"Publix, today, huh? Fancy." Juliette commented, impressed.

Andy pulled into a parking spot in front of the impeccably organized and welcoming grocery store. Having left his bandana at home, he swept his curls behind his ears before removing his key from the ignition and looked over at his smiling niece with a sleepy and content grin on his face.

"I was thinkin' we could use a lil 'treat yo self' kind of shopping experience today."

"Candy--," Juliette's face fell completely as she placed her hand on top of her uncle's as he leaned sideways to exit the Datsun. "Don't you ever ever say 'treat yo self' again. I'm horrified."

As they both approached the wide and bright storefront, he chuckled and nudged her shoulder to which Juls shrugged at in response.

"Honestly, it's all my fault. All that Parks and Rec binge-watching that one summer. It was inevitable, really."

His eyes gleamed upon her with interest as they both meandered toward the automatic doors.

Juls grabbed a shopping cart and rolled her shoulders back as she gripped the green handle.

"You're especially chipper today, Julie."

"Grocery shopping never fails to make me happy, Candy."

He nodded in response, still keeping his squinted eyes on her face until he caught sight of the weekly store ad and picked it up. Juls left her uncle's side and looked over the bunches of grapes on display a few feet away.

"Red or green?"

"Whatever you want, kid. Get two of 'em." He continued to scan over the sales while Juliette put one of each into the cart and wheeled it further onward.

"Whoa, now. Slow down. Put that cereal in the cart, please," Andy had just caught up to her and was lamenting over the Corn Pops she had passed by.

"Candy. Again. Really?" Juls turned around and put a hand on her hip.

He tapped at the small sign encased in plastic next to him with the rolled up ad in his fist. "They're Buy One Get One. They bring me back to my younger days."

She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and placed two boxes of Corn Pops in the cart. "There are so many other options, Candy. Healthier ones."

"You do Kashi, I do Corn Pops. Let's move on." He tossed the ad into the front basket of the cart and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Fine," Juls put her hands up in defeat and they headed over to the produce section.

"Corn's on sale!"

"I'll go husk some. Go on ahead and look over our usuals." Andy instructed as he studied the corn and began setting a pile aside.

Every now and then his eyes lifted up to see where Juls was and then he commenced shucking the ten ears of corn before him.

He had not noticed her there before, but as he absentmindedly threw some husk into the large plastic bin in front of the corn display, his hand touched another customer's hand. The hand belonged to a lady with rich brown hair, the color of melted chocolate.

"Sorry," she smiled up at him, allowing her eyes to meet his for only a second before going back to shucking her own ears of corn. Her pile was much smaller than Andy's.

His chest rose when she looked up into his eyes for that second.

For a moment he felt as if he was floating.

Holding onto the ear of corn in his hand did nothing to assure him of the absolute presence of gravity, though. Until he steadied himself by removing another vibrant green shred of husk and letting it fall into the bin below, his mind was not his.

Andy's blood, instantly injected with a sweetly numbing yet euphorically teasing mix of chemicals,  as his eyes took in the first sight of the stranger's toffee-colored irises, coursed throughout his body and brain...

and even found channels deeply inward to that part of his soul that every day yearned for another. His other.

His shaky voice cracked a bit as he tried to spark a conversation with her.

His gears were definitely rusty and needed some oiling, but he carried on with his attempt to get the brown-eyed beauty's eyes locked with his again.

"Nice ears." Andy's cheeks reddened after what he had just said, though he was certain had he been able to see her ears he would would be correct.

The lady's cheeks flushed pink as well and her eyelids fluttered as she stole a look at his face while lifting her free hand up to where her left ear would be if it were not blanketed with hair. She then looked up at him, squarely, dumbfounded.

Andy cleared his throat. It was a weaker attempt than what he was going for. He cleared his throat once again, but this time it came out rather abruptly and the lady's shoulders slightly jumped in response. He brought his free hand up in front of her assuring her he meant no harm before he explained himself.

"The ears of corn. They're nice."

"Oh," the lady let out a thick exhale and, not as bewildered as before, allowed her eyes to pass over Andy's features in a more open manner. "Ears of corn. Okay."

He smiled as the softness of her voice pleased him. Only one other person he had known in his life would speak in such a mild and gentle way.

Without hesitation, his heart seized at the sound of her and he stood there, before this lady in the grocery story, completely forgetting, or completely lacking interest in, shucking the rest of his corn.

