You're grocery shopping and as you're desperately thinking of what to make for dinner (am I the only one who questions at least 5 times a week, "What, they want another evening meal?") you round the corner of an aisle and a scant breath later hear something fall. The thud of apples. The clatter of cans. The muffled thump as cereal boxes topple.You pause. Could that have been your fault?
And then...do you go back or do you just go on?
You're perusing a rack of (sale) clothes at the local department store. The blouses are all jammed together, making it a bit of trouble to move each along the rod. As you do, one of the items slides free of its hanger to fall onto the floor. You're not interested in that item (ugly color) and it's not your fault that it wasn't properly designed to stay on the darn hanger.
Do you leave it on the ground or retrieve and rehang it?
You're at the tail end of a librarian's conference in Las Vegas. Everyone's been giving you the evil eye because you're going rogue and advocating
against the Dewey Decimal System (you even wear a pin that reads "Dewey" with a red slash through it). Thanks to your best friend, you meet a man who spends two days showering you with admiration. He's sexy, funny, and a firefighter too. You discover you share similar tastes and that his kisses taste divine. On a crazy impulse, when your best friend marries his best friend in an Elvis-inspired ceremony, the two of you get married as well. The next morning, you're appalled by the fix you're in and you have a job you need to get to on the other side of the country.Do you stop and deal with the dilemma or run away in a (slightly) hungover panic?
Such is the problem for the heroine of my latest book from Silhouette Special Edition, Runaway Bride Returns. And as the title tells you, Bernadette Cavaletti does return to her firefighter husband-on-a-whim, Owen Marston, after she hears about an injury he sustains on the job. The story tells of how they deal with their rash decision and determine whether either can turn away from the other again. It's a follow-on story from my earlier January Special Edition, I Still Do, which chronicled the romance of their two friends, Will and Emma, who married on that same night in Las Vegas.
I'm assuming nobody here married impulsively and then took off, but what if you did? Or would you return to restack the apples? Do you bend down to pick up that slinky top that just won't stay on its hanger? Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner to receive an Advance Reader's Copy of my June single title romance, Dirty Sexy Knitting.
43 comments:
Hmmm.... Do I stop to pick up the apples? I haven't ever had this happen to me, that I can remember anyway, but I definitely would help pick it up if I knew for sure that I knocked them down. And I guess if I wasn't sure I'd probably help too. And now that I think about it, I would probably at least make an attempt to help even if I knew I hadn't knocked them down.... I guess that one would depend on the circumstances.
The slinky top? I'm trying to remember what I do when that happens.... I think I pick them up and hang them back again. Now, ones that are already on the floor? I leave as is.... Is that a bad thing?
Would I run and then come back to my new husband? I just can't even conjure up an answer for that one. I am such a "non-spontaneous" person that I can't imagine ever having gotten married on a whim in the first place!!!
GladysMP, please e-mail kathleen.eagle@comcast.net with your mailing info. You won Pam Crooks's drawing!
MarthaE, you won my drawing on Tuesday. Please fire off an e-note to kathleen.eagle@comcast.net with your info.
Congrats, ladies!
Wow, Christie. .. moral relativism first thing in the morning! I am so there.
Me, I always pick up the slinky top that fell and hang around the rolling apples and tumbled boxes trying to right things. What can I say, I'm a responsibility sponge. Or is that guilt?
Anyway, if I got soused and horny and married a guy and then ran away. . . I'd definitely head back to see what was up and face the music. Or is that feel the heat?
The curiosity factor would be enormous! What made me DO such a thing?
This book sounds fascinating!
I don't know how else to do this--sorry for the interruption, folks. MarthaE, I see that you sent an e-mail, but I've searched all the boxes and can't find it. Would you mind resending?
I would pick up the apples and the blouse. It happened last night we were grocery shopping my daughter walked by something and it fell she picked it up. Then she walked away, it fell again. She was going to leave it and I went over and picked it up.
I pick up clothes from the floor and hang them up or refold them all the time - even when I'm not the one who dropped them. I don't know if it's common courtesy or many years spent working retail, but the thought of the clerks having to do it irritates me for some reason. I make my kids do it, too, which irritates them, LOL.
The apples are a toughie. That's got the embarrassment factor, too. I'd like to think I'd stay to pick them up. *thinking*... yes, I'm pretty certain I would.
You're right, the embarrassment factor does come in if the whole stack of apples tumbles. If I knew for a fact I'd done it, I'd of course pick them up. But boy, if I'm already in the other aisle when it happens... I want to hope it was someone else. I'm a hoper.
As for those tops. I have to say I mostly pick them up. But haven't you had it that they again fall, you try again, they slip off again...then I'm done. I get to thinking it's up to the designers/stores to come up with a better system after a couple of tries.
I would pick up what fell, if I was not having back problems at that particular time. I have seen people that have left items they cuased to drop. If it is an older person who has dropped something I always offer to help them. I think of my own mother, who would not be able to bend over to pick it up.
