Baggar Vince

"There's a Burger King..."

"I love Burger King!" Jayden said excitedly.

Vince laughed then kept going.

"We also have a Taco Bell nearby and a..."

"I love Taco Bell!" the boy announced.

"And a McDonalds."

Before he could say the same thing about the Golden Arches, his mom said, "Yes. I know. You love McDonalds, too."

"You choose the place. I'll buy," Vince offered.

"What? No. No way. We'll go, but only if you let me pay. And that's not negotiable, Vince."

He smiled at her then looked at her son and said, "Your mom's tough, huh?"

His answer both surprised and touched him.

"She's the best mom in the whole world!"

"Ahhh!" his mother said before giving him a hug.

"And she's the prettiest, too!"

"I won't argue with you there, buddy," Vince told him, causing Maren to give him a 'what was that all about' look, which he ignored.

"They're gonna be awhile, so how about we go get us some grub?"

"Yay!" Jayden said as his mom gave in and agreed.

"Do you care where we go?" she asked quietly Vince.

"No. I like all three."

"Me, too," she replied.

"Maybe we can let Jayden choose."

"Okay. Sure," Maren said, happy to let her son get involved.

She stood up, took the boy's hand, and once they were back outside, said, "Jay-Bird? Where do you want to go? Taco Bell, Burger King, or..."

"McDonalds! And can I get a Happy Meal? Cuz I like Happy Meals, Mommy. A LOT!"

She laughed then said, "We'll have to see if they have them there, okay?"

When Vince opened the car door for her, she suddenly felt extremely grateful and told him so.

"We're really just glad we could help," he told her again before remembering the carseat.

He started the car to cool it down then ran back inside and talked to the manager who'd met them outside. A mechanic let Vince grab it, and after strapping Jayden into it, they were on their way.

"Do you mind me asking what you majored in in college?" Maren asked once they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Business."

"Oh, wow. You can do a lot of things with that."

"So I've been told," Vince replied with a laugh. "I have no actual proof of that yet, but I have heard that a time or two."

Maren smiled then told him she was sure he'd do well at whatever he ended up doing.

"How about you? Do you work?" he asked, before quickly adding, "outside the home?"

"No. I...I used to. But after Len...my husband...died, I...I couldn't work. I couldn't do anything. I was so...distraught by what happened, I could barely even function."

Vince looked over at her, and the expression on his face said more than any words could.

"I'm finally getting better, and I do want to go back to work once Jayden's in school. At least part-time."

Vince didn't ask her 'doing what'. He just told her he was glad to hear she was doing better.

"I got married once very young, and well, he was..."

She mouthed the word 'abusive' so Jayden couldn't hear.

"I decided after that I'd stay single...forever. But a few years later a friend introduced me to this very handsome Army recruiter working in Ocala, and my resolve didn't last very long."

"I have the utmost of respect for people who serve in the military. I'm not cut out for that, but I admire those who do it."

"Same here," Maren agreed. "I really didn't know anyone in the military before I met Leonard. I had a cousin who enlisted in the Navy out of high school, but that was about it. And since we didn't live on an Army post, I never really got the whole 'Army experience', you know?"

"May I ask how long you were married?" Vince asked very respectfully.

"Four years," Maren told him. "We dated for a year, got married, and he ended up extending on recruiting duty so we could stay in Ocala. Then he got orders to Fort Bragg and Afghanistan. But because he would have to have re-enlisted to accept them, he decided to get out of the Army, and I supported him wholeheartedly."

He glanced over at her but didn't say anything when she continued talking.

"You know that death is a possibility, but once he left active duty, I just knew everything would be okay. But when the Highway Patrol comes to your door on a dark, rainy night when your husband is late and not answering your texts or calls..."

As he pulled into the parking lot for McDonalds, Vince said, "I can't even imagine."

As soon as Maren said, "Nor could I," Jayden noticed the Golden Arches and came to life.

"McDonalds!" he called out bringing the adults back to a less solemn place.

The four-year old never stopped talking until his mouth was busy chewing french fries, and even then, he only slowed down. That wasn't unusual, but what was caused Maren some real concern.

