Baggar Vince

"Well, I'm definitely thinking about it," he announced, letting them know he was already tired of discussing it.

"Wonderful! But it's time to get ready to come sit down and have dinner," his mom said as she got back up. "Because it'll be ready in another five minutes."

Even after discussing things with his dad, Vince knew he wasn't really interested in working in a grocery store for the rest of his life. For that matter, just talking about leaving his hometown made leaving take on a new kind of appeal, and although he wouldn't mention it to his mother, the thought of seeing the West Coast or even New England seemed pretty darned nice.

He spent one more day considering Charlie's offer then stopped by his office and thanked him for the consideration while informing him he was respectfully declining.

"Okay. I kinda thought you might pass on it. The truth is, you've got a bright future ahead of you, and I understand."

Vince thanked him again then headed home where he spent a couple of hours putting together a resume that was long on education and short on experience. For a few minutes he sat there wondering if he'd made a mistake by not taking the job. It was just an assistant-manager's position, but it was still management, and it would be another bullet on his resume. He laughed out loud when he had to admit it would be the only bullet he'd have other than bagging groceries.

"Bagger Vince. That's me," he said to himself before the smell of something good coming from the kitchen caught his attention.

The job came up again during dinner, and when Vince told his parents what he'd decided, and casually mentioned leaving, his father took it in stride. His mother, however, was visibly upset although she told him she would support whatever he wanted to do. But just the difference in the mood at the table was impossible to ignore, and as much as Vince thought he'd like to see the world, or at least something other than central Florida, seeing his mom react like that left a very strong impression on him.

Nothing more was said about staying at Publix—or in Ocala—and two weeks later, Vince was no closer to finishing his resume than he'd been when he realized it was less than paper thin. Charlie had hired one of those 'college boys', and although he wasn't privy to what went on behind closed doors, he had the feeling that both Charlie and the produce manager, Mike Williams, weren't impressed.

The following week he was bagging for Margaret when a woman he'd never seen before pulled her cart up and began unloading it. There was a young boy standing next to her, and Vince smiled at him after he told his mom he wanted to help.

"Maybe next time," the woman told him.

"But I'm big, Mommy!" the boy replied.

"Not today, okay, buddy?" his mother said without looking while she piled groceries onto the moving counter.

"Hi there," Vince said to him when the boy looked his way.

"Hello," he quietly replied.

The woman glanced his way, so Vince smiled at her, and he was a little surprised when she didn't just return his glance but looked at him for a couple of seconds before turning away.

"Ma'am?" he said to her.

She looked back at him, and when she did, Vince leaned over the counter and quietly asked, "Would it be okay if your son helped me bag?"

She stared at him again for another second or two, then realized what he was doing.

"Oh, you don't have to do that," she told him, smiling for the first time.

"I'd like to, but I won't ask him unless it's okay with you."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked as Margaret caught up with her and was waiting for her to put more items on the conveyer belt. "He'll just slow you down."

"No. We'll be fine."

"Well. Okay. If you're sure. That would be very nice of you," she said, smiling again.

Vince then leaned down, looked right into his eyes then said, "You wanna come over here and help me put stuff in bags?"

The little boy's face lit up in an instant, but only until he looked at his mother. To his surprise, she told him it was okay, and the smile came back bigger than before.

He came around the end, and Vince said, "I know you're big, but I'm gonna put you up here with me, okay?"

The boy nodded, and Vince let him stand on a small ledge that stuck out from the end of the counter so he could see.

"So grab whatever you can and carefully put it in the bags over here, okay?"

Vince had two set of bags in front of him, and as he filled the right side, he let the boy fill the left.

"So how old are you, big guy?" Vince asked.

"I'm four!" the little boy announced as he began putting things in the plastic bags.

"Four? You are big!" Vince told him.

"I know. And I'll be in kinner-garden next year."

"Wow. Kindergarten? That's awesome!"

"My mom says I'm growing up too fast," the boy informed him.

"She's right. You're almost a little man already."

"I am a man because my mommy says I have to be the man of the house. That's because my daddy died," the boy explained matter of factly.

