Page 15 of Not Looking
The sound of the door as Jessie walked back in. She took a place on my other side and snagged an empty carton to add eggs.
“Find what you needed?” I asked.
She set a small brown bottle on the counter. “Yep! Souvenir for you.”
I closed the carton, pushed it aside, then picked up the bottle. I turned it over and grinned when I saw the label. “Sweet! I was almost out.”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “You kept raving about it last time, so I figured you’d want more.”
“It’s the best beard oil I’ve used.”
“I’ll try to keep you stocked then. We go to Mexico often enough.”
“I appreciate it.”
I realized I hadn’t heard Marco call out a number for too long. I turned and saw him playing with Russy in the living room.
“All done, Tio Randy,” Michelle said.
I glanced over and nodded at the cartons. “Good job. Do you want to help us finish this, or go play with Marco until we’re ready to walk down?”
She eyed a carton for a second. “Pass me six eggs, please?”
I nodded and carefully maneuvered a small pile where she could reach them.
The three of us quickly finished, and I loaded the cartons into the cooler that I’d take down to the stand.
“Do you two want to take turns pulling the wagon?” I asked. “Or does somebody want to just walk?”
“I’ll pull on the way back up, so Marco can ride,” Michelle offered.
“You don’t want to ride?” Jessie asked. “You might have a hard time pulling him up the hill. I can pull you both back up.”
Michelle shook her head. “I wanna try!”
Jessie nodded. “Ok, as long as you don’t hurt yourself.”
Michelle grinned as Marco grabbed the wagon handle.
We strode down the incline of my driveway until we reached the road, then turned the corner and continued until we reached the small honesty stand I’d built several years prior. I settled the cooler into a recess I’d cut that just held it. Then I took a photo with my phone and posted it to the neighborhood group.
“I figure I’m open every Saturday until the end of summer now,” I told Jessie. “In case Yazzy wants to put anything in this year.”
She laughed. “Unless she changed her mind in the past couple of weeks, I can safely say that she was planning on it. She loved all the little notes people left raving about her salsas and treats.”
I grinned. “I’m glad she enjoyed it.”
“I was going to take the kids to mini golf this morning,” she said. “Give her a bit more time to rest. Want to come with?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, but I’ve already got plans to meet Kerry for brunch.”
“Oh, is he back in town?”
I laughed. “Yeah, for now at least. You know how he is, though.”
“Wish I had a job that let me work from wherever I wanted to go.”
“As if you could handle being away from your mate for more than a day or two.”