From the time they left the car Jayden only wanted to hold Vince's hand. When they got inside, he asked Vince to pick him up so he could see the menu. He couldn't read very well yet, but he wanted to see the pictures. After getting their food, Jayden waited for Vince to sit down so he could sit next to him.

She loved that her son was having a nice time, and the truth was, so was she. But her fear was Jayden would get attached to Vince, and after today, never see him again. She calmed her fears by realizing this was a one-time thing, so she not only didn't say anything, she let her son sit by his new best friend.

Before taking a small bite of her chicken sandwich Maren said, "I know you recently graduated from college, but other that that, we've only talked about me so far. Do you mind me asking if there's anyone special in your life?"

Vince was chewing his first bite, and after a sip of diet Coke, he told her there wasn't.

"A confirmed bachelor, eh?" she asked with a smile after washing down her tiny little bite.

"No. Not really. I mean, I'm not exactly looking, but you never know, right?"

He almost laughed when he heard himself telling his father's 'how I met your mother' story. Maren didn't laugh at all, though, and even told him she thought it was very romantic.

"After marrying Len, I realized I wasn't cut out for being single in spite of my long-held belief that I was. What I was after my first marriage was bitter. I guess I kind of had it in for all men when the problem was the one man I married. But once I realized how much better life was with the right person, I knew I never wanted to be single again."

She paused, and without getting emotional said, "And yet here I am. Single. Again."

"I hope this doesn't come across as crass, but I can't imagine you having a hard time meeting men."

Maren smiled, thanked him for the kinds words, then said, "Meeting them isn't the issue. It's meeting one that I can trust and fall in love with. And that, as they say, is the rub."

Their conversation was interrupted when a very pretty girl who worked at the restaurant came to their table and knelt down by Jayden, but looked right at Vince.

"We don't have happy meals anymore, but we do have these."

She put a toy spaceship in front of the little boy, and his eyes lit up immediately.

"This is SO cool!" he said before his mother reminded him there was something else he needed to say.

"Thank you!" he told her as he pretend flew the ship back and forth.

She said 'you're welcome', but what Maren noticed was how the girl never took her eyes off of Vince. It was the strangest thing, but she found herself feeling something she hadn't felt since Len was alive. She was...jealous. It didn't last long, and Maren knew it was ridiculous, and yet she'd most definitely felt that emotion.

She didn't mention her internal struggle, but she did smile and say, "Someone seems very taken with you."

Vince honestly hadn't noticed, mostly because that sort of thing happened so often it no longer even registered with him. The other reason it hadn't was because there was a beautiful woman sitting across from him, and no girl, no matter how attractive she might be, could change the focus of his interest.

"Her? The girl?" he asked as though that was nonsense.

"Oh, yes. She was staring at you the entire time."

"I had no idea," he told her honestly.

"Okay. If you say so," Maren teased before taking another small bite.

As Vince looked at her, he was again struck by just how beautiful she was, and the words sort of just came out of his mouth.

"I guess I was distracted by the more beautiful girl sitting across from me."

Maren stopped chewing, her eyes got big, and she shook her head slightly.

"Excuse me?" she said before swallowing her food.

"Sorry. That didn't come out right. I...I was just saying...what I meant was that you're, you know..."

"Vince! Watch me!" Jayden said as he zoomed his toy spaceship right in front of new friend's eyes.

"Wow! Can I try?" Vince said as he pulled back just in case.

Jayden handed it to him, and Vince did the same kind of thing only much higher. Then he came in from as far away as he could reach and 'flew' the toy right into Jayden's tummy.

"Oh, no! Crash landing! Alert! Alert!" he said, causing the boy to laugh so hard he couldn't breathe.

Maren forgot about her concerns when her son did the giggle thing she dearly loved. It made her so happy she teared up and found herself blinking several times to clear it up before anyone noticed.

"So you like spaceships, huh?" Vince asked as he handed it back to the boy.

"Uh-huh! And airplanes and tanks and so-jers!"

Vince knew he meant 'soldiers' and only said, "Yeah? Me, too."

When Jayden asked if he wanted to play war, Vince stopped smiling and looked at his mother who said, "It's okay."

"I do, but not right now, okay, buddy?" he answered.

