She laughed. Okay, so he was definitely feeling better, then.
“Deal,” she told him.
At the diner, June set Benjamin up in the break room with plenty of water, a cup of orange juice and, yes, the promised French fries. He read his book, snacked, and played on a handheld game console while she worked. In the brief minutes she had to catch her breath between dashing to and fro, she could only be grateful that Benjamin was such a good sport when it came to getting dragged along like this. She was so lucky that she could trust him to be safe and smart while she delivered what felt like a thousand orders.
Eventually though, the hustle and bustle died down, the dining room no longer loud and crowded. June urged Benjamin to come out and sit in one of the empty booths and brought him some chicken tenders for dinner. It wasn’t the most balanced meal in the world, she supposed, but Benjamin’s happiness as he dunked them into a puddle of ketchup was just the thing she needed to see at the end of a hectic day.
Eventually, the only people in the diner were June, Benjamin, and Micah Peterson, a local old-timer who often came in for, as he put it, a slice of pie and a cup of joe. June got started with her regular closing-up duties. Micah wouldn’t mind, especially not when he had a battered paperback in front of him.
“Hey, I love this song!” Benjamin’s voice drew June out of the meditative cleaning tasks she performed at the end of eachshift. She perked up her ears and heard the upbeat pop tunes of “Lollipop.”
Without looking up from his book, Micah called out, “You heard the boy, June! Turn up the tunes!”
Benjamin’s eyes lit up at the suggestion.
Well, June couldn’t argue with that, now could she? She darted behind the counter, turned the volume up on the speaker system, and grabbed a bottle of disinfectant as a makeshift microphone. Then she performed her heart out for an audience of one.
Not that any size audience could have served her better, given the way Benjamin laughed and clapped and copied her dance moves.
When she finished, however, her son wasn’t the only one clapping. June whirled in surprise at the sound behind her, then gave Eleanor a sweeping bow.
“My goodness, June,” her friend said as June went to turn the speaker’s volume back down to a more manageable level, “I never knew you could sing like that!”
June felt herself flush. She loved singing, and she knew she wasn’t terrible, but it always put her on the back foot when people praised her for what felt like a hobby from another lifetime.
Still though, she wanted to model for Benjamin how to graciously accept a compliment.
“Well, thank you, Eleanor,” she said modestly.
The twinkle in her friend’s eye said that Eleanor new that June was feeling bashful and intended to tease her about it.
“No, truly,” she said. “That’s quite good. Have you had training?”
June shot Eleanor a sardonic look. The older woman gave her an innocent look back.
“I sang in choir as a child, but I’m afraid I wasn’t that good of a team player. I didn’t ‘blend’ right, according to our director.”
“That must have been because you’re so talented,” Eleanor responded at once.
June blushed more, but she didn’t really mind. There was something to be said for friends who teased you by building you up and never by tearing you down. It made June feel very open to being the so-called butt of the joke, since it actually made her feel pretty good about herself.
“Have you ever considered doing something with it?” Eleanor prodded. “Like… Oh, I don’t know, joining a group for adults?”
June shrugged. “Before Keith died, I took lessons, but I’ve been busy ever since.” She kept her voice quiet. She didn’t shy away from talking about her late husband with her son, since she wanted Benjamin to know that he was free to express his sadness about losing his father, about not being able to clearly remember the father he’d lost. She had spoken to a grief counselor after losing her husband, and the counselor had advised making conversation about Keith commonplace rather than taboo, as this would model for Benjamin that it was perfectly normal to have lingering pain over the untimely death.
Even with that in mind, June tried to be careful about how she spoke about her time as a single mom compared to that when she’d had her husband with her. Especially with Benjamin getting older, she didn’t want him to overhear something that made him feel like he was a burden.
Being a single mom was hard, but she would never, ever call her son a burden.
“Well, I know time is still tight these days… I remember what it was like having a little kid, and I had my husband around, even if he wasn’t that active in the day-to-day parenting. Butdon’t treat the dream like it’s totally dead, huh? I mean, I never pictured myself opening a bookstore, and look at me now!”
“Okay, okay, Susie Sunshine,” June teased. “Tell me all about your amazing life.”
“Oh, Iwould,” Eleanor said with a joking gush, “but I’m actually off to go meet with my gentleman caller again. I actually just stopped by to get some pickup because we got carried away working on a project and totally forgot dinner.”
“Whoops, you mean you actually came here so I can do my job?” June joked back. “Let me go back to the kitchen and see if they’re almost ready for you.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Eleanor said.
