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“Suit yourself.”
If there were more choices on the island, I wouldn’t have bothered to set foot in his business. Of course, the same could be said for most everyone else, but unfortunately, we were all stuck with him. A little part of me wondered what he’d do if I opened my own little general store right across the street from him. I would never bother, but it was fun to imagine the creases in his face deepening into fissures and cracking apart.
I turned my back on him, and hustled toward the far corner where everything cleaning related was stocked. Sunny had used up the last bit of disinfectant and cleanser earlier in the week, and, judging from a quick perusal, three bungalows hadn’t been touched since Gram’s accident. I’d also made a mental note to look up the previous guests of unit 3, and deny any future reservations.
With the finesse of an ice-skating moose, I loaded my arms with products, and took a step toward the front, but stopped a second later. The buzzer on the front door, and a deep voice reached me as someone greeted, then bantered with Crowberry. It sounded familiar, but was too smooth and articulate to clang any particular bell in my memory.
The banter was weird, not so much the conversation, but the ease in which it flowed. Crowberry didn’t sound friendly, per se, but he did sound a little less prickly, even civil.
Curious, I clutched my future purchases to my chest and peeked out from behind an endcap full of paper towels and Kleenex. The guy had his back to me, but I could see chestnut hair poking from beneath a beanie, a blue and green flannel shirt that seemed a little snug around the shoulders, and battered jeans. Crowberry raised his eyes from beneath his bushy brows at the same time I remembered the security mirror anchored in the corner of the ceiling behind me a moment too late.
“You have something to add, girl?”
Girl. Really?“I couldn’t possibly top your expertise on the fine art of clearing a sink trap.”
“I don’t remember you being that mouthy before.” Crowberry scowled at the same moment the other man turned around and made eye contact with me.
Surprised brown met my startled blue and I blinked. When realization sunk in, old humiliation ignited a flush that crept up from the nape of my neck.No way.
The man looked just as disconcerted as I felt. “Oh, my God. Klahanie?”
Over a decade had metamorphized a cute skinny kid into a well-built handsome man. The earnest puppy look hadn’t changed though. It still shown, despite the strong jaw coated with a couple days’ beard growth. For a few moments, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say, caught between memory and the guy who now stood before me. He’d been so important to me as a teenager, up until the night of graduation and our subsequent parting shortly after. Of course, that had been a very long time ago. “Uh, I hadn’t heardyouwere back.”
“Been about a year.” The man didn’t move for a long moment and just stared at me. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, until coming to some kind of internal decision.
Noah reached me in a few long strides and I found myself tilting my head back to look up at him. I didn’t remember him being this tall. He must have picked up a few inches in his final growth spurt. A tentative, but twitching smile pulled at one corner of his mouth. “Long time, huh?”
“Almost a lifetime.” I bent down to grab one last bottle of Fantastic. While shifting my housecleaning load from one side to the other, I lost my grip on the Pine Sol. Noah caught it before it could hit the floor, and deepen Crowberry’s scowl. I didn’t need to look up to know the old man was watching us intently. He really needed a different hobby.
“Let me give you a hand.”
“Thanks, but I think I’m …”
Before I could finish my protest, he grabbed most of my load. “Anything else?”
I shook my head, flabbergasted, but a little annoyed for no good reason. After a brief hesitation, I followed him to the front counter where he dumped my items.
“Getting a jump on spring cleaning?” He swung his head my way and cleared his throat.
“Not exactly.” I felt a little like a bitch, but some part of me was amused that he seemed nervous. It was stupid and petty, but not untrue. “I’m just helping out Gram and Sunny for a bit.”
“Ah.” Noah nodded.
“I wonder if she’d even be here if her grandmother hadn’t busted her leg.” Crowberry stared hard at me, before scanning my items. He’d made a direct accusation, and defensiveness rose in my chest. It evaporated a moment later, replaced by the low burn of shame.
“Oh, man. That’s right! I heard about that. She doing okay?” Noah met my gaze for the second time in a span of moments. This time the contact lingered, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.
“Yeah. Spunky as always, just a bit slower.”
“Huh. She always struck me as the type of old lady that’s hell on any kind of wheels. I mean, didn’t she get speeding tickets pretty much every time she went to the mainland?”
I considered that. “Okay. Not too much slower, just momentarily shorter.”
Noah chuckled, and Mr. Crowberry grunted. “You going to pay sometime soon?”
“No. I planned on shoplifting right in front of you.” I slid my debit card and tapped in my PIN, keeping my face neutral.
“Smartass.”
