After over 500 days of campaigning, Hillary Clinton is getting her R&R in the most Hillary way imaginable: by going on a hike, embracing her Alica Keys-like no-makeup look and recently shopping for some good reads. And she’s leaving a modest trail wherever she goes by touching the lives of her supporters.
This time, it was an employee at Savoy Bookshop and Cafe in Westerly, Rhode Island who got to meet HRC. “Today I met Hillary Clinton. This was a surprise and I can’t imagine meeting anyone else who looms as large,” Jessica Wick posted on Facebook. “I wasn’t as eloquent as I’d have liked to be. I didn’t want to take her & her family out of their day together. I also didn’t want to cry; I feel like strangers crying at one might detract from one’s day.”
At a loss for words, Wick kept it short and sweet. “I told her I voted for her, that she meant and means a lot. I thanked her, apologizing if I was being inappropriate or intrusive, because again: privacy. We all deserve privacy. She was gracious and she was warm and she said the bookstore was beautiful. Bill Clinton shook my hand and complimented my sweater.”
Motto called Savoy, and a press representative confirmed the Clintons — Hillary, Bill and Chelsea — came in to buy “lots of children’s books and a mix of nonfiction and fiction.” But out of respect to the family’s privacy, they declined to give any specific titles.
Read more about the encounter at Elle.com
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Where Trump 2.0 Will Differ From 1.0
- How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker
- The Power—And Limits—of Peer Support
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Contact us at letters@time.com