Empire /h.s/

ten

Katherine

I guess you could say I had a successful day of Halloween shopping.

After Jacob left, I was able to collect my things and head out. My first stop was Target, but they didn't have a lot of things that caught my eye. Then I went to a few different craft stores that had a lot more things that were my style. I may have splurged a little, but it's all for the cause.

Taking the subway back to my apartment was not a good idea with all the shopping bags I had, so I had to order an Uber, to which I am about to step into. And it's already getting late, and being a woman alone on the subway late at night was not ideal by any means.

As the driver pulled up, he saw all the bags I had and got out to offer to help me place them in his trunk. After I thanked him many times, we got the bags loaded, I got into the back seat, the driver back behind the wheel.

The car started to move, my driver, Christopher, started to make small talk to fill the awkward silence.

"Did some shoppin' I see, early Christmas or just 'cause?" He had a thick New York accent, an accent I always tend to enjoy.

"Halloween shopping actually, I have a little bit of a problem," I laugh.

"Oh man, my wife is the same way. Every Holiday, she's always out buyin' new stuff, even though I tell her every year that we have plenty of decorations," sounds like my kind of woman.

"Yeah, I feel her on that," I say with a slight wince, I don't even want to think about where I'm going to store all my decorations when I don't need them.

He sighs, "Yeah well you know what they say, happy wife, happy life. And I do everything I can to make her happy."

My heart swells, as someone who saw both of her parents curse the ground the other walked on, it always made me happy hearing the love others feel for each other.

"How long have you two been married?" I can't help my love sick mind from wanting to hear more.

"Goin' on thirty-five years, but we were high school sweethearts so in reality if feels like a life time," I can see the smile spread on his face through the rearview mirror, "I've got four kids with her, so I'm stuck with her," he goes on to tell me about his kids, and how they are one big happy Italian family for the rest of the drive while I just sat happily in the back listening.

We pulled up to my apartment, and we both got out to get my things.

"Sorry 'bout my rambling, I just love my family so much, and I 'ppreciate you allowin' me to talk 'bout 'em," Chris says to me as he shuts the trunk.

I smiled up at him, placing my bags on the ground, "It's not a problem at all," if he only knew how my family was.

I can't help but to reach up and give him a hug, he seems taken back by it because it takes him a few seconds before he wraps his thick arms around me. It should feel weird hugging a stranger, but he feels anything but that.

As we pull away with sweet smiles on our faces, Chris' phone goes off alerting him that he has to go get another person.

"Well, kid, it was nice meetin' you, have a good night, Miss Katherine," he says to me as he arounds his car.

"Thank you, you too, Chris," I wave goodbye to him as his car takes off down the street. I will definitely be giving him a nice review.

With a full heart, and a smile on my face, I reach down to retrieve my bags, and head into my building.

Walking up all these damn stairs really gets annoying with your hands full of noisy plastic bags. I would have used my tote bags, but I would have had to come home before going out, and stores would have started to close by then. And I would have missed out on one of my new favorite interactions with a stranger.