Dianne Cummings was head of the Christmas Party Planning Committee for her church. She was excited about it the first months but now⊠she was standing in the dairy section having a crisis of faith while having a staring contest with the cow mascot on a gallon of milk.
âUhm, Maâam?â The young grocer asked as he adjusted the yogurt he was stocking.
âMaybe I should call it âIs this Dystopia What Our Lord Would Have Wanted Christmas Party?â But who would come to *that*?"
âUhm ...?â
Dianne startled at the sound of his voice. âOh hi! I didnât see you there, young man. Am I in your way?â
âNo. Are you okay?â
âOf course! Why wouldnât I be?â
âI have been shelving for twenty minutes and you havenât moved a muscle.â
âOh.â
âAnything I can help you with?â
Sizing the young man up, with a glance. âDo you have any objections to fucking me stupid in the nearest bathroom to help me clear my head so I can figure out how to plan my churchâs Christmas party in three days? I have had three months to plan but after the catastrophe that happened in the November election, I have lost my will to live and therefore my faith in god. So maybe having some good dick will renew my faith in *Humanity* and maybe my faith in god at least in the performative sense to plan this party, that the entire congregation has been looking forward to for *months.* â
The grocer blinked. âMy shift is over in ten minutes.â
He took a step closer, moving into her space with a boyish smirk that flooded his youth with a confidence normally found in men twenty years his senior. âDo you want to know my name? Or is the fact that Iâm a stranger part of the appeal?â
âYouâve done this before.â
âIâm not a virgin, if thatâs what youâre asking.â
âI am.â
âYou sure you want your first time to be with some random guy in the public bathroom of a grocery store three days before Christmas day in the middle of the night?â
âIf not you, then who? I spent my whole life waiting for the right man to come along and Iâm still all aloneâ
âYou must have a pretty high bar for men to meet.â
âWell then, itâs time I lowered it.â
Dianne unzipped her hoodie jacket. The gravitational pull of her now-visible cleavage drew his gaze instantly.
âMm,â he grunted in a tone of masculine appreciation.
She had started to zip her coat back up when he pulled her close and kissed her full on the mouth. The kiss made her feel vulnerable, compliant, receptive, and needy.
His hands explored their way down her sides and slipped under her skirt to rub a finger against her damp panties. The kiss broke just enough for them both to breathe.
âShit⊠this is crazy,â he chuckled against her lips.
âYou wanna stop?â
âHell, no!â
Lips on lips again, her hands were shaking when she reached to unfasten his jeans.
She broke the kiss to whisper, âCondoms.â
âAisle Three, Toward the Pharmacy," he answered reflexively, his breath heavy.
Running to grab them, she returned to the dairy section. She felt the frown forming as she saw he wasnât there. Did she scare him off, she wondered, her jacket still open, her cleavage still exposed. She sucked her teeth and just stashed the lubricant and box of condoms on an end cap shelf of chips Maybe he was a delusion? What kind of a man would just make out with a stranger in the middle of the grocery store anyway?
âYou change your mind?â he called out to her. She slowly turned around. He was standing there in a leather jacket instead of the apron he had on before.
âI thought *you* had.â
âNaw, I just went to go clock out.â
He grabbed the condom box and the lubricant with the wide width of one hand. âIâma put these back.â