I went to the meat counter. 2 men already there.
I thought: "Perfect. He's not here. I can let my guard down. *Exhale*."
One man began trading hand signals w/ someone down an aisle as he traded glances between us as well. Out pops "Todd" out of nowhere. Scared me. He & the other man switched places so that Todd is the one helping me. (Not sure whose idea that was.)
He was all smiles like:

;D

Barely recognized him at first. He's grown a beard. He kept stroking it on his face. I don't think you should do that when you're handling food but that's a topic for a different day.

I'm thinking: "Be cool." I'm polite - "Oh, hey, Chris, how's it going, etc., etc." He was staring me down, locking eyes w/ me, smiling. Just due to the look he was giving me, I wondered if maybe I should bring up the text. I didn't. Just kept it professional. That could just be his personality. He helped me with lots of stuff. I ordered some Ribeye. He asked if I'd let him do me a favor. He got something fresher off the truck than what they had for sale in the case to the customers. He went to go make special sized packages for me. "Let me do this. I can do better than that... etc." That was super nice. A+ for effort. We talked a little bit. 'The Text' never came up.
There's an old Vietnamese lady who cleans the floors & bags groceries there. As if she hasn't had a hard enough life already (seriously, it could be a movie), she can't afford to retire. Physically, she's barely hanging in there. Sad. I always go out of my way to show her some love. In front of Todd, I said: "Lan... Hi! I missed you!!" Gave her a big, big hug. It was cold so we kept hanging on close together, with our arms staying around each other in a side-hug, kind of cuddling. When I told her: "I missed you", HIS face lit up. When I hugged her, you would've thought I asked him to come snuggle me. Not sure why the reaction to seeing me say that & do that with someone else. Maybe he thought I was giving out free hugs to everyone.
Awkward. But no new texts. He's probably just a really friendly guy who wants to do a good job for his customers. Nothing wrong with that. I'm liking the tip-top service I'm getting.