It is just like at home, my mom always made us pick up our toys and things that we dropped on the floor, so why should we not have the same consideration for others items we drop, when we are outside the home and are at fault.
If something is my fault I try to correct it. So if I was the one who caused the apples to fall or the shirt to fall, I would pick them up and fix it.
However, this reminds me of something that happened a few years back when I was on vacation. I was the only person on the water aisle in a WalMart. While I was on the aisle, a gallon of water fell off the shelf and started pouring out onto the floor. Now I know I did not cause the water to fall because 1) I was a long distance down the aisle from where the water fell and 2) I had not touched anything on the aisle yet. Well, it shocked me when I heard it hit the floor. I did not want to be blamed for it, so I moved on as soon as possible.
Even though it wasn't my fault, I feel like I should have done something to clean it up. I think if I was in that situation again, I would have handled it differently.
Raven99: Your reluctance was totally understandable. I can see myself contacting an employee and spending ten minutes trying to convince them it wasn't my fault.
Kathleen: It's true that sometimes we =can't= pick up the item. I hadn't thought of that, but hope I would notice if an older person needed help. I try to point out to my sons to look for possibilities like that. Such as making them notice, say, that someone is struggling to get a stroller through a door so that they'd rush forward and help out.
Christie, your newest release sounds really fun. I'll have to add it to my eHarlequin order tonight.
I try to always pick up the tops that fall of the hangers in stores as well as the cans in the grocery store.
Apples--if I was still there, then yes, I'd help. If I was past them and shopping an aisle over, I'd keep going and assume it wasn't me.
Shirts I pick up, if I'm down there and see one I *didn't* drop, I'll grab it too.
The marriage thing. That's a hard one becuase I can't see myself doing something like that. BUT, I think I would go back and face the music. That kind of "loose-end" would keep me up at night otherwise
Hmm, if I'm already around the corner, I wouldn't go back for the apples, boxes, or cans that toppled.
The blouse I would pick up, but probably not re-hang, if they're all crammed on the rack, just get it off the floor.
I'd never marry someone I met in Vegas, esp. if I lived and worked in another state. But a one-night fling with a firefighter sounds superb. :)
And omg, if they do away with Dewey, I can just bet it'll be ME that will have to re-sticker, re-sort, and reshelve all those thousands of books in my library. What a nightmare! *shudders*
I do try to pick up things that have fallen even though I didn't do it. I especially hate it when people leave garments on the floor and step on them leaving their dirty footprints on it.
ForestJane: That's why I write books. I get to pretend to have one-night stands with firefighters.
Really, though, the doing away with Dewey thing is for real! I read about it in my local newspaper, and I just loved the idea of a rebellious librarian.
Jane: I have a love of clothes and shopping and those clothes on the floor beneath the rack always get to me. Sort of like abandoned children!
I'm an apple picker-upper. I'm also a straightener. If I'm in the book store, or the grocery aisle, or wherever, my need for order sees me straightening the boxes or tomatoes or whathaveyou.
As for the shirts, that's weird because I usually walk away. If it's in my hand as it's slipping I'll put it back on the hanger. Otherwise I'm like, it's the store's fault they packed the things in so tightly.
Now I find that odd, since I will rescue produce yet obviously not fabric. Hmm...
Liza: I hope you enjoy the book! There are so many nice people here, ready to face the music and even pick up other people's messes.
Everybody want to come over and pick up my house? I'll make cookies...
Michele: I think it's because in my scenario I made the clothes rack jammed. That's annoying and not a good way to merchandise on the store's part.
OTOH, those poor apples were just sitting there innocent as can be...
Clothes on the floor (falling while I'm looking)...yep. I pick it up. Seems to happen to me on a regular basis.
Apples falling?? I'd probably pick up.
Heck - I've been know to pick up something that been put in the wrong place and move it to where is goes (for example...should be on shelf #3 but someone put it on shelf #2.)
I love category book, Christie. Put my name in the drawing!
thanks
I usually pick up clothing that falls as I'm checking out the racks.
Never had fruit fall on floor but probably would be sooo embarrassed so I'd walk away. Depends how many people around.
I never on impulse would do the marriage thing.
I probably would not admit that I knocked the apple cart over but I have picked up books and magazines that have fallen off the shelves in a bookstore. However, I refuse to pick up those little inserts from magazines wanting you to suscribe to them ..they blanket the floor in the magazine aisles.
JOYE
JWIsley AT aol.com
If I knock something over in the grocery store or a department store I make sure it is out of the way and can't be a problem for someone else.
Honestly? I would pick up the apples even if I didn't think it my fault (or would help pick them up even if happened to someone else) and I would hang up the slinky top.
Hi Chrisie - your book premise had me laughing out loud!! The other two dilemmas are easy in comparison! I almost always pick up the dropped blouse and try to unjam the hangers.. quirk of mine! I would get stock help or let someone know about the downed apples and would help if I thought I might have bumped it!
