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“If it’s not too much trouble. I used to love grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a kid. My mom used to make them but then—” He picks at something on his jeans, looking down. “My dad didn’t like them so she stopped making them.”
“She could’ve made them just for you. He didn’t have to eat them.”
“Yeah.” He looks up again, forcing out a smile. “I suppose she could have. Anyway, it’s been a while.”
“Then I’ll make you one. Or two, depending on how hungry you are. I’ll need to stop at the store after work. I’m totally out of groceries. So if you have any requests for a certain type of bread or cheese, let me know. Not that there’s much of a selection at Vindervott’s, but they do have a few varieties.”
“Let me get the groceries. I’m going over there now anyway.”
“Really? Because if you could just pick up a few things, that’d be great.” I open the drawer and take out my wallet.
“I don’t need money,” he says as I pull out a twenty. “Just tell me what you need.”
“I have to pay you for it.” I hand him the twenty.
“You’re not paying me. Now make a list.” He picks a pen off my desk and hands it to me. As I’m writing out the list, he says, “And don’t just put down what you need for dinner. Add anything else you want. Steak. Chicken. Those little cookies shaped like peanuts.”
I laugh. “Nutter Butters?”
“I think that’s what they’re called. They have like a peanut butter filling.”
“Yeah, I’ve had them. They’re good, but it’s kind of an odd thing to bring up. What made you think of those?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the grilled cheese. It was another one of those foods I used to eat when I was younger. I’ll get some, just in case you want them for dessert.”
Handing him my list, I say, “Thanks for doing this. You might be a good neighbor after all.”
“You didn’t think I would be?”
“Not at first. I was starting to think you’d be even crankier than Old Man Wilson. He used to complain that my car was too loud and would wake him up when I’d drive to work in the morning.”
“Your car IS too loud. It woke me up at the crack of dawn.”
“Sorry. I’d ask Jesse to fix it but he gave me the car so I don’t want to complain. And I don’t have the money to pay him to fix it.”
“He gave you the car?”
“Some old guy was getting rid of it so he left it here. It was always breaking down. Kenny was going to sell it for scrap metal but Jesse asked if he could keep it and try to get it working again. That was around the time I moved here. When I applied for this job I told him I’d have to work my schedule around the bus times because I didn’t have a car. He told me the town didn’t have a bus and then he offered me the car.”
“By accepting it, you know he thinks you owe him, right? He was trying to guilt you into going out with him.”
“I know, but it’s not going to work. He can ask me out all he wants but I’m not going out with him. And until I can afford a better car, I have to keep driving that boat around.”
He chuckles. “It IS a boat. That thing is huge. And that motor could wake the dead.”
“Sorry.” I laugh. “I’d like to say I’ll try to be quieter but I really can’t do anything about it.”
“It’s fine.” He reads over my list. “There’s not enough on here. Going to the store is my big activity for the day. I’ve gotta make it last. Add some more stuff. Fill up the whole page.”
“I don’t need that much.”
“You said you were out of groceries.”
“I’ll go shopping later. For now I just need stuff for tonight.”
“Maybe I’ll stop by your house tomorrow too, in which case you might want to have some food on hand.”
I smile. “Then just buy whatever you want and I’ll keep it at my place for random visits from my evasive new neighbor.”
