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Sawyer stays true to his word, even though it is late. He wearily climbs the stairs to his apartment and collects Hannah. It was ten o’clock at night when they arrive at the super-store. Hannah would have been lying if she said she wasn’t excited. She is filled with awe and wonder as they step through the doors of the large establishment. Her mouth is gaping open as she takes in the sight before her. Sawyer glances at her and begins laughing. He finds it endearing at how the simplest things are so fascinating to her. He wishes he could be as excited about this super-store as she is.
Sawyer retrieves a shopping cart, grabs Hannah’s hand and leads her down the first aisle they come to.
“What kind of vegetables and fruit do you like?” he questions. Hannah gazes at the assortment around her. She honestly doesn’t know what she likes, she was only allowed one kind of fruit, and she doesn’t remember what she liked before she was taken.
“I don’t really know. The only fruit I was ever given was apples. I had an occasional potato, but mostly I just had lunch meat, eggs, and bread for most of my meals.”
Sawyer is upset by this. He immediately begins bagging up several diverse kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables. He is clueless as to what some of them were, but they can figure it out together. He can’t fathom letting her go another day without having an opportunity to try everything that she wants.
“Sawyer, what’s a kumquat?” Hannah questions with a confused expression as she reads the sign of the fruit he was placing in a bag.
“I really have no idea, but we will figure it out. We are going to experiment together. Let’s try a different food every day. This could be fun, right?” he says to her enthusiastically. Hannah shares in his eagerness and begins helping him bag the food.
They stroll down every aisle, grabbing a mixture of junk food and healthy food. Their shopping cart was overflowing with chips, crackers, candy, fruit, vegetables, frozen pizza, soda, popcorn, and upon Sawyers insistence, a can of spray cheese.
“Really, spray cheese? It doesn’t even sound like it would taste good. It’s not even refrigerated. Isn’t all cheese supposed to be kept cold? I think you will have to try that on your own,” Hannah laughs. Sawyer frowns as he puts it in the cart anyway.
“Don’t come begging for some once you see how delicious it is. Oh, we need ice cream. Lots of ice cream!” Sawyer declares as he rushes toward the frozen aisle. He grabs the cookies and cream flavor, while Hannah has a hard time choosing.
“Come on babe, just pick one. If you don’t like it, I’ll eat it,” he smiles while wiggling his eyebrows.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t decide. All of them sound good. I think I will pick French vanilla,” she decides, quite pleased with herself.
“Vanilla? Ugh, that’s so boring! We have to buy some chocolate syrup. Oh, and cherries. Better get some caramel, sprinkles, brownies, Oreos, and nuts. We can make sundaes and eat them for dinner! Who says we have to eat regular food. We can do what we want! This is going to be great, I can’t believe I have never done this before!” Sawyer carries on planning their menu for the next week, which seems to revolve around eating ice cream for every meal.
“Earth to Sawyer! We need to get some other stuff too. Let’s walk over to the shampoo, Shelley gave me a sample of some but I’m almost out.”
Sawyer shakes his head and leads her to the toiletry aisle. Hannah selects some fruit scented shampoo and grabs some other things she thinks she might need.
“Hey sweetheart, what do you like to do? Like, do you have any hobbies?” he inquires of her gently. Hannah stops for a moment and looks at him. He can tell she is trying to think of a way to answer him.
“I like to read, but the books that were given to me weren’t complete, and there were very few of them. I always wanted to learn how to draw, like really draw and paint. I thought that would be relaxing. I want to try some movies. I haven’t seen any since I was little. Oh, and I want to listen to music,” she replies shyly. Sawyer smiles and tells her to follow him. He takes her to the office supply section. He quickly begins throwing some sketch pads, pencils, crayons, paints, and canvases in the cart before she can object. He then spies some coloring books for adults and puts them in as well. Hannah regards him with awe, but before she can say anything he walks off. She hastily catches up with him in the next aisle where the books are located.
“Babe, what would you like to read?” he asks, grinning. She steps past him, putting a hand to her mouth to try to hide her squeal. Hannah runs her other hand over the various titles of books in front of her. She picks up a mystery novel, and a romance novel, gazing upon their covers. She then eyes a book of fairy tales. Sawyer notices this and picks it up as well and puts it in the cart. Hannah blushes as he does this.
