Starfire(38)
“Your digestive system shuts down up there,” he said as he chased the last few crumbs around the plate. “And I enjoy digestion too much.”
“Me, too.”
The waiter came by, and Vern said to me, “What pie should we order to take home for your housemate?”
I glanced over at the specials board and ordered the Spooky Custard Berry for Shayla.
I hadn’t thought about getting takeout for Shayla, but Vern really impressed me with his thoughtfulness. It made me wonder how much worse Dalton would be at dating if he didn’t have some coaching from Vern.
We left the restaurant, and on the drive home, I asked Vern, “Did you pick out the engagement ring?”
Without pausing, he said, “No. He came up with that himself.”
“I sense disapproval in your voice, Vern.”
He chuckled and pushed the button to jokingly raise the glass between us by a few inches.
~
Vern dropped me off at home, and I ran into the house and up to my room.
Instead of looking at the ring, I folded the red jacket around the box and stuffed everything in a dresser drawer next to my bed. The red foil heart-shaped balloon my family gave me a week earlier had completely deflated, and the crinkled heart gently settled on top of the jacket.
When I woke up Thursday morning, I stared at the closed drawer for a long time.
I didn’t look, though. I left the drawer closed and went to work early.
At the bookstore, I settled into my comfortable routine. Plenty of customers came in to check out the tables of deals on select books. Like most bookstores, we’re able to send back unsold books. They get returned to the distributors. Overstock is not a problem in the book business, except for with a few smaller distributors, where Gordon pays for the books outright, but at a steeper discount to offset the risk. Customers really don’t care about the business model of a retail store, though. If you’re moving locations, they expect a sale, regardless of the economics.
After lunch, our delivery man, Carter, came in with three boxes on his wheeled cart.
“Those can’t be for us,” I said, shaking my head. “No new inventory until the move. I don’t need more things to pack.”
Carter stopped and pretended to have hurt feelings, both hands over his heart. “You’re not happy to see me? I’m crushed.”
The new ink on his arms had healed, and countless bright-hued fish swam up and down Carter’s arm amidst fine, red-gold arm hairs.
“Of course I’m happy to see you.” I smiled and stared up at Carter’s friendly eyes, blue with an inner ring so pale it looked white. He and I had been friendly since he moved to Beaverdale to play guitar and enjoy the small-town life. We’d flirted a few times, but never dated. The topic had only come up once he’d found out I was with Dalton. As I stared up into Carter’s eyes, fringed by pale gold eyelashes, I wondered if he was in my bookstore to further complicate my love life.
“These boxes aren’t for you,” he said.
“I’d celebrate being right, as usual, but people take it the wrong way. Maybe it’s the song and dance I do.”
He grinned. “Do you know I’m the other guy?”
“What other guy?”
“I’m dating Golden, who’s seeing Adrian, who’s—”
“I know the rest!” I put my hands on my hips and looked at Carter through the new filter of him dating Golden. They would make a cute couple.
“My other girl is my guitar, though. My dating life isn’t as exciting as yours. I have thought about asking out Kirsten, from Java Jones, but I don’t know.”
“So, you’re just here to let me know we’re in the same dating chain?”
“And to say hello, because I’ve missed delivering to you.”
His adoring gaze started to feel weird.
Some customers came in the door, putting an additional layer of awkwardness on the conversation.
Carter and I talked a little about the store’s upcoming move, and then he left with the three boxes, which were actually for the music store a few blocks over.
After he was gone, I wondered if he’d come over to ask me on a date, turning our dating chain into a circle. Little did he know I was pretty booked up, what with the upcoming wedding.
~
Ten minutes before closing, Adrian came in, wearing shorts and running shoes with a sleeveless shirt that showed off his long, muscled arms.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said.
I stared at his face, at the light glinting on the short beard growth on his face. He hadn’t shaved that morning, and he had what always looked to me like brown sugar granules along his jaw.
“Of course I’m hungry,” I said. “I’m totally hungry for our… date tonight?”