“Then let us burn.”
And I did.
I let the flames of our lies and love consume us to the point I didn’t know how long we were in the back alley after Greg’s mouth had fused with mine again.
The door to the bread shop started to open next to us and I was dropped from Greg’s arms immediately. Nevermind us just being tongue-tied or that we were heavily dry-humping each other, like horny teenagers.
A deep male voice came from behind the door. “I thought I heard someone out here Ethel, just let me check!” I looked at Greg and the look of horror on his face was priceless. He grabbed for my bag on the ground and then my hand before he took off in a sprint, pulling me behind him, to exit the alleyway and around the corner to the candy shop.
A laugh bursted out of me when we landed inside the candy store with the jingle of a bell and the slam of the glass door behind us. Greg looked out of breath and scared to death at what might have happened if someone from Ethel’s shop had found us. Not only would we be the talk of the town, his parents would hear about it in the time it took to send a text.
“You two look like you’ve been getting into trouble,” Wilson, the owner of the candy shop, scolded us as he walked around from behind the cash register to give me a hug. I had missed the sound of his husky voice.
“Only the usual.” He embraced me quickly before releasing me and going back to work. He was a crotchety old man, but still had a soft side, and I remembered this when he pushed the pickle jar towards me along with a pair of tongs and set a paper towel down beside the jar.
“Grab one and I’ll go to see what kind of ice cream they have today.” Greg left me to my own devices while he sought out something to fill his sweet-tooth craving. I plucked out one dill pickle and settled with that for now. Wilson gave me a side glance when I walked away, narrowing his eyes in suspicion that I hadn’t taken more than one. I needed to pace myself or I would eat the whole jar before I left this place, and I really wanted to take some for the car ride home.
“Get me vanilla, please.” I took a bite of the pickle and looked up to see Greg staring at me. His eyes were trained on my mouth as I chomped on the giant bite I took. He had a cup of vanilla ice cream in one hand and chocolate in the other. I licked my lips and then bit into the pickle again while trying not to laugh. He shook his head and handed over the cup.
He held onto my spoon since he knew I didn’t need it yet. I dipped the top of my pickle into the ice cream and continued to eat it while we looked around for some road-trip snacks.
The young girl who had served Greg our ice cream came out from behind the counter. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen, but I realized fast that she seemed to be drawn to Greg. I shoved more of the pickle in my mouth to cover my knowing smirk.
“Why don’t we get some jelly beans?” Greg turned around from where the girl had been following him and almost knocked her down.
“Sorry!” Her little voice rang out as she turned and ran back behind the counter. Greg’s brows knit together and he looked at me confused.
“Just make sure they’re cinnamon.” I turned around and made my way over to the popcorn wall. “I’ll grab the cheddar.”
“White!” Greg yelled at me as I dipped the last of my pickle into the ice cream. I made a detour over to the pickle jar to grab another before grabbing the biggest bag they offered to fill with the best white cheddar popcorn I had ever had the pleasure of eating.
“You are one weird girl.” Wilson mocked me to my back as I dipped my fresh pickle into the ice cream. I turned around and took a bite directly in front of him, juices running down into the ice cream. Most people thought it was a weird combination, but I loved it. The sweet with the tart just seemed to work in ways that one wouldn’t expect.
I quickly filled our bag of popcorn and grabbed a bag of cotton candy before heading back to the counter to see what Greg had piled up. His broad shoulders were blocking the counter but, when I got up behind him, I rested my chin on his shoulder. I tossed my bags onto the counter and eyeballed what he had collected: Sugar Daddies, hot cinnamon jelly beans and, my favorite, just pink Starbursts.
I finished off my pickle and grabbed for the spoon sticking out of Greg’s back pocket while he paid for everything. Wilson grabbed two more pickles for me and then bagged everything together, ready for us to hit the road. I made sure to finish the ice cream before leaving and tossed the bowl into the trash by the register.
“Now you two drive safe. It’s been a dewy morning for October, so the roads may be slick.” Wilson tipped his head towards Greg and then to me to make sure we knew he meant business in keeping us safe.
“No worries, Wilson. I’ll be making sure she comes back alive.” I couldn’t miss the wink Greg shot the old man. I grabbed the bag off the counter, held up a hand to wave goodbye to Wilson and walked out the door. I left both men laughing in my dust. Wilson had been right. As the morning moved on, the air got a little nippier from the moisture.
I rubbed my hands over my arms. I hadn’t prepared to be outside so long. Cool fifty-degree weather normally didn’t bother me, but the days were slowly starting to sink back down in the forties and thirties, which meant sweater weather.
A jacket was being draped over me and then Greg walked past me. He hadn’t been wearing a jacket either. When I looked back into the main window of the shop, Wilson held out his hand to me and blew me a kiss. I returned the gesture and made my way behind Greg towards the car.
Our adventures had wasted away most of the morning. It was now well into the afternoon and we still had a two-hour drive back into town. Just like the drive up, the drive back was silent except for the rustle of bags and chewing sounds. When we got off the highway and turned on the main street for downtown, heading towards the office, my heart dropped. He was taking me home.
I hadn’t expected him to take me anywhere else, but I just didn’t think we were headed home. I started to put together an assortment of candy.
“You can just take it all.” I didn’t have to be told twice and proceeded to put everything back into the original bag. Greg drove past the office and made a U-turn to park outside of the apartment complex.
“Are you not coming up?” I asked him, but refused to look anywhere but at his reflection in the window beside me. I unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled the door handle once to unlock it.
“Nah, I’m going to go see the guys for an early dinner and drinks.” I looked at the time on the dash, and they wouldn’t be out of work for another hour. I had no right to question where he was going, so I didn’t. We might live next door to each other and be married, but if he wanted to go out by himself, then I would let him be. This was what I had been wanting, us to be separated, so why throw a fit now that he wouldn’t tell me more.
“Sounds good, see you tomorrow.” I opened the car door.
“Lilly.”
