Page 65 of Rules

Looking over the end of my cart at the aisle, I see Ruth walk by. That's when my perception of the entire world goes into slowmotion. She backs up three steps, literally walking backward. She pivots on her heel, locks her eyes on mine, and marches straight at me. Slow motion accentuates everything. I can see every strand of her gorgeous copper curls bounce as each foot hits the floor. She looks radiant. The rise and fall of her chest as she storms toward me stirs something within me. She doesn't blink, just stares at me. I can see the anger building in her eyes. Her jaw is set, determination radiating off her. Reaching me, the world goes back to normal speed when her voice hits my ears.

"TOBIAS TRENTON, YOU LISTEN TO ME!" She points her finger at me as she comes up, even with my cart. "I'M A CATCH! I'M INTELLIGENT! I'M BEAUTIFUL! AND YES I'M FAT, BUT MY ASS IS BANGING! YOU DON'T DESERVE ME! DON'T WORRY, I WON'T ASK YOU TO SAY ANYTHING, I WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO LEARN HOW TO COMMUNICATE! YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU SIR CAN FUCK, THE FUCK RIGHT OFF!" She turns, side-steps Dianna, and heads up the aisle. Pausing a few steps away, she turns and looks back. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, Dianna." Ruth spins and exits the aisle.

The realization of the event settles in. I have no doubt everyone in the store heard that. I'm formulating an excuse when I look over at Dianna. She is standing very still, her mouth open and her eyes enormous.

"It was you?" She says just above a whisper, still looking in the direction Ruth left. "You?"

"What was me? That was because..." Dianna interrupts me as she faces me, her eyes meeting mine.

"You, Dad, you did that to Ruth? Ruth, one of the nicest people I know, you walked out on her because she's fat?" Dianna's expression has turned to disgust, her face turning redder by the second. "When I heard today what some douche had done to her.I thought about setting you two up because I thought she would be perfect for you. Perfect." She takes a step back.

"I, let me explain." Stammering, I'm shocked that she knows what happened. I wasn't aware Ruth and Dianna were friends.

"Don't." Dianna puts her hand up. "Just don't, Dad. I never thought you would do something like that. Never in a million years would I have guessed." She looks up into my eyes and I see a tear roll down her face. "I'm a plus size girl. Did you tell Tim not to date me?" With that, she turns to the left and half walks, half runs up the aisle away from me.

I'm left standing on my own in the pasta aisle. I'm not sure what I should do, go after Dianna? Try to find Ruth and finally have the conversation I should have had? Let them both go? I'm certain everyone in the store heard Ruth yell at me. I can feel the embarrassment start to rise in my cheeks. Even though I know I deserved every word she said, I'm shocked she did it in such a public place. Glancing around, I don't see anyone. I decide since I have a little left to get, I'll finish my shopping, then stop at Dianna and Tim's place on the way home.

Getting to the end of the fifth aisle, I turn and bump carts with old Mrs. Gentry, who has been a Sunday school teacher with the local church for forty years.

Shit. Anyone but her, she's such a gossip and worse yet she never gets the information right.

"Hello Mrs. Gentry, sorry about bumping into you." I try to smile at her. Pulling my cart back I maneuver to go around her.

"Hello Sheriff Trenton." Mrs. Gentry wears her glasses on the tip of her long, thin nose. This gives her a look of constant displeasure. It also makes her appear to be looking down on people.

"How are you Mrs. Gentry?" I ask, trying to be polite when all I want to do is get away from her.

"I'm very well. Thank you for asking. Seems, I'm certainly better than you seem to be, Sheriff Trenton. It sounds like you've made a lady very angry." She purses her lips as she elongates one of her eyebrows to an amazing height—just a little bit more and it will touch her hairline. "I haven't heard that kind of language in quite a while."

"Ah, thanks, Mrs. Gentry." I back my cart up and head to the checkouts as fast as I can without drawing attention to myself. Shaking my head, I can only imagine what this string of gossip is going to end up as. Damn, every lady in town is going to hear about what happened. I can't believe Ruth yelled like that in the store with all these people!

Seeing a self-checkout lane open, I make a beeline for it and start scanning things as quickly as I can. Finally, putting my credit card in, I wait for the transaction to be done.

"Boss."

Turning, I see Detective Sang pull his cart up to the checkout.

"Sang." By the number of things in his cart, I know he probably heard Ruth. "Stocking up?" Looking at his cart, I see several bags of chips and various dips.

"Some of us single guys are grabbing stuff before the game starts. This place seriously needs a deli. You're welcome to come too, if you like."

"Thanks, but I'm heading to my kids' house. Wait, there are more of you here?"

"Yeah, some of the fire crew and a couple of the EMTs."

Fuck! No doubt by morning the entire squad will have heard about my encounter with Ruth.

"Boy, that was a hell of a telling off." Sang smiles at me. "Women!" He shakes his head. "Some of them do some crazy shit."

"Right." I gather up my bags, trying to leave as fast as I can before the other guys get to the registers.

"We had another break-in last night. Didn't know if you knew or not."

"I didn't. I was, ah, occupied and off duty."

"So, I heard." Sang chuckles to himself.

"No, no, not that. That was, well, a..." I'm stumbling over words to explain what exactly her outburst was without explaining what it was about.

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