AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Whatcha doing?”
I blink and notice that Sammy is standing right next to me. He’s a sneaky little sucker. “Hey, there. Does your mama know where you are?”
“She’s still at work, but I told Avery I was gonna see what you were doing.”
“And she said it was okay?”
He nods, then giggles. “She calls you Vegas though.”
So, Liv told her sister. I don’t blame her, but I can feel my ears burning. It’s really insane that I’m embarrassed about it. I’ve never had a problem with my sexuality but having Sammy comment about it is a little too much. Sure he doesn’t know what it means, but still.
“Are you gonna answer me?” He’s frowning at me, and I smile at him. He looks so serious for the boy I’ve come to know in the last few days.
“I’m picking my tomatoes. Kind of boring.”
His frown dissolves into a smile. “Can I help?”
“If you want to.”
“Cool. I love tomatoes. Grandma Eddy has a lot of them.”
“So, you know how to pull them off?”
“Yes. They should be really red.”
“Yes. Why don’t you handle this one?” I point to the plant next to mine.
He smiles at me, and I feel like I’ve won an award. “Cool!”
We work together for a few minutes, pulling tomatoes and chatting about things. We move on to my cucumbers after that, with Sammy talking about how his grandmother cans everything. I’ve seen him every day since that first day. He pops over whenever I’m home, and normally, I would avoid him. It’s nothing against him, but kids usually aren’t my jam. I like them well enough, but other than kids I see in my restaurant, the only kid I’m familiar with is my niece, and she’s a baby. I’m the guy that can make goofy jokes and make kids laugh. I don’t deal with them one on one.
Sammy’s different. He’s full of questions about the weirdest things, although today, the questioning is simple. I’m returning from the house with a couple of bottles of water when he starts asking me about my family.
“Avery says you have a sister and a brother?”
I nod as I brush some sweat from my brow as I hand him a water.
“Thanks,” he says.
“And yes, I have a brother and sister. Everly and Wyatt are both older than me.”
“Ugh, they’re the worst,” he says with just enough irritation that I can’t fight the chuckle. The boy doesn’t have a filter.
“They are. Everly is scary, but she’s cool. She’s the one who owns the comic bookshop.”
His head snaps up, his eyes shining with admiration. “I love that place.”
Oh, yeah, I heard they had a good old time at the shop the other day, and my sister is in love with Liv already. She didn’t say she was, but she said Liv didn’t suck. That’s high praise coming from my sister.
“It’s cool. I shopped with Carter. He’s kind of weird like Avery. Although, I bet he doesn’t eat as much cereal as Avery does.”
He starts working on the next plant. He’s a good worker, but then so was I when I was a kid. It was the only way my parents could keep me out of trouble. Lots of restless energy.
“Probably not. I saw her at Gertrude’s Grocer, and she had five boxes of cereal.”
Sammy laughs. “I love Avery. Did you grow up here?”
I nod. “Yeah. Born and raised.”
