Before the Horns - A Bob Velseb Story

Chapter 15

Odd was the only way Bob could describe the day he'd had. 

First of all, Sarah came in later than usual. Nothing wrong with it because she was still there ten minutes before opening, it just worried Bob a little when she was late. He always assumed something may have happened. In general, Sarah had been acting weird, staring, always seeming to be around the next corner, and abnormally quiet to name a few oddities. When John asked for a job, Sarah actually agreed to let him work at Boys & Grills, which caught Bob off guard. He was sure she didn't like him and he'd have to go to great lengths to get a yes from her. 

Corey had also come in that day, which Bob wasn't expecting at all but was a pleasant surprise. The two hadn't seen each other in maybe twelve years. Corey had moved out shortly after graduation in hopes of being an actor, which turned out well for him. Bob had also moved from their humble southern hometown, and went out to the suburbs to lead a more social life. Corey's wife, Nancy, had apparently grown up in the little suburb Bob had moved off to, and was even at the opening of Boys & Grills. Corey had said Nancy was a fan of the little butcher shop until she went off to college where the two met. He'd heard that Bob was running the place and decided to come say hi while he was in town.

Then, the bakery's oven went up in flames. The fire wasn't too hard to deal with since it'd only been one of the three ovens, but the fire department did get called. Bob had dealt with what he could with what he had, and the customers, employees, and firemen had thanked him for the help. Had he not went to extinguish what he could, the whole building would have burned. Bob had just shrugged it off, insistent he was no hero, but either way the bakery let him get his next purchase for free. He'd definitely be taking advantage of that no doubt.

After all that chaos in one day, patronage had skyrocketed after his lunch break. He hadn't sat down all day, and he still needed to go get John a uniform. Tomorrow was Friday, and therefore John's first day of work, so Bob left straight from work to the little kitchenware shop at which he'd bought Sarah's apron. Too bad he decided to walk to work today. Bob would have to walk all the way to the store and back afterward. He really wished he'd just driven to work for once.

And yet, through it all, Bob felt like he was forgetting something. Sarah had seemed upset at the end of the shift. It must have been related, he was sure of it. Sarah had wanted something. Sarah needed to ask a question about something. Sarah never got to ask her question! Bob felt awful, not wanting her to think he didn't value his employee's needs. It was probably fine, but he stressed over it either way. Bob went to go grab another plain red apron from the store. What if it had been really important? Sarah really seemed like she needed to ask, she'd been following him around all day trying to ask. He hoped it wasn't something enough to upset her too bad. Bob felt terrible. If only he had her number, he'd have called her to apologize and ask what she had needed. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she was just asking if he knew where something was. Even so, Bob really wished he'd been able to help in the moment. It had been such a crazy day he hadn't had any time for anything, but he still wished he'd done something.

Bob was so engrossed in his worries that he wasn't even looking where he was going anymore. He ran directly into another shopper, who'd been rushing down the isle. Neither her nor Bob were paying attention to what was ahead of them, so both collided without slowing or stopping. Being larger than the woman, Bob accidentally knocked her over, but still remained standing. Both had been thoroughly jostled, and dropped all of their items. Bob stepped back a moment, getting his bearings before going to help the woman. 

However, the face he was met by surprised him so badly, he was almost on the floor just like her. 

"Carol!" Bob gasped, face hot and mouth dry. He felt a little dizzy, watching the conversation play out.