Page 41 of Just One More Thing

“That’ll be fun,” Mo says, wiping her hands on a towel.

“Emory, you should come,” Wayne says immediately.

“Oh no,” Maddy says calmly. “I’m not naming names, but did you hear what happened to the girl who went fishing with two guys?”

Wayne leans in like he’s about to receive state secrets. “What happened?”

“She got a red snapper,” Maddy says, straight-faced.

Humphrey hmphs. Mrs. Kravitz gasps. Frank chokes on a laugh.

“Granny!” Mo says, bright red.

I close my eyes and laugh.

“Wheeler, I love your people,” Wayne says.

Mo comes around from the kitchen. “Good morning. Again.”

“What’s your best seller?” Wayne asks.

“The one that sells,” Maddy replies without missing a beat.

“How about a variety,” I tell Mo.

She reaches for a pink box and starts filling it. Glazed, Old-fashioned. Crullers. My favorites, added without asking, her hand remembering before either of us has to say a word. When she reaches for the chocolate, she pauses and looks at me.

I smile and nod. “For courage.”

She grins. Because I remember.

She walks around the counter, hands me the box, then crouches to scruff Hank and give him a cookie.

“I see you’ve been advised on filling the tank of Hank.”

Mo rises, steps closer, and without warning bumps her hip into mine, knocking me lightly against the inner-tube-lined wall.

It isn’t hard. Doesn’t need to be. My whole body registers it like a memory I forgot I still had.

“What was that for?” I ask.

“Old times’ sake.”

I look down before she can see what that does to me. So she remembers that too.

We used to do it all the time. Shoulder checks. Hip chucks. Bouncing off each other because the world was softer if the other one was in it. Maddy never stopped us. Said she enjoyed the sound of us laughing.

I can still hear it. The old version. Us ricocheting through summers as if we had nowhere else we were ever going to be.

I reset my grip on the box. “Ryan’s next door. I should go rescue him. He has no idea what he’s walking into.”

“You let him walk into Lazy Larry’s blind? You’re awful.”

“I did and I am.” I turn toward Wayne. “Come on, princess. Here’s your pink box.”

The outdoor tables at Lazy Larry’s are all full and all chanting. “HOW LAZY IS HE?”

Ryan stands wide eyed near the walk up counter like he’s stumbled into the Twilight Zone.