“I love it!” I manage as I swallow back my tears of joy. I throw myself around him and say, “Thank you.”
He lifts me up and twirls me just once before setting me down. “Happy?”
Smiling up at him, I respond, “More than happy.”
THE SECRET IS IN THE TELLING
There is something you don’t know
I don’t want to tell you
But tonight somebody else will
So please understand why
Just remember the secret is in the telling.
Every town and every city has something that makes it a little unique. For Brentwood, it must be the beautiful white Dogwood trees that line its streets and the serendipity of the quaint shops, all very different but co-mingling so well. Downtown Brentwood is a small but trendy area. Its old fashioned streetlights display banners, its stores are covered with different colored awnings, and its Main Street sidewalks are even paved in bricks.
Having left the car in a small parking garage on a side street, we’re walking through the town where River grew up. We walk, with his one arm slung around my shoulder and my hand in his back pocket; he’s carrying ‘Stella’ on his other shoulder. We are on our way to what River described as his local neighborhood bar. It’s dusk, but light enough that I can see the town. It doesn’t look like an area where the word local seems to be the best description, but I’ll go with it. It’s actually very upscale. There’s a movie theater, a florist, retail shops, galleries, and many restaurants and bars. People are walking like they don’t have a care in the world, just browsing, talking, and laughing; just like us.
One place in particular catches my eye; it’s a bookstore named Fiction Vixen. My love for literature draws my attention toward the two piles of books in the large windows located on both sides of its front door. The books are displayed in a Christmas tree-like fashion with lights wrapping them. Pointing the store out to River, he laughs softly and tells me his mother’s friend, Vicki Mixen, owns it. He goes on to say that she has always been crazy about books and that when he was fourteen she decided to open a bookstore. He spent that whole summer helping her get it ready to open for business. It was his first job. He tells me that he hauled and stacked so many books that he never wanted to look at another book again. Then he jokes that it’s why he opted not to go to college. Again we both laugh and continue toward the bar.
I take in all the splendors that surround us. The visual makes me think of the Entertainment Complex at the Grove. I can’t help but smile at the memory of the wonderful day we had there, along with everything else we did. After the arcade we stopped at Whole Foods to purchase a few items, my priority being coffee and creamer. Picking up a late lunch from the deli, we made it back to the house in time for the prearranged delivery of all the items River purchased earlier today.