Kathleen - I did send again. Hope you got it. If not I suggested you try sending me an e-mail to mesreads[at]gmail[dot]com!
Thanks!
You guys oops guess thats gals...or maybe folks!... are fun here!
Oh, gad. Those inserts in magazines! They fall out on me all the time at the gym when I'm on the stepmill. What a nuisance, because then I have to pause my workout, climb down, pick them up...
Oh boy, dilemmas. . . sure hate dilemmas. :)
the apples/cans, keep going, since that's going to be a way bigger job than I could do, and hopefully it wasn't my fault.
Blouses, sure rehang. . .
the Las Vegas on. . . well, I think I actually wish I would find myself in that dilemma. Might be fun! LOL :) But in a serious manner for a moment, yeah, would stay to deal with it, after all, this is a pretty major thing. Then we might suggest to both runaway for a while until we figure something out. Something to that effect. All I know is, I rather live through someone else with this situation than it actually happening (though in my dreams, sure!) :)
Lois
Hmm, the apples no--too much work for my old back. The top I could handle I think/
Ruth m
I would pick up anything that fell at the grocery store and the blouse.
You know sometimes I do pick up things that fall form the shelf or off of a hanger. There was one time though that my husband knock over a whole display of WD Forty at Lowes and we booked out of that store quick. We where buying a grill and had it on top of a cart. Well dear Hubby didn't like the way I was driving the cart and grabbed it out of my hands and then ran straight into that display of WD Forty and knocked them all over the floor. Dear Hubby was know as the WD Forty man for a long time after that.
What a great setup for a book, Christie!
I usually pick stuff up. It's good exercise. But if I change my mind on an item when I'm on the other side of the store, I have to confess, I don't always go back and put it in the right place. I might leave it with the cashier, but I have been known (to my guilty self) to leave a package of cookies that I REALLY DON'T NEED on the bread endcap.
Hmm...I think I'm an apple picker-upper. But first I say, "I didn't do that!" LOL!
RUNAWAY BRIDE RETURNS! sounds great. I think the best fiction is about dilemma.
I not only pick up the apples and the tops but I pick up things that others dropped too lol.
I'd not have it in me to marry and take off. I would restack the apples and pick up the slinky top all the while saying a few things under my breath. lol Hopefully, someone would help with those apples.
I pick up the apples, I pick up the top,I put the clothes in the dressing room back on the hangers...by gawd the least I can do is go back and check up on that guy I married on impulse in the Elivis chapel. I mean really. It's the least I can do. Plus he's (I assume) hot.
i dont do those things lol
i pick th e apples yes
kh
Since I work in a grocery store , I would pick up the apples or contact the produce people to pick them up.
If you don't want an item please drop it off with a cashier. It makes leveling go faster at the end of the day when everyone wants to get home. Also things won't get spoiled. We've had customers leave meat and other perishables in nonrefrigerated areas, IT ALL GETS TOSSED AT A LOSS FOR THE STORE!!
Clothes I will pick up IF it falls again I lie it on top of the rack.
Marriage in Vegas with a stranger sounds intriguing! I'd go back or hope he searched for me because the chemistry must have been HOT!!
I'd probably pick up the apples, and the clothes....but I wouldn't to it neatly, so there - Rebel! *laughing*
I'd pick up the apples, probably not correctly, how do they get them to stay like that?
I'd pick up the slinky top, but give up on the hanger, just put it on top on the rounder.
I'd head back the man and give it a try, who knows what could happen?
Dottie :)
gymmom_027@yahoo.com
I generally pick up the fallen blouse and re-hang it. I would probably restack the apples, depending on the time crunch that I'm in. An impulsive marriage? I'd definitely stay to figure that one out. That one won't resolve itself, and no one else can fix that one for you like the other scenarios where that is actually someone's job to fix those problems.
Isn't anybody thinking of the person behind you who picks up an apple that was ON THE FLOOR and then takes it home? Or is that my own laziness showing through?
I'd definitely re-hang the shirt. That's a no brainer. But the apples? I'd contact a produce guy / gal and let him know about the apple situation... then watch what he does with them. If they go back on the display, my days of shopping there are over.
As for my poor husband left behind after I fled the marriage... I can't even fathom how I'd deal.
Would I go back and pick the stuff up? Sometimes I would and sometimes I wouldn't. HEY I'm being totally honest with you ok. It would really depend on my mood and what my head was telling me and some days it isn't good. Would I marry some guy on the spur of the moment? Not sure, maybe but I do know that if I did I would go back and find out why? Staying married, well that's another story. I was married to an alpha male for 27 years, but he was KIA in Iraq and I'm not sure if there is a guy that would measure up. Why do you think I read? If I can't have my man at least I'll read about one/or two/or three, lol
MSGWife: My condolences to you. I'm sure you miss your alpha guy dreadfully. So sorry.
Venus: I never thought about the apple being on the floor and then back on the stack!
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