Vince stopped bagging, and Margaret stopped ringing things up. Before either of them could say anything the boy's mother said, "Honey? We don't tell other people our problems, remember?"

She said it very sweetly, and it was none of his business, but Vince still felt terrible.

"I'm really sorry, buddy," he told the boy.

"It's okay, because my daddy's in heaven now," the boy said as though it was common knowledge.

The woman put the last of her groceries on the counter then said, "Jayden? Are you ready to get down now?"

"I have to put some more things in the bags first," he told her without looking her way.

Vince had to adjust what few things Jayden had already loaded himself, but as they got to the final item, Vince saved it for him and said, "Okay, you get the last one!"

The boy sat it on top of whatever was in the bag Vince pointed to then told him he'd help him get down.

"That's okay. I can do it all by myself!" the boy told him as he turned around and jumped off.

His very attractive mother got out a credit card, swiped it, then waited for the receipt. When Margaret handed it to her, her eyes were filled with tears, and no one needed to ask why.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," she quietly told her customer.

"Oh. Thank you," the woman politely replied before looking down at her son and asking, "You ready to go?"

"Uh-huh! And can I push the cart this time? Please?" he asked, having no idea what was going on the adult world.

She looked at Vince who, without waiting for her permission, said, "How about letting me give you a ride instead?"

"Okay!" the little boy readily agreed as Vince lifted him up high before setting him in the cart.

"Can we go fast?" he asked excitedly.

"I don't know about that. We have to be really careful and watch for cars, my friend," Vince told him as his mother caught up and walked beside them.

"He's very...active," the woman said almost apologetically.

"He seems pretty great," Vince told her, smiling as he did.

"Well, I think so," she told him, as she smiled back.

Vince knew she was attractive, but now that she was just inches away from him, it was impossible not to notice she was beautiful.

"I haven't seen you here before," he cheerfully said as he kind of swerved the cart back and forth for the benefit of his young passenger who laughed happily and said to do it again.

"We just moved here from across town," the woman told him. "It's a long story, and I won't bore you with it."

"You won't bore me," Vince told her. "The best thing about this job is meeting and talking with the customers."

Once they were outside and he saw there was no traffic, Vince zoomed the cart across the main road and called out, "And their children!" as the boy laughed loudly.

The woman laughed, too, then pointed to her car. Vince pushed the cart that way then waited for her to catch up. In the meantime, the boy held up his arms indicating he wanted to be picked up.

"Okay! Ready to parachute back to earth?" Vince said as he held the boy as high up as he could get him.

"Yes!" he yelled out.

"Okay, here we go!"

Vince slowly lowered him as though her were gliding down while gently moving him left and right until his feet were on the ground.

"Mommy? I parachuted just like Daddy used to do! Did you see me?"

"I did, honey," she told him as she looked over at Vince who was standing there in silence.

She popped the trunk then quietly said, "His father was an Army Ranger. He uh, he was killed by a drunk driver on I-75 when Jayden was two."

"I am...so...sorry," Vince said as he began loading her groceries into the trunk.

"Me, too," she said, forcing a smile.

The little boy was standing right next to Vince, and when he looked down at him, he asked if he wanted to help. The boy nodded, so Vince found a light bag for him which, even if he dropped or spilled, nothing would break, and handed it to him then picked him up so he could put it in the trunk.

"My name is Jayden," the boy said. "What's yours?"

"I'm Vince, and it's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

He let the boy down then stuck out his hand. A very small hand was placed in his, so Vince wrapped his around it and then thanked him for all of his help as he shook it.

"Mommy? Can we come back here every time so I can see my friend, Vince?"

The look on the mother's face, and the way she replied, was no surprise.

"Well, this is going to be our main grocery store, but Vince may not always be here."

"Why not?" he asked looking at her and then his new friend.

"I'll explain on our way home, okay?" she replied while looking at Vince and kind of shrugging.

He closed the trunk, said goodbye to his new little buddy, then stood up and said to his mother as he pointed to his name tag, "I'm obviously Vince."

The very attractive woman laughed and said, "Yes, you are."

She scooped her son up then told him, "I'm Maren, and you already know Jayden."