“I know it’s a kid book, but I never got to find out the endings for myself. The book I was given had the end of each story ripped out. My mom told me the endings as best as she could, but I always wanted to read it for myself.” Sawyer’s heart aches at this confession. He can’t believe that this beautiful, kind woman standing before him could have lived like she did. He is now determined to help make up for her lost years.
“I have a lot of music at home and books as well, probably too much. We can look through those anytime and then see what you like and get more of that kind. As for movies, I don’t have very many. Let’s go look for something we both would like to watch.” She agrees and trails him to the entertainment section next. They ponder over the numerous titles. Sawyer picks a horror movie, but Hannah swiftly rejects his choice. She selects a couple of Disney movies. Sawyer doesn’t seem too thrilled by this but consents to it only because he knows he isn’t able to tell her no. He will just have to grin and bear it. He voices to himself that they should be better than sitting through some stuffy, period piece romance movie.
They both stand back and look at their full cart. Sawyer turns to Hannah, observing her. She is so happy and carefree. She is delighted over the most unpretentious things. This makes him pleased and full of pride, in that he can help her feel this way. He then motions for her to join him to check out by offering his hand to her again. She accepts it without reluctance, unlike the previous times he has offered. He grins at her and continues walking.
They arrive back at the apartment well after midnight. Sawyer is busy bringing up the bags of groceries while Hannah is putting the items away. When Sawyer is finished with the last load he closes and locks the door. Hannah is still putting the food in the fridge when she hears some music coming from the living room. As she turns to investigate further, she is met at the doorway by Sawyer. He is singing along with the upbeat song playing and grabs her hands and twirls her around. This catches Hannah off guard, she laughs out loud nonetheless. The song changes to one with a slower beat. Sawyer then wraps his arm around her waist and brings one of her hands to rest on his upper arm and takes her other hand in his. He then begins to slowly dance with her. She blushes and steps on his feet, apologizing constantly. He quiets her and smiles down at her. When the song ends, he steps back, bows, and thanks her for the dance. She laughs again and claps for him.
“What song was that? I liked it,” Hannah questions.
“That my dear was off one of my mom’s CDs from the eighties. I have no idea what the song is, but I like it,” he laughs. Hannah notices that he has been laughing a lot this evening. She joins him, and they both chuckle. They know they are finding things funny due to their fatigue, but they don’t care. He helps her put the remainder of the groceries away, and they continue to dance around the apartment while doing so. Sawyer tells her that they can play the music as loud as they want because they don’t have any neighbors. The buildings that surround his are vacant right now. With this, Hannah walks to the stereo and turns the volume up higher.
“Sweetheart, I think the time has come for you to be formally introduced to the greatest band to grace the world. Get ready to be completely amazed.” Hannah snickers at him and waits patiently while Sawyer changes the music. He turns to her with a wide smile as the stereo comes to life again. The music seems very familiar to her. She stops giggling and listens intently. Hannah strides over to the stereo and starts changing the songs, searching for one she has a feeling is there. Sawyer stands beside her, looking curiously at her.
“I know this, my mom used to dance with me to these songs when I was younger. I know there is one, it was with these songs. I’ll know it when I hear it. It was her favorite . . .” She stops as the next song’s melody begins to fill the apartment. She starts smiling and jumping up and down.
“This is it! Sawyer! This was my mom’s favorite song! We would sing and dance to it all the time. She was always playing it! I can’t believe you have it!” she yells excitedly. Sawyer smiles because he knows this song well.
“This isn’t even one of their most popular songs. I can’t believe your mom was a Zeppelin fan. Well, you come from good stock,” he laughs as “D’yer Mak’er” plays through the speakers. He takes her hand and begins twirling her again while singing along. This time she joins him, the words coming back to her. When the song ends, she sits down on the floor with silent tears running down her face.
“Hey babe, why the long face?” She looks up at him and smiles.
“I didn’t think I would ever hear that song again. A lot of memories just came rushing back. Thank you, Sawyer. Thank you for everything.” She crawls over to him and embraces him tightly, which he returns eagerly.
“Don’t thank me, babe. I’m glad you’re happy, and I’m glad that your mom was a Zeppelin fan. Guess I put you in the right shirt that first night after all,” he chuckles into her hair while still holding her. She laughs once more, and they stay in that position for quite some time.