The ride to the store was eerily quiet. Emma didn’t say much and Carlos didn’t know what to say.
“What store did you want to go to anyway?”
She shrugged, “I don’t know…is there a K-Mart or Wal-mart around here?”
“Wal-mart is the closest, we’ll go there.”
“Sorry you have to go with me, Kevin insisted on it and besides, I don’t have a drivers license.”
Carlos’ eyebrows shot up, “For real?”
“Yeah, for real.”
He looked over at her to question her further, but decided against it when he saw the sadness in her eyes. “Hey, it’s no problem, I get paid for this.”
They pulled into the parking lot and walked towards the door. Carlos stayed back a couple feet to give her space. “You can walk with me, I don’t bite.”
“I know you don’t…protocol.”
“Oh okay, am I allowed to talk to you or do we just pretend we don’t know each other?”
“You can talk if you want, but you don’t have too. I’m just here to watch your back and make sure no one makes any moves.”
Upon entering the store, Emma became paranoid suddenly and stopped.
“It’s okay Emma, just act normal and go about your shopping.” Carlos grabbed a cart and pushed it towards her.
Slowly, Emma started to make her way through the store. After a few minutes, she noticed the hair care products and quickly did a u-turn to go down the aisle.
She went over to study the boxes; suddenly having this urge to dye her hair blonde. Actually, it was something she had always wanted to do, but never had the courage. Tonight, she was determined to find the courage.
After looking over the boxes carefully, she chose the box that closely resembled what color she liked.
After placing the dye in her cart, she headed for the sanitary products. Her reason for wanting to come to the store in the first place was for sanitary products, because she certainly didn’t want to ask Kevin to get them. She had started her period that morning and desperately needed to get some pads and tampons. She headed down that aisle and instantly remembered that Carlos was there as well. Not wanting to do this again for a while, she grabbed ten boxes of tampons, ten boxes of pads, six boxes of panty liners and six boxes of nighttime pads.
Carlos eyes grew large as he watched her place all the items in the cart, which was overflowing now. My God, this woman is having the mother of all periods!
Emma kept on pushing the cart down the aisles, not daring to turn around and look at Carlos. She picked up some shampoo, conditioner, de-tangler spray and hair gel, then proceeded down the deodorant aisle.
She grabbed some deodorant, toothpaste, floss and a new toothbrush. She stopped to think about what else she needed. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to make it the store often, so she wanted to make sure she got everything she needed.
“Where are the birthday cards?” she asked Carlos.
“Straight ahead and to the right.”
Aunt Bet’s birthday was coming up and she wanted to send her a card. Glancing down at all the birthday cards, she noticed the guys’ pictures on some of them. She studied the cards intently and replied, “Oh my God, there’s Kevin…my husband is on a birthday card?”
“Shhh…I wouldn’t say that too loud…besides, your husband’s face is on more than just birthday cards,” Carlos warned her.
“Oops, sorry.”
She grabbed the card with Kevin’s picture on it and then grabbed a birthday card for Aunt Betty.
“Carlos, I want to buy Kevin’s latest CD…could you show me which one that is?”
“You don’t have to buy his CD…get real woman, you can get one for free. For that matter, Kevin probably has about twenty copies lying around the house somewhere.”
“I don’t want to bother him with that, I just want to buy one okay?”
“Whatever you say.” He pointed towards the center of the store where the music was.
“Why don’t you just wait until next month, their new CD is coming out then.” Carlos suggested.
“I want to learn their old stuff first, I can only memorize so much. Besides, I need to hear the song, I want it that way…he told me it was a big hit.”
“You’ve never heard it?”
Emma spoke quietly, “I don’t think so.”
Carlos looked at her sadly and grabbed the Millennium cd from the rack. “Here it is.”
“Thanks." She placed the CD in the cart and turned around, "Okay, that should do it.”
They headed to the check out lane and Emma noticed the tabloids right away. She couldn’t miss it…there she was with her husband…on the cover of a tabloid magazine.
“Oh my God, that’s me,” she pointed to the tabloid. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. It read, Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson weds Lou Pearlman's Niece!”
Carlos leaned over and whispered, “Just ignore it, it won’t be the last time you see something like that.”
“I want to read the article.” She grabbed the tabloid and placed it face down in her cart.
Carlos shook his head in disbelief. Kevin was not going to like this one bit and he knew it. He was trying to decide whether or not he should fill her in on the tabloid rule. After a few moments, he decided that there are some things that she was gonna have to learn the hard way and this was one of them.
Placing all her items on the conveyer belt, she felt her face starting to flush. She did buy an awful lot of sanitary products and Carlos was probably mortified. She turned back to look at him, but he was busy eyeing down the place, looking for who knows what.
“That will be one hundred seventy-two dollars and twenty-nine cents.”
Emma reached for her wallet and all of a sudden turned white. She grabbed Carlos by the arm and whispered to him that she only had a hundred dollars.
Carlos reached for his wallet and pulled out a credit card. Handing it to the cashier, he mumbled, “Tell Kevin you need a charge card, would ya?”
The cashier swiped his card and handed him the receipt to sign. The bagger was putting the last of the items in a bag and glanced down at the tabloid.
“Is that you?” she questioned Emma.
Carlos immediately reacted by saying, “No.”
“Yes it is…oh my God, you’re married to one of the Backstreet Boys?”
Carlos replied again, “No, she’s not.”
“You married Howie?”
Carlos started to speak, but Emma interjected, “No, I’m not married to Howie. I’m married to Kevin, Kevin Richardson.”
God no, she didn’t just say that did she?
The bagger smiled, “Can I have your autograph?”
Emma pointed to herself, “My autograph? Why would you want my autograph?”
“Because you’re married to Kevin, that’s why.”
Carlos handed her the pen and spoke quietly but sternly, “Just give her your autograph and let’s get the hell out of here, NOW!”
She signed her name, Emma Richardson. She hadn’t done that before now and it felt a little weird. Holding the paper up, she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Emma Richardson…Emma Richardson…Emma Richardson…
Carlos cleared his throat louder, “Emma!”
Handing the paper to the girl, Emma turned around and looked at Carlos. “Yeah?”
Carlos grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out of the store. Pushing the cart towards the exit, he leaned over so that Emma could hear him. “Don’t EVER do that again, do you understand me? Do you know how dangerous that can be?”
“I’m sorry Carlos.”