"Maren. I love your name, but I don't think I've heard it before."

She laughed and told him her father wanted to name her Karen, but her mother thought it was too plain. They spent some time playing around with it and finally settled on Maren.

"Ah, okay. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you...Maren," he told her as he asked Jayden for a high five.

He whacked Vince's hand who then grabbed the cart to turn it around and took it back inside.

"I'll look forward to seeing you again," he told the beautiful, older woman before looking at Jayden and saying, "both of you."

"Bye, Vince! See you next time!" Jayden hollered.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, too, Vince," the woman told him.

She paused then said, "And thank you for being so nice to my son."

"Hey. He's awesome," Vince told her with a smile.

He looked at Jayden then said, "Okay. Here we go!" as he pretended to be a race car driver and zoomed the cart away.

He heard Jayden laughing and turned to wave just as they turned to get into the car that had been sitting in the hot Florida sun.

Once he was back inside, Vince tried to remember the last time he'd seen a woman that attractive, and he couldn't remember when. He'd met several woman as beautiful as her, he just had no idea how long it had been since that had happened.

Blondes were a dime dozen in Ocala—and in Florida—but it was rare to see one who wasn't a bottle blonde, and unless Maren had just had her hair bleached, she was naturally blonde. Vince was pretty sure that was the case because she had the kind of very fair skin that went with naturally blonde hair. She also had beautiful, bright blue eyes and an amazing smile to go with them.

She was wearing a white top that had little cap sleeves on it, and it seemed to be slightly stretchy as it almost molded to her upper body making it impossible not to notice the way she filled out the top. A pair of pink shorts and some flat, white sandals were the only other things she was wearing unless one counted the white, hoop earrings that dangled from her ears as being worn.

But even in what was essentially shorts and a tee-short, and without any noticeable makeup, she was as attractive as any woman her age he'd seen in a very long time. Of course, there was the diamond wedding ring, but after hearing about the loss of her husband, Vince realized it was somehow different than other rings that screamed, "TAKEN!" Or in the case of a few married women, they only said, "Minor speed bump. Please ignore."

It wasn't that he thought he was going to ask her out, it was just that he couldn't help but notice every little detail about her, and that included the symbol of the love she'd lost on the interstate that ran north to south through the western half of the state.

Margaret's voice quickly ended his musings and brought him back to reality.

"That poor woman!" she said with a shake of her head. "And that boy of hers. Oh, my. It just breaks my heart."

"That's pretty awful," Vince agreed as he momentarily tried to imagine growing up without his own father, a thought he was grateful not to have ever had to confront.

"And she's such a pretty little thing," Margaret added.

"Um, yeah. I...I didn't really notice," Vince heard himself saying.

But before he could correct his lie, the cashier said, "How old was that little boy?"

"Four. He's four and getting ready to start Kindergarten in a few weeks, so I'm guessing he'll be five pretty soon."

"He's so cute I could just eat him up!" she said as she rang up the next person's groceries.

Vince smiled, and told her, "He is pretty awesome, huh?"

"Oh, you can say that again!" she replied as she announced the total to the customer.

When he came back in a couple of minutes later, Margaret was still talking about the beautiful young widow and her little boy.

"Had I not heard her say she lost her husband, I'd have..."

She looked around then leaned toward Vince and said, "Hated her!"

He knew Margaret well enough to know she didn't mean she'd actually 'hate' her. It was just code for women over 30 or so who were still more beautiful than any woman had a right to be...in her book.

He laughed politely but didn't 'feed the beast'. Within seconds she was ringing up the next customer, and nothing more was said about the very attractive mom with the cute little boy.

Over the next few days, Vince did his best to buckle down and finish his resume, but even though there wasn't really anything left to add, his heart just wasn't in it. Two days after his last attempt, he asked his dad why he thought he was having so much trouble with such a simple task.

"I'm no mind reader, but it seems to me you're worried about not having any experience. And I'm just guessing here, but is it possible you don't really want to leave Ocala?"

Vince agreed with the experience issue, but he also knew he wasn't the first person to ever graduate from college with a degree in business without any practical experience. As to leaving home, he couldn't really say. Nothing was solved, but he somehow felt better having just brought it up.