The lady picked up Andy's curiosity in his eyes and in the way he tried getting closer to her, as he slightly leaned forward, even though there was a plastic bin between the two of them.

"I'm not from around here. Ears are only ears where I am from."

A deep chuckle simmered from within Andy's chest. The lady shucked her last piece of corn. Her hair fell more in her face then, and, though it pained her to do so, she swept her hair behind both of her ears, flustered.

Still holding the same piece of naked corn in his hand from before, Andy pointed it at her as the Southern charm he was raised with finally took over his brain waves, "Well, looky there. Not only do you have nice ears but they're pretty ones, too." His chest rose then, rather proud of himself, as he went back to shucking.

She put her corn in her cart and fidgeted with the its handle a little before Andy asked, "Where are you from?"

"Spain."

"That's nice. I've not set foot outside of the states."

By this point,  Andy only had a few more ears to shuck.

"Are you from here?"

"Blanesville? Yep, born 'n' raised in Georgia, though I lived over in Athens for a stint, too."

"Athens?"

He nodded as his movements became more fluid and quick. Only a couple more left. The lady's eyes, all the while smiling up at Andy, also took turns to rest upon his hands and arms as he did so. She wrung her fingers together before sliding her hands into the pockets of her short denim skirt.

"I have caught several babies in Athens."

Andy's shucking paused. He searched in her eyes--it was his turn to wear bewilderment across his sun-kissed face.

"Oh. Catching babies--it is a term midwives use. I have delivered many babies there. I am sorry."

Andy resumed shucking, "No, no. I get it now. You're a midwife?"

"Yes."

He shrugged as he bagged up his corn. "I work with my hands, too. I'm a mechanic. I own a shop  on the other side of town."

Her smile widened and her eyes lingered on his mouth as he spoke. "That is a much-needed profession."

"Not as needed as baby catchers, though. Pretty much anyone could fix a car. I can't tell you how many darn videos are up on the internet about car maintenance and repair."

After setting his bag of corn into his cart, the two of them naturally pushed their carts, side by side, as they rounded the display of corn and strolled by the wall of dark green veggies.

"I can not fix a car. I would not know where to start. I think I am scared of cars. I depend on my car so much. For work. It is not a job you can be late for."

Andy scanned over the items on sale on the other side of her. "Excuse me," he said as he took some steps behind her and leaned over to grab three bunches of asparagus. He returned to his cart and placed the long-stemmed peculiar-looking veggies in a bag. "I reckon not, huh? What kind of car do you drive?"

"A Honda Civic."

"Good little cars. Easy to maintain. She shouldn't give ya much trouble."

The lady turned toward the herbs and reached above her for some cilantro.

"Candy! Check out these apples. They smell so good! Lenny is going to go bananas. Wait! I need to go get bananas!" After gingerly placing an assortment of fruit in the cart, Juls left his side as quickly as she came to it.

Andy detected the amusement in the brunette's eyes.

"That was my niece," his eyes darted over to the mushrooms ahead of him, hoping to the heavens above that she did not notice Juliette's utterance of the word 'candy'.

As his very perky niece approached their cart once again, he tried with all his might to convey to her with only his eyes something along the lines of Juliette, please, you're a very smart girl--assess this situation and act accordingly...

Juls ran her fingers through her hair and stood there, quietly, gripping the bananas in her other hand.

Not quite certain what was going on between the hushed party to her side, the lady spoke up with a simple and friendly, "Hello."

Andy's shoulders slumped only a fraction yet Juliette noticed, and she placed the bananas in the cart as she smiled at the attractive stranger across from her. "Hello. I'm Juliette."

The lady nodded with a smile. "My name is Natalia."

"Natalia?" Andy was jolted back to the produce section by the feather-light presence of the lady's voice. "Oh, I'm Andy."

Before Juliette's eyes could roll or a giggle could escape, she took a step backwards before poking Andy's shoulder. "Um. Hey. I'll go on ahead to the freezer section, okay?"

Even though Andy heard what she said, he was still looking over at Natalia.

"Andy?"

He jerked his head over to his niece. "Mmhm?"

"Freezer section." Juls pointer fingers did a silly little dance next to her hips as she waited for her uncle to speak words.

He nodded, "Yeah--be sure to get Lenny's favorite ice cream. Chocolate fudge brownie somethin'? And whatever you and Jude would like, too. "

Natalia watched as Juliette's long hair flowed behind her as she made her way to the other side of the store.

"Your niece is very beautiful."

Andy scratched the side of his head before commenting, "Yes, she is. Smart as a whip, too."

