Like some PBS commercial thanking its patrons. It didn’t matter that Juniper also didn’t want to run the food truck for the rest of her life. She still wanted to kick his smug little boot off the bumper.
“What do you know about what I’ve had to do? Either of you?”
Sam sneered up the edge of his face. “Juniper, stop being such a–”
“Nope–” Rowan stopped him by placing a hand against his chest and pushed him away from the bumper anyway. “We’re not doing that either.
Juniper turned her defensiveness toward Rowan. “I’m not some damsel in distress, Rowan. Seriously. My life isn’t that tragic.”
With widened eyes, Rowan blew out a deep questioning breath. “Wow, maybe we should totally start over.”
Juniper wrapped her arms across her chest. But then she made eye contact with Rowan, and her misplaced defensiveness was immediately disarmed.
“Sorry. I’m… dysregulated,” she grumbled.
Rowan drew her thumb across her cheek. “I see that. Why don’t we all sit down and chill for a minute over coffee.”
Sam, who was seated on the bumper staring into the hazy sunrise, made a flippant gesture with his hand above his head. “Already there.”
Juniper still wanted to use her foot to nudge him off the edge. People always wanted to talk about the power of grit and resilience until they came face to face with a woman who had no choice but to force herself into being good at those things. The Juniper the world saw now was the result of all it took to get to that point – for good and for bad.
Juniper waited for Rowan to settle into the middle before she took the far side from Sam. She leaned her forehead against Rowan’s shoulder and took a sip of her coffee. After Rowan took a sip of her own, she laid her cheek on top of Juniper’s head.
“I’m sorry,” Juniper whispered. “I know you’re just trying to help.”
“I messed up by not telling you first. I thought it would be a fun surprise. I didn’t realize.”
Juniper turned her face further into Rowan’s shoulder and breathed her in. Could it really be that easy to let everything go and be cared for so thoughtfully? Could two people really just understand what the other needed, sometimes without evenneeding to speak it?
Rowan nudged her face up so they could look at each other and winked. “I love you,” she mouthed.
“I love you more,” she mouthed back.
Rowan smiled and shook her head, then settled her cheek back down on Juniper’s head.
Sam stretched upwards and sighed back into his spot. “Freshly-brewed coffee mingling with pine trees. Nowthatis the smell of home.”
“Prepare to add a thick stench of frying grease to that, baby brother.”
Over the course of the next two hours, Juniper trained Rowan and Sam on the ins-and-outs of operating the food truck. Anita would still show up later to take orders, but Juniper would concentrate her time on expediting; she’d handle customer interactions at the service window, keep their timing, and check each dish for quality, consistency, and presentation. It was Rowan and Sam’s job to make the food. She trained them on each item of the menu and was shocked at hownotbad it was all going.
The next two hours saw a massive influx of powwow attendees before Banks Bites finally opened to the public an hour before grand entry was set to start.
Juniper looked to Anita at the back of the truck with a worried look. “Were they really expecting this many people?”
Anita whistled. “I don’t know, Junie. The only good news about this many people is we’ll probably sell out, which means we’ll get to catch at least some of the powwow at the end.”
Juniper nodded and braced herself. At least she had the help. She looked over at Rowan and smiled. Rowan adjusted her hat, smiled, and nodded back at her.
“Okay, lovebirds, I’m still here too. Maybe I need a pre-battle self-confidence boost too.”
“I’m sure you’ll find some woman to boost you up by the end of the day,” Juniper teased.
Sam stretched his arms behind his head conceitedly. “Youknow, you’re probably right, Juniper. I haven’t snagged a woman from this Tribe in a few years. Or has it only been a few months? I’m sure someone will remind me tomorrow morning.”
Juniper made a disgusted sound. “Was he always this irritating?”
“I’m not getting into the middle ofanyof that,” Rowan laughed.
