell over the phone. I’m going to the grocery store shopping.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

Margie's standing at the entrance waiting on me. “So … what happened last night? I want all the fucking details.”

Walking down each aisle, I tell her everything that happened as I fill the shopping cart.

She keeps repeating two phrases. “Gawd, the man puts some kind of food away, and you are blowing my fucking mind!”

At the checkout, as I put the items on the belt, I wrap the story up with, “He's blown me away, Margie. Honestly. I would've never thought in a million years that any of this would be happening to me. My life's been boring, but now it’s like I’m living in a story that's someone else’s life.”

Jennifer, the grocery clerk, asks, “Jorja, I apologize for being nosey, but you've been shopping here for as long as I can remember. What on earth is going on with you, girl?”

Margie jumps all into it, giving her a crash course on mine and Jocko’s romance. From the beginning to the current meat order. Hearing her gush through it and watching Jennifer’s face react gives me goosebumps. It all sounds too good to be true. Even being accosted by those horrible men just magnifies how awesome Jocko is.

As Margie and I load the bags of food into my car, she says, “I am so, so happy for you.”

I give her a quick hug. “You were right all along.”

She grins. “Told ya so!”

* * *

When I pull into the driveway at my house, I notice a moving truck at Mr. Finkle’s.

Darn, I forgot to check with Maxine on who rented the house.

In between trips to the car to unload the food bags, I count three men carrying furniture and boxes out. Based on the jungle gym, the giant slide, and yard toys lying on the ground, I assume my new neighbor's a family. It'll be nice to hear the laughter of children again. I close the lid of the trunk and go inside to put the groceries away.

An hour later, I still haven’t heard from Jocko. Knowing I need to jot down some notes now while the details are fresh to flesh out his story later, I open my laptop. But I stare at the blank scene. I should've recorded my telling Margie. I open Facebook to check-in, and the first thing I see is that I've been tagged in three pictures from last night in a post on theSunnyville Gazette’spage.

Oh my god! This is horrible!

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