It was exactly a week to within 10 minutes the next time he saw Maren and Jayden. She saw him putting someone's groceries in their trunk as she was walking inside from her car. Once she spotted him, she slowly walked toward him then stopped and waited for him to notice her once he finished.

"Hi!" she said when he turned around.

"Maren. What a pleasant surprise," he replied very cheerfully before asking Jayden for another high five.

"How's my buddy doin'?" he asked the boy while he filled the last of the bags.

"I'm good," he told the man who towered over him. Vince was an even six feet tall, and Jayden was, well, four years old.

Before Vince could ask his mom a question, Jayden said, "I'm gonna be five years old, and you can come to my birthday party!"

Vince's eyes got big as he looked at Maren who smiled as they walked toward the entrance as he pushed the other person's cart back inside.

"He's talked about you...a lot," she told him.

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. You made quite the impression on him."

"Well, he made one on me, too," Vince told her as the doors opened automatically.

"I'll be right back, okay?" he said before disappearing to put the shopping cart away.

Maren waited and as soon as her son's favorite bagger came back in Jayden pounced on him.

"I'm gonna have cake and ice cream and LOTS of presents!" the boy announced.

Maren leaned over and said, "It's still a month away, and we don't know too many people here yet. I'm hoping once school starts, we can at least have a few kids from his class show up. Other than that, it'll be my sister and a longtime few friends and their kids."

"So can you come?" Jayden asked before his mother told him Vince probably had a lot of things to do.

The disappointment of the boy's face was obvious and immediate, and both his mother and Vince noticed.

Maren saw the look on Vince's face, too, then said, "I'm sorry. He's just been so excited about asking you, and I warned him in advance you wouldn't be able to come, but he was determined to ask, so..."

"I'm sure it would be very awkward having me there," Vince replied as she grabbed a cart.

"Not on our end. I just assumed you'd, you know, I mean, we don't even know one another, so..."

"If you wouldn't mind me showing up, I really would like to at least stop by. I won't stay long, but I'd definitely like to let Jayden know I care."

"You don't have to that, Vince," she let him know.

"I wouldn't mind at all. Seriously."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Um...all right. I'll write down the date and time along with our address for you when we get back outside."

"So Vince can come?" Jayden asked, his sadness replaced with hope.

Maren looked at him one more time to make sure, and when he smiled and nodded, she turned to her son and said, "Yes. Vince can come. IF he wants to, okay?"

"Yay!" the almost-five-year old called out.

"Vince? Any day now!" Margaret's voice boomed out.

"Uh-oh. Duty calls," he told Maren. "I guess I'll see you at checkout."

"I'll make sure to use your lane," Maren told him with a smile as he hurried away.

Today she was wearing a light-blue, ribbed tank top that was just as clingy as the white top had been the week before, and the shorts she wore with them were white, as were the same pair of sandals she'd had on the week before. The other big difference was that her hair was pulled back into a ponytail this time, and Vince was able to see all of her very pretty face.

"You hitting on the pretty widowed woman?" Margaret teased when he got back to his station.

"What? No. Don't be ridiculous."

"Well, you're handsome enough to at least get her attention...handsome," she told him with a smile.

Vince laughed as he started bagging then said, "Okay. If you say so, but it's not like a woman like her is going to fall for a guy like me. You know. Bagger Vince."

Margaret laughed at the play on words from the Will Smith movie from years gone by, and said, "Yeah, you might need something a tad better than your current job to have any chance, and I'm guessing she's at least 30, so..."

"Well, a guy can dream, right?" Vince said with a laugh.

Margaret turned his way, looked at him over the top of her glasses, then shook her head, and what she said next made him laugh hard enough that it drew attention two registers down.

"I have no idea why you'd even want to 'go there' when you've got 'all this' right in front of you just ready and waiting," she said so 'deadpan' in nature about herself that it caught his funny bone.

"Good point," Vince told her once he stopped laughing.

It took Maren another 20 minutes or so to get to checkout, and even though she could have gone to a different register, she waited for one other person in order to keep her word.