heather miller (heathermiller) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-02-29 22:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, heather miller, rick grimes |
Who: Heather Miller & Rick Grimes
What: Picking up an order
When: Recently
Where: Miller's Meats
Rating/Warnings: Low/Light language, nothing awful
Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
Work was as it always was; busy. Heather was extremely thankful for that, and knew that she'd made the right choice in moving out to California. She wrapped up every pre-order with saran wrap, and placed them in the cooler so that the girls at the counter could come grab them when the customers came in.
There were, of course, some customers that Heather chose to wait on herself. These were people she'd become friendly with since she'd arrived in Orange County. So she'd stop, take a few moments to wait on them, and then send them on their way.
Heather was working again, slicing up some ribeyes when she heard the bell going off over the door. Curiously she glanced up, looking through the plexiglass that separated her from the main counter. A smile tipped up the corners of her lips as she saw another familiar face, and she turned off the saw, discarded her gloves and went out.
"Well hey there, Rick." She grinned, moving toward the counter and waving one of the girls away. "So, what can I do for you today?"
~*~
"I'd love to get some Texas cut ribs if you can manage? I'm wanting---well, I'm wanting to do right by Daryl over dinner tonight. He likes barbecue and I can't think of anything better than ribs for it. Think you might have some cuts to help me out?"
Rick hadn't known what to do with himself after the kissing incident.
Some men were easy with their affections. Sex was a bodily function for them; getting their dick wet however they could was how it was regardless of how it happened or who it happened with from what Rick could tell. He'd been with exactly one person in his whole entire life. She'd been his wife. They'd done the usual things. Normal things. Things a man and woman did together in bed when they were married or even when they weren't seeing as most didn't have Rick's morals.
What could he offer Daryl Dixon other than two motherless children and his idiotic fumblings?
Raising a hand to rub the back of his neck, Rick looked at the counter rather than at Heather as he admitted, "I might be getting in over my head with him. He's my friend. I never had a friend so good as him. I've moved him in since it made the most sense at the time. I'm thinking I'm seeing too much into what we've got. I figure a good meal might clear things up. Or something. Sorry to land you with all that. I know we're still getting acquainted."
~*~
"Of course I can manage that." Heather replied with a grin, picking up an order pad to jot down what he wanted quickly.
Her pen paused over the paper as he began to spill the beans. She'd suspected that he and his friend might have something going on, but she hadn't wanted to outright ask. It wasn't really any of her business, and besides, she didn't care who was fucking who any given day of the week.
Glancing up at Rick, she lifted a shoulder. "Hey, it's fine. I understand how things like that go." She wasn't sure what she had going on with Jimmy, although Heather suspected that it wouldn't last that long. They were having fun, they were friends, and well whatever happened happened. Letting out a long breath, Heather laid the pen down beside the pad. "You never know unless you ask. Have you talked to him about it?" She asked, her brows raising slightly in question over at him. "I mean, talking about that over a good meal really might help to clear up any confusion that you have." She offered Rick a smile and tore off the order, "I've also got your other order ready. I can bring it out with your ribs."
She felt for Rick. He was a good man with a lot on his plate from what she'd seen on the network and had talked to him about either in person or over the network. His dreams were dark, his life hadn't been all that great up until this point, and she believed that he deserved a lot of light in the darkness.
~*~
Meat was something important to the pantry for Rick Grimes. His dreams featured them starving too often for him to take for granted the smell of a good slice of lean beef cooking. Daryl had to hunt for their survival in those damn dreams. Rick was grateful all he had to do in Orange County was head over to Miller's Meats after putting an order in with Heather. She had never failed to do right by him to date.
"Thank you, Heather. That's mighty kind of you. I'm still trying to get used to this whole thing with---well having a thing of any kind. My wife's been gone long enough to make me know how it feels to be lonely, but she was gone a long time before we lost her if you know what I mean."
Heather would know. Rick had no doubt about that. There was a sense of loneliness which lingered around her; it reminded Rick of loss. She had known it herself. The only way someone could send out the feeling she did was if they'd known true loss themselves. They would have to see to getting over their mutual losses as well they could in their own ways. Rick only hoped the woman before him did it before she reached his age.
Heather was too young to have eyes so old.
"What about you? Anyone special you're planning a meal for after work?"
It was unlikely she was single. Women with her kind of beauty were never alone unless it was by choice.
~*~
"Anytime, Rick. I do the best that I can for people." It was partly how she was raised, and the sort of difference that she wanted to make in the world herself. Heather believed that one kind word, or one simple gesture could make or break someone's day.
She just hoped to do the right thing by people in general.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Her ex was still alive and well, although he'd been absent from their relationship during the last few months prior to her finding him in bed with her best friend. That had been a hard slap to the face, but it was for the best. Heather had been able to move on with her life, and she'd followed her dreams.
Laughing, Heather shook her head. "No, not really. I have a friend that I spend time with, but I think that it's just that. We're friends, and that's okay. So me? I'm going to take home a sirloin, cook it up with some potatoes and fresh green beans just for me." Heather didn't mind being alone, sure it did suck from time to time, but she was okay on her own.
"Let me go pull your order, and get these ribs cut up for you. After all, I'm sure I'm not the only stop on your list." She gave him a wink and then turned to go back to the cutting room to get his order ready.
