Loving Eleanor(BWWM)

Chapter Thirteen

Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Date: November 23rd, 1949
Name: Eleanor Hazel Bush
Age: twenty-three

"Put your gloves on too," Mildred insisted as Eleanor put on her coat.

She was going to the supermarket to pick a few things up for Mildred. It seemed like a last-minute idea, seeing as Thanksgiving was only a few hours away, but it was never too late to grab some cranberries and a few onions.

Eleanor sighed at her mother and she grabbed her gloves as well. Yes, it was cold outside, but she knew how to dress for the weather.

"Yes, mama." She answered and then took the list off of the counter. "Are you sure this is all that you need?" She asked unsurely.

Mildred glanced at the list and pursed her lips. "Oh, you're right! Let me see that list for a second," She hummed and added a few more items to the list.

"Alright, that's the final and revised list," Mildred said and pressed a kiss onto Eleanor's cheek. "Be safe, honey."

Eleanor smiled gently and walked to her father's car.

Once she was alone, however, the smile went away, as her mind traveled to a certain blue-eyed Professor.

It had been days since she'd seen him, the absence being her fault. She stopped showing up to his class, she just couldn't face him or her feelings for him, just not yet.

Nonetheless, as the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and his kind actions didn't help her heart.

Every day, Dale would put the notes from his lesson in her mailbox along with any homework he assigned, and when the homework was due, he would pick it up from the mailbox.

He was like a ghost, she never once saw him drop the homework or pick it up, but it was always there when she checked. 

Dale's dedication made her heart flutter, but she still had no clue what to do. It seemed like God went silent on her, and He was leaving the decision in her hands.

He told her that he loves her, but he was still a white man. It hurt her heart to think that he was only sugar talking her and he only wanted to bed her.  While he didn't seem like the kind of man to do that, Eleanor didn't know what to think.

She wanted to trust his words, and believe with all of her heart that he truly loved her, but she knew that words only meant so much. People would say anything to get what they wanted.

"God, help me," She prayed and pulled into the supermarket parking lot.

Matthew's Market was the supermarket with the best prices and they had everything you could ever want, but it was where the upper-crust whites shopped. Meaning that coloreds weren't normally allowed to shop there, and if they were, they would get horrible customer service and looks of disgust.

Eleanor didn't want to shop there, but it was the closest to her house and she didn't want to be out too late.

As she walked into Matthew's, her skin crawled by all of the stares and whispers directed at her.

She kept her remarks in her head and gathered everything that she needed in the basket. She wanted to be in and out of the store.

"Norah?" She heard as she reached for a carton of milk.

'Oh, God.' She thought as her heartbeat sped up. She didn't have to turn around to know that Dale was right behind her. His voice was etched in her memory, without her permission of course.

Eleanor took a deep breath and turned around with her eyes closed. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. He made her an emotional wreck. "Um, hi," She whispered with false confidence, though her facial expression told Dale the truth.