Satisfied with the response, Jayden shoved another fry in his mouth and went back to piloting his spacecraft.

"So...no idea yet what you want to do with your degree?" Maren asked, to get them back on track.

"I've had four years to think about it, and I still don't have the answer to that question."

"But you'll go wherever work takes you, right?" she asked with no sound of any hidden agenda in her voice.

"Yeah. I suppose I would. But I'm not sure I want to leave Ocala just yet."

Assuming he was referring to his parents, she said, "Family is really important. I don't know what I'd do without my sister."

She paused then said rather wistfully, "But were my husband still alive, I'd have gone anywhere with him."

Vince smiled then told her, "I've never really been in love. I thought I was once back in high school, but I've never experienced that kind of deep, emotional feeling for anyone."

Maren smiled back then assured him he had plenty of time.

"Right," Vince replied.

He looked at her for a second then said, "Unless that special someone just walks into my life one day."

The way he looked at her, as well as what he said, made something flutter. Maren looked down at her tray then said, "I think I'm about done."

Vince had wiped out most of his burger and fries while Maren had eaten less than half of her chicken sandwich and maybe 3-4 fries, explaining why she had such a beautiful body to go with her very pretty face.

"How about you, big guy?" Vince asked. "Are you full yet?"

"Uh-huh," he absentmindedly replied as he 'landed' the spaceship then took off again.

"If you're ready, we can leave anytime," Vince politely suggested as he took the last bit of his quarter pounder and chewed it up.

"Yeah, I think I've had more than enough," Maren let him know as she wiped the corners of her mouth and her fingers with a napkin.

She smiled again when Vince grabbed one and asked Jayden if he could wipe his mouth a little bit.

"Okay!" he said, ignoring the hand that cleaned up the ketchup that was all around his mouth and on his chin as he continued flying his ship.

Maren found herself smiling again, and to her surprise, she realized she was staring at Vince when he turned back around. He noticed it but didn't say anything. He only smiled and asked if she was ready.

An hour, and nearly $450 later—with tax—Maren's car was good to go, and when a technician pulled it in front of the waiting area, she told Vince it looked like it was time to say goodbye.

He went outside with her, got Jayden's carseat, then helped him get strapped in while she let the car cool down. He leaned in through the open driver's window and told her he'd really enjoyed their time together.

"Me, too," she said with a warm smile. "You keep talking about 'customer service', but it's obvious that you're a very caring person, Vince. And well, I...I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything you and your dad did today."

He modestly looked away for a moment then smiled at her and said, "I hope at least some of that's true, but it doesn't hurt when the person you're helping is someone as amazing as you, Maren."

Something fluttered again before she realized this was it. She'd see him again at Publix, and he'd almost certainly show up at Jayden's birthday party, but she knew this was the end of their spending time together, and for a moment, at least, it caused her a feeling of deep sadness.

"That's very sweet of you to say, and the truth is, I feel the same way about you," she told him, knowing this was the end of their 'relationship'.

Vince didn't say anything, because there really wasn't anything else appropriate to say, so he smiled again, stood up, then tapped on the bottom of her window before saying, "Be careful."

"I will," she promised as he quickly leaned back down to say goodbye to her son.

"See you, big man!" he told the boy as he looked behind his mother's seat.

"Bye, Vince!" he called out, the spaceship still in his tiny little hand.

With that, Vince backed away and watched Maren drive off. As she did, he too, realized they wouldn't be seeing one another again other than at the store, and that's when he told himself he really needed to find a job that didn't involve bagging groceries, or he wouldn't be ready should that special someone enter his life the way his mom had entered his dad's.

That evening Maren was sitting at home after dinner and spent some time thinking back on everything that had happened that day.

Her first question was, "Was it just dumb luck that Vince was there?"

He second was, "Would anyone else have taken the time to do what he'd done?"

She wasn't unaware that she was still attractive—even at 37. So had Vince been a guy who wasn't attractive, or in his case, gorgeous, she wondered if he might have done that because she was still reasonably pretty. After all, she'd seen TV programs where an attractive woman was sent out to ask random men for help, and nearly all of them went out of there way to offer assistance. They then put the same woman in a 'fat suit' and sent her back out to ask men to do the same things she'd asked them to do before, and almost no one was willing to even help, let alone offer to do more than she asked.

