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The instant Uncle Arthur’s gently accented voice rang out, Devin jumped back as if he’d been burned. The hot thread of tension that had been building between them snapped. A flush rose on her cheeks, almost as deep as the disappointment flooding her chest.
“Arthur! Hey, um.” Devin glanced around wildly, looking at everything but Zoe. Honestly, it would have been less conspicuous if he’d come over and put his arm around her. “Do you have a second?”
“For you?” Uncle Arthur smiled, pleased lines appearing around his eyes and mouth. “Of course.” He looked to Zoe. “You don’t mind?”
Zoe forced a smile of her own. “Of course not.”
With a smile of thanks to Zoe, Uncle Arthur led Devin back to his office. Zoe was tempted to follow and listen at the door, but that would be childish.
Instead, she sighed and retreated to the front desk. This was a slow hour. All the appointments for people to pick up goods from the food bank were over, but the soup kitchen hadn’t opened for dinner service yet. Down the hall, pots and pans banged, though, so Harvest Home’s two staff cooks, Sherry and Tania, must already be at work.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything to do, of course.
Ever since she’d slunk back to Blue Cedar Falls with the useless accounting degree her mom had talked her into, she’d been splitting her time between scrolling social media, waitressing at the new bar in town, and helping out here. Working at Harvest Home barely paid a pittance, of course, but she didn’t mind. Uncle Arthur might be her mom’s brother, but he was her exact opposite in terms of how he treated Zoe. He was cool and relaxed, and he trusted Zoe with real responsibilities. Watching him work his rear end off here—even though he was in his sixties and on three different high blood pressure medications—made her want to live up to his example.
She liked helping people. Sending folks off with whatever they needed to help get them through tough times gave her a warm feeling inside. Even the boring administrative stuff felt important.
With a sigh, she plunked behind the desk and got to it, confirming pickups, arranging deliveries, and checking in about volunteer shifts. When the crew of said volunteers helping out with supper tonight showed up, she showed them to the kitchen and placed them in Sherry’s and Tania’s capable hands. On the way back, she definitely didnotlinger outside Arthur’s office, staring at the closed door as if she could burn through it with her laser eyes and find out what he and Devin were going on about.
Okay, maybe for a minute, but that was it.
As she returned to the front room and started in on labeling bags for the next day’s pickups, the door swung open.
A telltaletutting sound announced who it was before Zoe could so much as look up.
“Zhaohui.” Her mother came in carrying a box of extra produce from their family restaurant, the same way she did every Tuesday—the one day of the week the Jade Garden was closed. She set the box down and came straight over, her tone as disapproving as ever as she snatched the marker from Zoe’s hand. “You know Arthur likes black ink.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Well, I like purple, and do you see Arthur doing the work?”
“I think the bags look great.” Han had come in behind her, hauling another crate of soon-to-expire vegetables.
“See?” Zoe told her mom.
Her mom made that noise in the back of her throat that said nothing and everything as she waved a hand at Zoe and let her grab the marker back. She drifted away, and Zoe met her brother’s gaze over her head.
“Hey.” Han wrapped an arm around her shoulders to give her a quick squeeze in greeting. She rolled her eyes the way she was contractually obligated to as his little sister, but she appreciated the affection all the same. “How’s it been today?”
“Not bad.” Zoe finished labeling the bags—in dark, entirely legible purple—as she gave him a general rundown. She glanced at the clock. She didn’t need to leave for her shift at the Junebug for another few minutes. Normally, with Han and her mom here to take over, she’d head out and get a few minutes of quiet in her car to decompress, but she eyed the back office again.
Before she had to make a decision, the door swung open, and her breath caught. Devin came out first. Uncle Arthur followed, patting his back. Both of them were all smiles.
As Devin spotted Han, his grin grew even wider. “Dude, I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“What’s up?” The two traded bro-hugs and smashed their fists together, and for a second it was like being twelve years old again, watching them and feeling completely outside it all.
Devin stepped back. “Guess who’s moving up to shift leader next week.”
“Whaaaat?” Han held his hand out, and they high-fived.
“That’s awesome,” Zoe interjected.
Devin’s gaze shot to hers only to dart right back away.
Uncle Arthur clapped Devin’s shoulder. “I knew it would happen.”
The corners of Devin’s mouth curled up, even as he shrugged and looked down.
Zoe’s ribs squeezed. He might be trying to act cool, but Devin had been following her uncle around for even longer than Zoe had been following Devin. She knew the praise and faith meant the world to him.
