“And you don’t?” She chuckled, picking up the jar of pepper jelly at the stand where the seller was conversing with a different potential customer. She twisted the jar to fully inspect the innards. “Didn't you guys have a good time last night?”
“We had a great time,” I agreed, reaching over and taking the pepper jelly out of her hands and placing it back on the stand. If she didn't immediately say she was gonna buy it, she wasn't going to. She'd been doing it all morning so I figured I'd help her out. She just smirked as she allowed me to pluck it back to its original spot on the stand's counter. “But for me it was just a one time thing.”
“Why? I mean, we're here for a couple weeks. Having a semi-regular person to get off with sounds awesome.”
A nearby seller shot us a dirty look, allowing us the opportunity to move down the line to browse other stands. We stopped at someone selling salsa before I continued.
“I don't want to confuse him, or myself. Anything more than what happened last night doesn't interest me. I don't want the responsibility of falling for someone when we're just going to leave anyway.”
Myers clicked her tongue as she eyed one of the spicier salsas on display. “That makes sense. As long as you're not denying yourself, I support you.”
“Hi there.” The salsa seller said, a middle aged guy with dark hair and glasses. “Can I interest you guys in anything in particular?”
“We're just browsing, thank you though.” I said with a much cheerier exoskeleton than I normally would have because he was admittedly pretty cute.
Except he was eyeing Myers pretty hard, so I got the hint that he batted for her team way more than mine.
“You sure?” The seller's eyes never left Myers as she picked up a green salsa. “That verde is pretty spicy, in case that's what you're interested in.” There was a stained smug on his lips, and Myers was acting like she wasn't catching on to it at all.
“I love some spice.” Myers nodded.
The guy pushed up his glasses, his smile upturning even more. “Howspicydo you like it?”
My sisters face squished together as she thought it over in a genuine assessment. Since she was giving me grief earlier about Lincoln, I decided to pay her back. I glanced between them and made the action very obvious.
“Should I take over manning the stand so you guys can get a room?”
The seller's face went red in a flash, and Myers gawked at me like she had no idea what I was going on about. But when she looked back at the guy and saw his flushed face, she realized that the seller was in fact flirting with her. He cleared his throat and Myers gave him a smile and said she totally forgot she already had enough salsa. Without looking at me, she playfully slapped my arm, walking away and leaving me at the stand. I laughed, telling the guy I was sorry as I rushed to catch up with my sister.
When I caught up with her, she was doing her best to seem interested in the coffee mugs someone had made.
“Sorry,” I said with the remnants of my laughter. “It was my turn to pick on you.”
“I didn't even think he was flirting.” Myers said, tossing me a glare. “Besides, we weren't talking about me, we were talking about you and the fact that you're clearly hellbent on denying yourself.” There was that pesky word again, deny.
Shaking my head, I said, “Trust me, I was far from denying myself last night.” I let a chuckle eliminate the pursing of my lips.
“Alright, alright.” She put up a hand in mock defeat. “I’ll drop it. I just want you to let loose sometimes. We're almost done with our trip and you've barely done any writing, so at least utilize the time to have fun!”
I inwardly winced. She was right, I hadn't been writing much. Honestly, I was waiting for more inspiration to strike. I was really banking on Phoebe being a nexus of creative flow. I wanted to be serious about my writing, and that was only going to happen if I buckled the fuck down and got to work.
We busied ourselves in conversing with the sellers after that, buying some fresh vegetables and some beautiful cuts of meat that we could keep in the deep freezer we had in the RV. By the time we were loading everything up into the cooler we had in the truck to keep everything cold, I felt like we were fully stocked for our entire time here in Phoebe.
“Wanna stop and get some coffee?” Myers said as she slammed the trunk shut. “I could use something to keep me going the rest of the day.”
We'd already stopped for coffee before starting our adventures this morning, but I wasn't going to deny my body the chance for even more caffeine. “Yeah, let's do it.”
I whipped out my phone as Myers finished locking up the truck, staring at the yet to be replied to message from Lincoln. I decided it warranted a response, and I wanted to be as even and unassuming as possible. My fingers blurred over my phone's keyboard.
I had a great time last night too. I'll definitely let you know if I wanna have more great times!
That was about as nonchalant as I could be while also being kind and not outright dismissive. Rereading the text, I nodded, deciding it was perfect, and quickly pressed send.
As we eyed the local coffee shop across the street from the farmer's market, I hoped that I could let go of this potentially messy situation with Lincoln and harness the town's obvious inclination for Halloween to fuel the horror novel I was focusing on.
I was just waiting for that perfect strike of inspiration.
Chapter 6