Natalia smiled. "Do you often go grocery shopping with your niece? Are Lenny and Jude her parents?"

He pushed his cart onward and so did she.

"Yep. Every week or so. And, no. Lenny is her little sister and Jude is her twin brother."

"You're a very nice uncle. You are very involved in their lives it seems."

Andy shrugged and stopped right next to a mound of watermelons--the last of this long, drawn-out summer.

"I take care of them. As best as I can."

"Oh," Natalia came up around him and inspected the melons alongside him. "Are their parents busy?"

He set both of his hands, slowly and softly, on top of a large and smooth watermelon. His eyes traced the deep green streaks of its skin, from left to right.

"No. They passed away over five years ago."

Natalia did not know what to say. Though she was constantly translating from Spanish to English in her mind preparing what to say next, conversation usually always came easily to her.

Andy mumbled, "This one here looks like a good one." He smiled with only his eyes as he gathered the huge melon into his arms and set it gently down into his cart. "Would you like one, too?"

This was easier. "Yes. That one, please."

Andy reached over for the watermelon Natalia had pointed to.

He placed it in her cart and rubbed his hands on the front of his worn jeans, the ones with the holes at the knees.

"I think I'm going to go catch up with my niece now."

Trying her best to not look deflated, Natalia smiled warmly at the painfully beautiful man before her. "Okay. It was very nice meeting you,  Andy."

She offered her hand for him to shake. He shook it, nervously.

"Likewise, Natalia."

***

Andy had just loaded all the groceries into his Datsun. He told Juliette to go ahead and start up the car as he walked the shopping cart over to the corral. His cart slammed into the others with a little too much force before he turned around, sighed, and kicked at some loose rocks beneath his sneakers.

He lifted his eyes up as he neared the car and saw Juliette get out of it. She pointed her finger out ahead of them, out into the ocean of cars before them. She then brought her other hand up to hood her eyes from the blinding rays of sunshine above.

"Hey, Candy. Isn't that the lady from inside? Natalia?"

"Huh?" Andy squinted, following her pointed finger, not quite catching what Juls had said.

"Is that Natalia? Over there! Sounds like her--"

"Car won't start." Andy shut the car door he had just opened. "Wait here."

The afternoon sun was belting down brightly and freely having no single cloud in the sky to even attempt diminishing its light. The heat seared the back of Andy's neck as he jogged over to Natalia's ailing car. She tried to start the car again, but it moaned and groaned in protest just as it had before.

"Hey!" He shouted and smacked the hood of her car. At first, she looked frustrated and puzzled with the sight of him, and then she recognized who it was and smiled, sheepishly.

She rolled down her window and waved at him.

He was already in troubleshooting mode, though.

Andy motioned for her to open the hood with his hand already on it awaiting to press his fingers on the safety catch and lift it up. "Start it up one more time for me, please."

Andy nodded and tugged at the waist of his jeans that were slouching past his hip bones. He ran his fingers through his curls, sweat already collecting on his brows, as he came to her side.

"Hey, there." He leaned forward so they were almost eye level, his arms resting on her car's door.

"Hello." She could not wipe the smile off her face.

"You're gonna need a good ol' jump."

Natalia's heart caught in her throat. "A what?"

"A jump. I got jumper cables in my trunk. It's most likely your battery."

"Oh," she giggled and shook her head.

"Wait here. I'll be right back."

Natalia's hands slid down and around her steering wheel while her eyes followed Andy. The sun lit the back of his form as his body moved, almost as if it was purposely pointing right at him.

When he was a only a short distance away from her car, he turned his head quickly over in her direction and smiled at her before picking up his pace.

A/N:

I don't think anyone wants to hear me ramble about getting this chapter done//out (I know **cringes**, it has been almost a month since the last chapter)...but that won't stop me from dishing a bit. As I have had this same issue before with other chapters, I was apprehensive to write it and post it. This chapter is....sort of a big deal for our Candy!! Since it was for him, it was for me, too. Like seeing a baby walk for the first time----you know it'll happen one day, it's inevitable, but all you want to do is freeze time.

Share with me any thoughts....comments....votes....I  love them all.

xo,
Leanne

Malia, girrrrl, thanks for the challenge!! ;)
Mally knew about Natalia for several weeks, months maybe, haha.

Curious---were any of you hoping Andy would find someone, too?
(I completely understand if you want him all to yourself, though.)

<3

Secret insider info ::::::::::::: Krista will take over the next chapter!!