Page 70 of This Love
The glass door slid open as I passed through.
“We close in fifteen minutes for the holiday,” an employee called as I walked inside.
“Okay. Thanks.”
I’d better make this snappy.
I realized for the first time what the “feminine hygiene” aisle referred to. This. Periods. Bleeding. I’d passed it dozens of times and never bothered to look.
The shelves had too many options. But I found something for medium flow, with wings, and snatched it up.
Then I hesitated. I had to buy it first. But that put me by the front door. Then I’d have to go deep into the store to find a bathroom. That might be weird.
Shoot.
I was the only one here besides the lone cashier, who leaned on the checkout counter, staring out into the empty parking lot.
The bathroom sign hovered over a short hallway. I couldn’t take the box in there. She’d think I was stealing it.
What to do?
Finally, I opened the box, extracted one pad, and carried both to the hallway. I left the box on a shelf nearby and went inside.
At least this part was simple. I dropped the icky wad of toilet paper into the toilet and pulled the strip off the adhesive. It went inside my underwear easily.
That wasn’t so bad.
I flushed and washed my hands again, staring at myself in the overbright lights.
So, this was womanhood. Weird it was so delayed. Maybe because of my condition? Maybe this was my first time. I had no idea. There were no notes in my scrapbook about this.
Time was ticking. I hurried out of the bathroom. The open box waited on the shelf. I picked it up to take it to the front. On a whim, I grabbed a box of candy canes as I approached the counter.
The cashier checked out both items. “Eight ninety-five.”
I paid with a card while she dropped both things in a bag. Perfect. It wouldn’t be obvious.
Tucker waited in the car. “Got what you needed?”
I broke the plastic on the front of the candy cane box and pulled out a pair of them, passing him one. “For the road.”
“Nice.” He took the candy. “Let’s go be merry.”
I bit off a piece of mine while I continued to Google. Sure enough, seizures plus the medications for seizures could make periods erratic and delayed. Now I knew.
I was fine. I’d bring it up with my doctor when I went next time. In the meantime, pads would handle it for the next five to seven days.
I shut off the phone and cranked up “Jingle Bells” on the radio. I was relearning the common holiday songs. No need to dwell on bodily functions when it was my very first Christmas. I was glad it happened at home, and it was so easily handled.
Tucker and I sang the whole way.
Chapter 27
Tucker
I put the wedding talk completely behind me as Ava and I moved into a new year. I got two job offers and accepted one, putting me into the nine-to-five class I’d never experienced.
Was this what it had been like for my dad, leaving every morning to fight traffic to work, being gone all day, then fighting it back home?
