Sold into Marriage

Chapter 4: Shopping

Chapter 4: Shopping
Copyright 2021 by John Wells. All Rights Reserved.

Jane and I discuss her schooling, future job, and Dan while we drove an hour. Eventually, we reach a downtown street in the city of Oneonta. It was huge compared to everything I knew. Many people were walking on the sidewalks. The most I have seen together on a sidewalk was three kids heading for school together.

I had never seen so many cars on the road before. The most traffic I have ever seen is three or four cars heading to the same church as us. Usually, we have the road to ourselves. The traffic lights seemed to make worst traffic jams, so I asked Jane what purpose they served as I had never seen one before.

Jane responds, “this is the main street, so the cross streets would have stop signs. Given this traffic, they would sit there all day waiting for a break to go safely. The next best choice is all four roads into the intersection get stop signs. Then, the car sitting at the sign the longest gets to go. While it lets everyone go eventually, it is not very efficient. The traffic light lets small groups go, cutting the overall wait time between cars. This main road lets six cars go at once. The side roads let three of them go. They count the average cars to figure out the numbers that make sense. With traffic stopped for lights, some side streets can handle their traffic with stop signs because with a red light ahead, people will let them out.”

Jane pulls up in front of a store. “Valet parking; they will help us out,” she states as she unlocks the doors. A man opens my door and offers a hand to help me out. Another does the same for Jane. That one gets in and drives her car off.

She leads me inside. A woman hurries over. “Good afternoon, Ms. Jane. Another young lady from Mr. Weber.”

Jane responds, “this one is extra special, his daughter and heir.”

The woman turns to me, showing her name stating Tammy and manager, “welcome to my humble shop, Ms. Weber. It is an honor to serve you.”

I am tempted to correct Jane, but realize it is better to be a daughter than wife here, especially since he appears old enough to be my father. Therefore, I respond, “thank you. Please call me June. How would you like me to call you?”

She smiles, “June, you can call me Tammy. I am sure I will see you a lot in the years ahead.”

I look around and discover this must be for the dressy items. I head to the perfume counter because I always wanted to try them like some of my school friends.

“Jane,” I ask, “do you have a favorite?”

Jane responds, “I really love this one.” She picks it up and sprays some on her inside wrist. She holds her wrist towards my nose.

I really like it with its hint of pine and rose with something else I’ve never smelled before. I pick up the one next to it and sniff it. Definitely a vanilla based scent. After checking out all the scents, I finally pick the first two I smelled. Jane tells me where to put it, so I do so with my new vanilla one. A touch behind my ears, more at the bottom of my neck, and the inside of both my wrists.

The vanilla reminds me of my mom’s French Toast. She always added vanilla with the eggs and milk. Topped with maple syrup, we made from our trees. The only spices she used in cooking were salt and pepper beyond the vanilla.

I can not believe how much I am missing my family in so few hours. Though thinking about the syrup makes me glad I no longer have to carry the bucket of sap from the trees to the house. That filled five-gallon bucket was heavy, and the trees were at the far end of the property. I wish Stuart luck with it come March.

We proceed to the makeup counter and Jane teaches me how to use it and what I need. This is definitely making me feel like a princess. For everyday use, we get blush that adds a little red to my natural skin shade, mascara for my lashes to darken and thicken them, and clear lip gloss with and without sparkles. For when I dress up, we add concealer to match my skin shade to hide any acne or lines, lipstick replacing the gloss to add a little red to my natural lips color, and eye shadow close to my natural color with hints of red, blue, and green. We pick a few different blush, concealer, and lipstick to match my skin tones as I lose my tan.