He walked into the store with a youthful gait. He wore casual tan shoes, a blue denim shirt, well-fitted blue jeans. He had on his black Covid mask, but I imagined that under that mask, his smile was brilliant.

It was his eyes that caught my attention. They were a piercing green color. It was almost like a deep forest green. They exuded peace, serenity, and contentment.

He had a few happy wrinkles around his eyes, which actually intensified their clarity. His hair was a silver-blonde color, and it looked very healthy and clean.

I’m terrible with age, but he appeared to be in his late 60’s. I wonder what he did for a living.

As I followed him surreptitiously with my grocery cart, he stopped in the produce department to examine the lemons. Wow, I noticed that each lemon was marked at $1.50. He paused and then put one in his cart. I wondered what its purpose would be in his kitchen. I wondered if he cooked or lived with a person who did the cooking. He did not wear a wedding ring or any other jewelry on his hands.

I continued to follow the man with mounting curiosity. He stopped quite a few times in the produce department, picking up a red pepper, a cucumber, a head of Boston lettuce, and a few tomatoes.

Hmm, I like what he eats. I was curious to see if he would stop at the fish counter; my excitement increased as he totally ignored all those manly steaks and beef concoctions, especially the spare ribs. I always wondered what the term “spare ribs” meant. Did cows have extra ribs?

My focus continued as he stopped at the fish counter. Yes! The fish guy put a freshly wrapped piece of some kind of white fish in his hands.

I immediately concluded that his diet was a healthy one.

Would those twinkling green eyes skip the Krispy Creme doughnuts positioned in the middle of the grocery store aisle so shoppers would be tempted to buy them?

Yes, he skipped the Krispy Cremes!! He continued down the dairy aisle, adding some cheeses and yogurts to his cart.

Now this green-eyed man was even more interesting.

The fork in the road led to the alcohol section of the store – beer, wines, champagnes, hard ciders of all sorts. No – he reached for a couple bottles of sparkling seltzer water!

Yes! Yes!

He picked up a pack of chewing gum as he approached the self-check and glanced at the newspapers and magazines. He picked up a Red Bull energy drink, read the label, and put it back on the shelf.

I secretly watched him methodically scan his items from my real person cashier checkout line.

I hoped the line would move faster as I really needed to follow this mystery man out of the store.

My interest was piqued!

As I burst into the bright afternoon sun and heat, I lost him in the parking lot. I immediately whipped off my mask and stepped up my pace. My heart was racing as I found him heading to a black SUV van with a bumper sticker that said “Who Rescued Who?” with a black paw print on the side.

Now I was frantic as this stranger could be my soul mate.

I was parked a few cars away as I noticed that he rolled down his window and proceeded to back out of his parking space.

I had to get a copy of his license plate so my “connection” at the DMV could run the plates and give me the information I needed.

Oh no. He turned on the music in his car. The blaring sounds of a fiddle and country music blasted out of his window. The lyrics of the song lamented the loss of a woman.

  He obviously liked country music. This “mistake” could be rectified, I told myself, when we were eternally united in future marriage. I could wear earbuds! And so could he….