“I was here last summer.”
“For six hours. That don’t count,” Mr. B fussed.
Nina laughed quietly.
Mr. Bancroft leaned in to see into the passenger seat. His eyes landed on Nina, and the curiosity in his expression sharpened with interest.
“And who is this pretty young lady?”
“This is my girlfriend Nina,” Jio introduced her.
Nina looked at the man and smiled. “Hi Mr. Bancroft.”
“Whose yo peoples?” he wanted to know.
“My last name is Marcelle.” She killed his curiosity.
The man’s eyebrows lifted. “Ah.”
Nina didn’t know what ah meant, but she had a feeling it contained more information than she currently had access to.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely.
“Same to you, baby.” Mr. Bancroft looked between them before giving Jio a slow nod. “Your grandmother would’ve liked this one.”
For reasons Nina didn’t understand, the truck grew quiet and Jio’s smile disappeared.
“Yeah,” he said. “She would’ve.”
Mr. Bancroft seemed to know he’d stepped onto sacred ground because he didn’t linger there. He tapped the side of the truck twice.
“Gone and buy this girl something.”
Jio reached into the console and pulled out a few bills before handing them over.
“What you got today?”
“Peach preserves, honey, and Mae made a lemon pound cake and it’s not that foolishness they sell in stores. You gon’ taste the lemon in every bite!” He bragged on his wife’s baking skills.
“Give me two of each.”
Mr. Bancroft packed the jars into a brown paper bag and handed it through the window.
“For Ms. Vee,” he let Jio know as he passed plastic containers of cake to them.
“I figured.”
“And don’t let her tell me she ain’t get it.”
Jio laughed. “I’m not.”
The exchange was brief, but Nina watched it with quiet fascination. There were layers here that she didn’t know he had. There was a version of Jio that she hadn’t met yet.
As they pulled away, Nina looked down at the paper bag in her lap.
“Your grandmother used to come here?”
Jio kept his eyes on the road. “Her and my grandfather lived here part-time before she passed.”
