Page 106 of Worth the Trip

Nolani tied her apron tighter. “Move Tasha to register two. Micah can start another strawberry base. You handle specialty orders unless you hit something you can’t solve.”

He nodded and moved.

Nolani turned to me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hershey.”

“I know. Handle my business.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t want you standing around.”

“Give me somewhere useful to stand.”

Her eyes went toward Scoops & Stories, where several kids had already started arguing over a floor cushion.

“Our reader is late.”

“You got a book?”

“You read to children?”

“I coach children. Books require fewer whistles.”

Her laugh returned.

“Featured shelf. Fifteen minutes.”

“Bet.”

As I crossed toward the reading area, I glanced back.

Nolani was watching me.

Not accidentally either.

Tasha stood beside her, talking, but Hershey’s attention was on me.

I lifted one eyebrow.

She lifted hers right back, then took a slow sip of coffee like I hadn’t caught her appreciating me from twenty feet away.

Aight.

I liked this version of her.

I grabbed a picture book about a boy turning an abandoned lot into a neighborhood garden, and sat on the edge of the platform.

A boy in a Langston shirt spotted me first.

“You play football?”

“I coach.”

“At Langston?”