Maren couldn't answer why Vince was so willing to go the extra mile, but she couldn't stop thinking about how much it meant to her. It wasn't certainly wasn't financial.

Financially speaking, she was able to get by without working because Len had transferred his military life insurance, SGLI, to a civilian equivalent when he left active duty. It wasn't for the full $400,000, but the $100,000 she'd received had allowed her to quit work and try and get her life back together.

Vince had not only been extremely helpful, he'd been very friendly, too. He was polite and courteous, and Jayden clearly loved him. He was obviously intelligent, and he wasn't too proud to bag groceries to make some money.

So while she still had some money left, Maren had grown up dirt poor her entire life, and it had always been a big concern to her and had caused her to be very frugal. She'd made the hundred grand last, but she knew she would have to go back to work at some point in the near future, and maybe even full-time as much as she wanted to be home with her son.

While all that was true, money was the last thing on her mind as she found herself unable to stop thinking about Vince, his kindness, and his father, someone who also cared deeply about other people. She sighed out loud as she thought yet again about never having experienced the love of a mother and father growing up, and with that very sad thought she decided to get her son in the bathtub and get him ready for bed. With any luck, doing so would help her stop thinking so much, and especially about...Bagger Vince.

Vince had a similarly thought-filled evening, and even though he still had no reason to think Maren was this 'special someone', the day's experience made him realize he not only needed a job but wanted one, as well. A real job. And the very next morning he knocked on Charlie's door.

"Vince! Come in. Come in," the older man said. "Have a seat, and tell me how our customer is doing."

His bagger sat down, explained what had happened, then got right to the point.

"So in spite of having turned down your offer, I was wondering if you might have anything available. Anything at all."

Charlie surprised him with a smile then said, "Timing is everything, young man."

Vince gave him a puzzled look before learning he'd fired the assistant manager while Vince was out taking care of Maren.

"You're still my first choice, so if you want the job, it's yours," Charlie told him.

"Yes! Definitely. I...I'd love that."

"Okay. Forget about bagging, and let's go see Mike."

As they walked by Margaret's register she said, "And just where do you think your taking my favorite bagger, Charlie?"

The normally gruff, older man looked over at her, smiled again, then said, "He's now your favorite ex-bagger, Margaret."

She stopped ringing up items, turned their way and said, "No. You can't mean that."

Charlie stopped, too, turned her way, and told her, "Say hello to the new assistant manager of the produce section."

Margaret sighed then said, "Well, I see no reason to go on with my life," before smiling and congratulating her former favorite bagger.

"Thanks, Margaret. But I may not last any longer than the guy we just let go," Vince said quietly enough so that the customer in line didn't hear.

"Just go, Vince. Go and leave me here...all alone," she told him dramatically before going back to ringing up groceries.

Vince found out that running a produce section wasn't mindless. It wasn't exactly rocket science, but there were still a ton of new things to learn, and by the end of his first week, he felt like he was starting to get a handle on things. He'd stayed busy enough that he hadn't had more than a passing thought or two about Maren, who showed up right on time that week to do her grocery shopping.

He almost missed her, but the sight of some beautiful, long, blonde hair around a woman's shoulders walking through the produce section caught his eye, and the moment he saw her from behind, he knew it was her.

"Mike? I'll be right back, okay?"

Mike saw Maren, laughed, then said, "Ah. Okay. Now I understand!"

Having grown up in Florida, Vince didn't find it odd at all that school started the first week of August, even though in much of the country it didn't start until after Labor Day. So when he didn't see Jayden with his mother, he was pretty sure why.

She'd turned around so that by the time he came out from behind the big glass windows where he'd been working, she saw him coming.

"Vince. Hi!" she said happily as he walked her way.

He remembered the hairnet on his head and pointed to it as he walked over. Maren laughed and told him he looked very sheik.

"And you look...amazing," he told her as he quickly glanced at her.

Not only was her hair down, she was wearing a bit of makeup and looked even more beautiful than before. On top of that, she was wearing a very cute little yellow sundress that looked great on her.