~*~
"I figure when the time's right? You'll find someone who'll make you want to share that sirloin steak with and then it'll be a match made in Heaven. Or wherever you believe people go when they get out of this place."
Rick looked down at the counter as he tried to think of any other thing to say to her. She sounded cheerful enough. Heather didn't have the look of a woman who yearned desperately to be swept off her feet. It could be she was sad over the loss of her family rather than the loss of a lover and Rick couldn't tell the difference because the family he'd lost had been his lover. Widowers tended to see the widow in every woman they met.
Death was omnipresent to people who'd stood shoulder to shoulder with him as long as Rick Grimes had done.
While Heather was off packing up his order, Rick got to thinking on her words. What had she meant by not being the only stop on his list? Should he be getting something else for dinner? A nice dessert? Some flowers for the table? They grew plenty of the latter and the former was something Rick hadn't done other than to get ice cream or a frozen pie since they'd come to Orange County.
His kids didn't get as many sweets as most. Rick liked them relatively tame which too much sugar was not a good thing for maintaining.
"Where else you think I should stop tonight?" Rick asked, looked up to stare into Heather's eyes with an intensity he couldn't shake off, "I don't want to mess this up. I don't know what it is or what to call it or even what I want it to be, but I want it to last. I want this to say that. Dinner. I want this dinner to let him know I want him to stay for the long-haul, not only while it's convenient."
~*~
Heather was sure that one day it would happen for her, but for now she was content just being. It didn't take her long to get the ribs cut for him, and she went into the cooler to grab his other order.
Making it back out there, she placed things down on the counter and was about to speak when Rick started firing more questions her way. She kept her gaze steady with his, a light smile still pulling up the corners of her lips. "Well, I'm sure you'll have sides covered right? Baked beans with bacon, some tater salad, or something like that? You might want to grab some dessert too. Of course, I'm a sucker for a good dessert." She laughed softly with a shake of her head.
Heather let out a long breath through her nose, and discarded the gloves she'd been holding in her hand. "Look, I don't think that he'll think that you only want him to stick around for a short while. You really seem to care about him, and it's going to show in the preparation that you put into this meal and into what you say."
Heather gave him a look, "Just remember, communication means a hell of a lot. You're going to have to talk to him too about everything. Still, I think you'll be alright, Rick and that you won't mess this up."
~*~
Heather was young enough to know what she was talking about. The young were the ones who had it all figured out in the romance department. They started---having sex before Rick would have even considered himself a man who got involved in courting. There was something really beautiful about thinking Heather would offer up some words of wisdom to a man his age. She was a kind girl.
"I will work on that talking thing. Communication. You're a smart woman, Heather Miller. I appreciate your friendship as much as I appreciate your product. You want me to bring in your vegetables? I got a good haul for you this week."
Things were going well on the farm. It helped to have another set of hands -adult hands in particular. Carl was a great help, but he was still a boy. There was a limit to how much Rick was willing to heap on his boy's shoulders. His son had already been forced to grow up too fast losing his mother, taking on a higher role with his sister, with his father, even with Daryl who they didn't have a word for as of yet.
Rick wanted to broach that topic to Daryl himself.
What would he want his children to call him?
"I'm working on making my family a family again. I hope you find someone who makes you want that yourself."
~*~
She waved a hand, "Nah, I'm not that smart really. I've just been in a relationship or two before." Heather hadn't been in that many, but she did know a thing or two. Communication might've saved her last relationship, or would've actually saved her heart in the long run if he'd been honest with her.
"Oh, yeah actually if you want to pull around back we can just load them up into the truck if it's not too much trouble." She was always happy to take veggies in trade for cuts of meat. There was nothing better than fresh vegetables to go along with a meal.
Heather looked over at the girls, "I'll be back in a few, alright?" She then turned her attention back to Rick. "One day maybe. We'll see how life works out for me." Heather wasn't going to hold her breath, but it would hopefully come to her one day.
"I'll meet you out back alright?"
She took her apron off, hanging it up outside the butcher workshop and then she went to the employee break room to grab her keys out of her own locker. She moved toward the back door, disarming the alarm before she pushed it open and stepped out back and hit the button to also disarm the alarm on her truck. "Alright, here we go." Shoving her keys into her pocket, she went toward his vehicle to help him unload.
~*~
Rick made his way out to pull his vehicle around. They were able to manage to quickly unload the crates of vegetables between them. It wasn't as if Rick couldn't have done it on his own. Heather was a great help. She never complained over the weight of the crates. Rick could count on her to hold her own as he heaved the packages to her one after the next. Both of them were in a light sweat by the time they'd unloaded it completely.
"Well. That was a good run. Thank you, Heather," Rick shook her hand firmly.
She was going to be alright. Of that, Rick had no doubt. There were women who needed a man to take care of them and then there were women the likes of which Heather Miller belonged to and she was distinctly her own woman. It helped he was able to understand her on a level deeper than a man and a woman. She was someone Rick could understand as a human being which was saying quite a bit.
Rick Grimes wondered some days how much of him was still human at all courtesy of his dreams.
"I'm going to go see about making a dinner. You think about what you might fix for your own if you ever decide to share it with someone special, you hear me? Life's too short to go it alone."
He settled behind the wheel to head on with his errands, planning to get a pie courtesy of Heather's suggestion.