They parked in front of his gravel driveway, and faint streaks of daylight appeared in the sky. When they reached a wraparound porch, Tyler took the paper from Kalista and placed it near the front door. “He wants it to the left of the welcome mat. Not the right.”
“The right,” Kalista said. “Not the left.” Or was it the left and not the right? There was so much she had to remember, she wasn’t sure, even though he’d just given her the instructions. “What if I forget?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve never forgotten, and neither did Daniel. He’s the guy that had the route before you. Just try to remember.”
“But what’s the big deal?” she asked as they made their way down the driveway. “He could just as easily pick it up from the other side of the mat.”
“That’s not the point. He’s our customer and we do our best to make our customers happy, even if it might seem...”
“Ridiculous?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” He opened the passenger door. “It’s just their preference.”
Fair enough. Kalista was known to be finicky herself. When she went shopping, she expected the salesperson to give her undivided and personal attention because she was spending money. Her father’s money, but the point still stood. She deserved to be catered to. Apparently Mr. Jackson felt the same way.
They finished the route, and Kalista marked on the map where the other four persnickety people wanted their paper. Then they headed down the mountain and back to Clementine. By the time they got to Main Street, the sun was already above the horizon.
“You did pretty good,” Tyler said when she put the truck in Park. It lurched forward.
Pretty good? Humph. “What did I do wrong?”
“Not wrong, exactly,” he said. “You’re not used to driving a truck, are you?”
She fell back against the seat. “How can you tell?”
“You’re taking your turns too wide. You have to be careful on some of the narrow parts of the route. You don’t want to have an accident.”
No, she certainly did not. She also didn’t want to wreck Bo’s truck. No doubt if she did, her father would make her take a second job to pay for it. Besides, now that she met him and saw how good he was to Viv, she didn’t want to damage his vehicle in any way.
“Now that part of the job is done, it’s time to finish up.”
“I thought we were finished.” She was ready for coffee and then back to bed.
“You have to tidy up the loose papers and get everything ready for Monday.”
“Isn’t Monday a holiday? It’s Memorial Day.”
“Not for us.” Tyler smiled again. He was almost always smiling, even when she’d gotten turned around shortly after they left Clementine. “If you have everything ready for Monday now, then all you’ll have to do is roll the papers, load them, and deliver them. Except if you have to put a flyer in, and that won’t take long.”
They went back inside, and she did everything Tyler told her to do to get ready for Monday’s delivery. When he said she was free to go, she was relieved. And also surprised. This wasn’t going to be too bad. Granted, driving up the mountain had been a little perilous, and she thought she was the only one who had noticed she was having trouble with some of the terrain.
“Well,” Tyler said, shuffling his feet a little. “Guess I’ll see you Monday.”
“Uh-huh.” She was already halfway across the room.
“Kalista?”
She turned around. Now he had his hands behind his back. “Do you know about the hoedown on Saturday?”
Not this again. She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I’m staying at Bo’s with my stepmother.”
“Vivian is your stepmother? Cool. She’s a great lady.”
Kalista had to smile. “She definitely is.”
“Are you going then?”
She sighed. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to be.”
