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I couldn’t hold back the laughter any longer.
“Just sayin,’ that off brand cereal she buys tastes nothin’ like the real stuff,” he said with a scoff. “It tastes like ass, Charlie.”
I kept laughing. I couldn’t help it.
“She’s sayin’ she might stop dyin’ her hair because of the chemicals.”
I snorted.
“I don’t even know what her real hair color is,” he continued.
“Wait it out,” I said finally, gasping for air. “She won’t be able to maintain it.”
“I fuckin’ hope not,” he replied, dropping the last bit of his joint on the ground and pressing the toe of his boot on it. “Send me the paperwork and we’ll get you all set up. There was a cart there a few years back, so you should be golden.”
“Thank you,” I said, throwing my arms around him.
“You’re welcome,” he said grudgingly, hugging me back. “I’ll expect free coffee.”
“I’ll expect free rent,” I countered.
“I’ll pay for the coffee.”
“I thought you would,” I said, letting him go.
He went back into the garage and I skipped over to the clubhouse door, swinging it open with a huge grin on my face.
I mean, sure, going partially organic was going to cut into profit when I couldn’t really handle it—but if there was a new health food store going in where I thought was going to be a mini-mart—my prospects were looking a whole lot better. People were going to want coffee while they shopped and there was going to be way more traffic than I’d thought. I could totally make it work.
“What are you so happy about?” my aunt Callie asked, grinning back at me from a table near the door.
“Your son is going to rent me space for the cart,” I said excitedly, sitting down across from her and my uncle Grease.
“Was that ever really in question?” Uncle Grease asked with a laugh.
“I thought dealing with him would be a lot harder than it was,” I replied dryly, making them both chuckle. “Have you seen my mom?”
“I told her that her bathroom looked nasty, so she’s in there cleaning it,” Aunt Callie said easily, waving her hand in the direction of my parents’ club room.
“Dad told you about the tub,” I said quietly.
“When she saw he wasn’t here, she was going to go home and find out what the holdup was,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I had to stop her somehow.”
“Sneaky,” I replied.
“It was that, or let this one start an argument,” she said, pointing at my uncle. “and I didn’t want to listen to them.” Aunt Callie shrugged. “Go tell her your news, I’m sure she’s almost done.”
I found my mom scouring the sink wearing rubber gloves that went up to her elbows.
“Whatcha doing?” I asked, making her shriek in surprise.
“Cleaning this damn sink,” she replied. “I swear, I’m going to talk to the cleaning lady. We pay her really well to do this shit for us.”
“Be nice,” I replied. “Sue is awesome.”
“She is awesome,” my mom confirmed. “That’s why I don’t know why this sink looks so fucking nasty.” She sighed. “What are you doing here in the middle of the day?”
“I had to come talk to Tommy,” I replied.
“Your dad told you about his idea to move the cart?”
“It’s a good idea,” I said, leaning my hips against the counter. “I should’ve thought of it.”
“Hard to come up with good ideas when you’re drowning,” my mom said sympathetically. “What did Tommy say?”
“He said I have to go organic,” I replied with a huff of laughter. “I guess they’re putting in a health food store.”
“Heather,” my mom said, getting it right on the first guess.
“Yep. But he agreed to the rental terms and told me to get him the paperwork.”
“That’s good,” my mom said happily. “How do you feel about it?”
“Excited,” I said, cautiously. “Optimistic for the first time in over a month.”
“Good,” she said, peeling off the gloves. “You should be.”
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, mom,” I replied quietly. “Why can’t I make this place work? I’m doing everything right.”
“I don’t know, kid,” she said, throwing her arm over my shoulder. “But don’t panic yet. We’ll figure it out. Moving is just going to be the first step—your new space is going to be so rad, you won’t know what to do with all those customers.”
I spent almost an hour with my mom, thinking up new drinks and ways to stand out in the new spot, and by the time my dad got there for lunch we’d agreed to paint the outside of the cart and were still debating on changing the name to something a little more my style.
“You talk to Tommy?” my dad said, stepping into the room.
“Did you know he was putting in a health food store?” I asked.
“He’d mentioned it,” he replied, going over to give my mom a kiss hello. “Should be even better for you.”
