Page 31 of Miles. Alton & The 9:04
“I hope so,” she said.“I'm nervous.I'm very nervous about all of this, but excited too.”
“Good.It's a great place to start,” he said, reaching for her.
Chapter Eleven – Scrap
Mae didn't want toadmit how nervous she was to meet Thom's family.In her brief dating history, she'd only made it to this step in the relationship once during graduate school.Johnathan Moreland, a brilliantly clever political science major, had invited her home for dinner to meet his family, a conservative African American family with strong political ties who seemingly hated every program the government had created to feed or house the American people.Much of the dinner conversation revolved around handouts tothose people, educatingthose people, and freebies tothose people.
“Those peopleare the workforce which keeps business and factories running,” Mae interjected.“While it may not be in your scope of understanding that an educated public benefits us all, it is equally obtuse to believe that an uneducated public is a burden, whereas they work hard, ensuring generations to come that we sustain an unsustainable way of life on a limited pile of resources, thereby enabling us to continue the American void of vampiric consumerism.Your wealth has removed you from the real people, cushioning your life which unfortunately simply limits in your scope of understanding the real America.”
The table was quiet for the remainder of the meal.Johnathan drove Mae home, walked her to the door, and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.She never heard from him again, but later found he went to work for the 44th President’s campaign and was estranged from his parents.
A trip to Kansas with her very Caucasian fiancé, whom she had met two weeks ago was high on her list ofWhat Am I Doing?In her mind, the argument raged on, but she was convinced this would show his true colors.If, and this was part of the deal breaker, someone tried to touch her hair or ask if she was the same color all over and he said nothing to defend her, then it would be over.She looked at Thom and smiled.
“You're deep in thought over there,” he said to her.
“Yeah, I was wondering how old is this Subaru?You must have had this since college,” she said.
“I have, and it runs great, good gas mileage, reliable,” he replied.“So, we will need to stop to shop.Would you like a mall and Macy's or to hit the outlet coming up?”
“An outlet is fine.I can grab a few things from Old Navy,” she said as he arched his eyebrows.“What?Not everything I own is designer.”
He held up a hand in acknowledgement of the correction as he hit the turn signal for the exit.He located a parking space, and they went into the store.He expected her to take much longer than she did.In the store, she grabbed a pair of pajamas, jeans, and a casual dress and added a pack of underwear, a sports bra, socks, and a neat little pair of boots.Two long sleeve shirts were added with a pair of hoop earrings and she was done.
What surprised Thom was her next move.A Le Creuset store was directly in front of Old Navy and Mae stood on the sidewalk, staring.She said nothing, just stared.
“Do you want to go in?”
“I do, and I want to buy an engagement present for us,” she told him, walking towards the store.“I think the kitchen should be an energetic color like this orange here.”
A woman in the store asked if she could help Mae.Twenty minutes and fifteen hundred dollars later, there was a complete starter set with a cassadou, a braiser, a Dutch oven, and a mini tea kettle in an orange color.Thom couldn't stop smiling as they loaded the heavy items into bags to get to the car.
“Why are you smiling so much?”
“You're nesting,” he said, grinning at her.“Wanna make out?”
“Thom, we're going to be late for lunch at your Aunt's,” she told him, touching his arm.
