Chapter Twenty-Nine
It would’ve been -had my brain felt up to the challenge of tracking it - an interesting science experiment into time, anticipation, and dread.Would the clock tick with agonizing slowness toward five, mired with the understanding that I was so eager to see Flynn again?Or, with the prospect of packing, going with him to the city the following day, and beginning a whole process of moving that still felt nebulous and unbelievable, would its hands spin at breakneck speed, hurtling me into this freshly-terrifying world?
Perhaps the two would balance out, leaving time unmolested and free to beat its usual cadence.I didn’t have a chance to clock-watch, anyway, with a steady stream of shoppers through the door.
It was another reminder that, for all it could be frustrating at times, I liked my job.Enjoyed seeing familiar faces, and the way they’d softly light up at some fresh discovery.Seeing children grow, the thrift store punctuating their transition from baby, to toddler, to rambunctious and impatient little kid.I’d only worked there a handful of years, really, but that’d been enough to see a decent-sized slice of people’s lives.
And at the same time, all that was laced with the knowledge that they - like most people - were unaware of so much that made up my own life.Keeping my sexuality private, whether for fear of the reaction or anything else, had thrown up a wall between me and the community around me.Dinner with Flynn and my parents had left me filled with casserole, yes, but it’d also filled a part of my soul that I hadn’t even realized was so hungry.
Sitting there, with my mom, and my dad, and the man who was now my boyfriend, felt like a transparency I’d never experienced before.Once I’d had a taste of that it was difficult to feel satisfied with anything else.
Last purchase rung up, last bag handed over, I set about closing up the store.It was silly, the sense of finality about it; I was, after all, only going to transport the first few boxes to Flynn’s place.Even if I accepted the new job, it wasn’t like they’d pluck me out of the shop immediately and transplant me to the city.There’d be a replacement manager to find and train up, at the very least.
All the same, there was a countdown attached to cashing out the register, switching off the lights, and locking the door.I didn’t know what number it was starting out from, exactly, but regardless of that detail an end was in sight.
#
My phone lit up onthe dashboard.Catherine’s name on the screen.
“What treasures did you sell today?”She wasn’t much for preamble.
“The most incredible green blouse,” I told her, grinning at the memory.“With huge frogs all across the chest.It was exquisite.”
She snorted amusement.“The next time someone complains there’s no fashion in this backwater, just you tell them that there’s a lady walking around wearing a frog-titty shirt.Paris wishes it was this classy.”
I laughed.“Now I’m sad I didn’t bring it home for you.”
“Yeah, you asshole.It’s like you’re intentionally trying to sabotage my dating prospects.”
“Guilty as charged,” I confessed.“I want you all to myself, obviously.”
“I wonder what Flynn would say about that,” Catherine teased.
“Kyle just can’t keep a secret, can he.”
“Oh, so city-boy being home unexpectedly was meant to be a secret, was it?”She sounded delighted at the prospect.“Anything else you need to tell me?Get off your chest?”
At some point I’d have to tell them the truth.All of the parts of it, too: that yes, Flynn and I were dating; yes, he was dragging me away with him.
