His bushy brows furrowed. “Out of crickets? Well, that’s a first. How about nightcrawlers then?”
Kendall didn’t know what nightcrawlers were, but they didn’t sound like they’d be cute and cuddly. “We’re out of those, too. Actually, we’re pretty much out of everything in the way of live bait. There’s been a run on it.”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh. Okay. Thank you anyway.” He turned and headed for the front of the store, muttering something that sounded like, “Damn tourists.”
Kendall let out a sigh as she made her way to the counter. If anyone else came in looking for live bait, Nicole was going to have to get it for them.
Thankfully, no one else wanted to buy live bait the rest of the day, so the subject didn’t come up. Which was a relief because she would have hated to send Nicole into the hothouse to deal with all those escaped crickets.
Jason still hadn’t come back by closing time, which made her even more curious about where he’d gone off to. Nicole and the Darren, the other high school kid who worked at the store, headed out shortly after the last of the customers, leaving her alone in the store. She considered waiting for Jason in his office, but decided to hang out by the lake instead.
As she sat on the bench, her gaze strayed from the crystal waters of the lake to the hothouse to make sure those nasty crickets hadn’t figured out a way to open it. They were probably all over the place by now. God, those things made her skin crawl.
The door to the store opened, making her jump. She almost laughed. What did she think, it was some big, bad cricket coming to get her?
Getting to her feet, she walked over to Jason. She’d worn shorts and a pair of low-heeled sandals to work, and her pulse skipped a beat when she saw his eyes go to her long legs.
“Hey.” She gave him a smile. “I was wondering where you were.”
He didn’t return her smile, or answer her question. Instead, he frowned and looked past her at the hothouse. “One of the locals said he came in looking to buy some crickets and you told him we were out of them. In fact, he said you told him we were out of all the live bait.”
“Um…” She knew she should own up to it and tell Jason what happened, but for some reason, her self-preservation kicked in “I don’t really remember. We were so busy today. Maybe he talked to someone else.”
Jason lifted a brow, the look in his eyes making Kendall think he didn’t quite believe her little fib.
She hurried on before he could press the issue. “I waited because I thought you might like to come over for…”
She words trailed off as Jason walked past her and headed down the dock toward the hothouse. She hurried after him.
“Wh-where are you going?”
He gave her a sidelong glance. “To see if we’re out of live bait.”
Kendall grabbed his arm. “You can’t!”
He halted in his tracks and turned to face her. “Why not?”
She tried to come up some lie he’d believe, but she couldn’t think of anything. “Because…”
His brows drew together. “What did you do, Kendall?”
She chewed on her lower lip, hesitating. When she didn’t answer, Jason turned on his heel and headed for the hothouse again. Kendall followed.
“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” she said, stopping him just as he reached the door. “At least not without a really big flyswatter or something.”
Jason turned to look at her in confusion. “A flyswatter. What are you talking about?”
Kendall sighed. “I went in there to get that guy his stupid crickets, and the next thing I know, those creepy, disgusting things were jumping all over the place.”
He frowned. “Didn’t you use the net?”
“I tried. But before I could, they attacked me.”
Jason lifted a brow, a smile threatening to break the seriousness of his expression. “Crickets attacked you?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “You should have seen it. They were all over me. In my hair. On my clothes.” She shivered just thinking about it. “I can’t believe it’s even legal to keep those things. They’re dangerous.”
He chuckled. “The only thing dangerous in there is you, honey. Believe me, those crickets are more afraid of you than you are of them.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“You know, it probably would have been easier if you’d just used your hands instead of the net.”
Her eyes went wide. “My hands? You’ve got to be kidding me. They could have bitten me.”
“Crickets don’t bite, Kendall.” He jerked his head toward the hothouse. “Come on. I’ll show you how to catch them.”