Always With Me

Part 42- Becca Lowrey

It was cold outside when I took went to Walmart to get food for Reagan's dinner that night. Zack rode with me, and he sang along to the music that was blaring through the radio. We ended up finding a Christian radio to listen to music through, which was odd because we had never listened to anything but secular music in our entire lives. When he tried to sing along, he still didn't know the words. I couldn't help but laugh as he hummed along to a song called "Oceans".

"It's got a good beat," he commented about the song that he was humming to after he saw me laughing.

"It's a slow song. How could it have beat?" I asked. He shrugged and began hitting his legs to add some beat to the song. I laughed as we got closer to the store. It was busy because it was two days away from Christmas, so I turned off the car and we hurried into the store. We were coming to get some rolls and things to make salad. When I asked Reagan what I needed to bring, she said that she would be supplying the meal. I asked if it would be fine for me to bring something though, and she said that she wouldn't mind. I knew that she'd invited a lot of people, so I didn't want for all of it to be on her shoulders.

"What kind of rolls?" Zack asked as he practically ran his buggy down the aisle. I walked slowly behind him and watched as he examined them with his fingers on his chin. I couldn't help but laugh again as I grabbed the rolls that we needed. "Good choice, my lady," he said as he kissed my hand.

"Alright, on to salad," I said. This time I grabbed the buggy from him and lead it into the aisle of vegetables. I found lettuce and I threw it into the buggy. Zack walked slowly behind me now. He wore a thick pair of black sweatpants and an old Amory Baseball sweatshirt. His hair was beginning to grow back again to the length that it was, although Zack threatened to cut it every single time he was with me. He always said "I like it better that way," just to aggravate me. Even though I promised him that it wouldn't bother me if he did it, he still threatened. I liked it better longer, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

I reached for a bag of tiny tomatoes and he grabbed the bag from me. "No, don't get the tomatoes," he said as I yanked them back from him and put them into the buggy. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You ruined it."

"Ruined what?" I asked laughing.

"The salad. Gross."

"By adding tomatoes?" I asked, astonished by his attitude toward the food. He was far from picky.

"Yes."

We walked to find other ingredients and then checked out. We had to stand in line for a while before we were able to check out. There were a lot of people entering Walmart at the time that we left, so we had gotten there at the perfect time.

I pulled into his driveway and he unbuckled. "I'll see you later," he said as he kissed me. I smiled to myself as I pulled out of his driveway and drove a few feet to get to mine. When I got home, I ran upstairs and fixed my hair. I decided to leave it straight and then I applied my makeup. I put a black sweater on and a pair of skinny jeans. On my feet I wore a pair of black riding boots. The last thing that I put on was my pearl necklace and a pair of earrings. When I was finished getting ready, I drove to Dahlia's house very quickly to help her wrap the presents that we had gotten for Reagan's family and Annie's family. We ended up, along with Ellie, having them personalized picture frames made at a local furniture store. She had her hands full with Hallie, so it ended up being Ellie and I wrapping the presents. I wrapped Reagan's and she wrapped Annie's.

"Hey, Beck, will you hold Hallie while I go get ready?" Dahlia asked. I walked over and grabbed a squirming Hallie from Dahlia. She had on a red jumper with a large green bow. She was getting much bigger now, and soon she would be six months old. She was squirming around in my arms when I got her, so I put her down on the ground and played with her. She liked to roll the ball to you, so I spent a few minutes doing that with her. She couldn't throw a ball yet, so she rolled it to you. Even though it couldn't even make it halfway to you, it made her so happy when you rolled it back to her.