I’d have to think a bit more on that.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lennox
Ipulledintotheparking lot of the Town Center Grocery Store.It was more than just a grocery store though.Inside a large, fenced area was a series of kiosks and stalls.A kombucha and bagel hut, a few tourist trinket shops, a taco stand, a tea shop, a cannabis and hemp store, and of course, Slice of Heaven Pizza.There was no parking allowed inside the fence.So I found a spot on the outside, left Mabel with the bird, and booked it around to one of the openings.
The non-food serving places had closed up shop for the night, but there were a few people mingling in front of the taco place as well as the bagel and kombucha place.Slice of Heaven had the biggest line.
“Order for Lennox?”called out a large, bearded man from inside the little, round travel trailer that served as the pizza shop.
Perfect timing.
I stepped right up.“That’s me.”
He placed two large pizza boxes on the counter.“You paid online, so you’re good to go.”
“Thanks.”
I spun around with the boxes in my hand, just to crash into a pair of auburn pigtails and denim overalls.
Thankfully, I managed to keep hold of my pizza.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, only to take a step back in surprise.
“Three times in one day,” Naomi said, smiling.“I see you’ve got the same idea as we do: pizza for dinner.”
“Naomi,” called the bearded guy as he set a tower of pizza boxes onto the counter.
She stepped around me.“Thanks, Lenny.”
“You eating that all yourself?”Lenny asked with a chuckle.
“Been working all day.Got quite an appetite.”She shot him a wink, then stuffed ten bucks from the top pocket of her overalls into the tip jar.
Lenny’s laughed turned raspy before he called out the next name.
“Here, let me help you with those,” I said, offering to take a few from her pile.“You having a party?”
“Just pizza for thirteen.But Jagger McEvoy can eat two entire pizzas himself.”
I took five boxes off her stack, but she didn’t go very far before stopping at a gray collapsable wagon and unloading her five boxes into it.
“Oh.That’s handy.”
She took her five from me and set them into the wagon.“Not our first rodeo.There are so many of us; this is just easier.”
“You having a party?”We fell in line with each other and started to head toward the nearest gate to one of the parking lots.
She gave me a curious look.“You just asked me that.”
Fucking hell.
“Sorry,” I muttered.“Lot on my mind.”
She shrugged and flipped her braids over her shoulders.“We never used to need to order this many pizzas.But in the last year, we’ve added three to the fam.So itfeelslike a party when we’re all together.We try to do it a couple times a month.Pizza and games.Though, the older the kids get, the less inclined they are to playPictionaryor charades.”Her eyes lit up, and she got an excited gleam in them as I held the gate open for her to wheel through.“You guys want to come over too?Play some games?Mabel and Austin got along well.Maybe she and the other kids will hit it off.We all know how difficult it can be to move somewhere and make friends, and with her being homeschooled it’s probably even harder.”
“We’re actually on our way to Tommaso Barone’s.We found a wounded osprey on the side of the road, and Spencer said that if anybody can help, it’s Tommaso.”
