Page 97 of Get A Fix

“You can read any book you like, just make sure to put it back when you’re done or leave a dollar in the jar on the way out.”

They made their own honey, as well as beeswax candles—lavender and unscented—and they also sold lavender in bundles or wreaths.

“Guess what kind of farm we have?” Kiyomi asked Ash.

“Lavender?”

She shook her head and turned to me. “Your guess?”

“Blueberry.”

Her smile was wide. “Very good.”

“Why is that a better guess than mine? There’s not one blueberry in here.”

“There’s a blueberry cobbler in the oven. I will get you a piece as soon as it’s done.”

“That sounds amazing,” Ash told her.

“And to answer your question, Maine is world famous for wild blueberries and potatoes, but your beau correctly assumed I am not a potato farmer.”

“My beau?”

She tipped her head as she regarded him. “I would say so, yes. You keep touching him. Are you aware that you’re doing that?”

He sighed deeply. “I’m enchanted by him.”

“Oh good,” she said, smiling at me. “That’s what you want. My husband is still enchanted with me, and it’s been fifty-two years and counting.”

“How wonderful,” Ash mused.

“I know. You boys have to do the same once the rings go on.”

I leaned on the counter. “We met yesterday.”

She nodded. “I met my husband on a Tuesday morning in May in 1972 at Los Angeles City College. I had just started classes, and he was a groundskeeper.”

“This sounds like a good story.”

Kiyomi smiled at me. “We got married in June, and three months after that, he shipped off to Vietnam.”

“How long was he there?”

“He did three tours while I worked and got my degree in history so I could teach school, and he returned home to me and we haven’t been apart since, even though he’ll tell you I drive him nuts.”

“Bananas,” an elderly Black man corrected her as he came from the back, walked up to the counter, and placed a large teapot on the warming stand beside his wife. “She drives me bananas. I’m not much for nuts.”

“These young men met yesterday.”

He nodded. “Well, you make a nice-looking couple.”

“Thank you,” I said softly. “May I ask you, sir, how did you deal with being apart for so long? How did you and Kiyomi keep the connection alive?”

“Well, it helps to be in love. Are you in love?”

“I’m in lust with a lot of like,” I told him.

“That’s an excellent start,” he assured me, taking hold of my shoulder. “And you have to communicate. I wrote every day, and so did she.”