“Um, yes,” Salem answered, suddenly shy. She always loved talking about the Socks and Coffee merchandise line of ours, but now that she was branching her crafts and accessories out, she hadn’t been able to talk much to customers about it yet. I picked one up from the shelf and held it up. It was a light purple smiling face that had hearts for eyes. Attached to the metal ring was a pink and purple tassel.
“She puts them all together and makes the accessory pieces complement the hue of the smiley face,” I explained. Then I picked up a light green one that had X’s for the eyes and a blue tassel with it. “See? The colors go well with everything.”
“I see. Do you sell them here?”
“Yes. This is my first batch of the smiley faces. Andrew—the owner—said I could put a display up.”
“Before I leave, can I buy a few?” Salem stared at him as if he wasn’t serious. “My mom would like one. She only had boys, and we never brought home pretty crafts or beautiful gifts.” Chase looked at the pile of keychains and added, “And a couple of those green ones for my two oldest brothers. Make it three of the green ones and then a red one for me.”
“Yes, you can buy them,” I spoke up for Salem.
“Yes, thank you so much! You’re my first sale for these! I’ll package them up and have them ready for you when you leave.”
“We’ll be over there,” I told Salem and pointed to the table for two in front of the spot where she and I usually sat.
Chase and I headed toward the table, and I asked him what he wanted to drink.
“How about an iced caramel macchiato?”
“Easy. I’ll be right back.”
I hurried behind the counter and zipped around to make the two drinks for us. Andrew was helping out with making drinks since it was still during the morning rush.
“How are you doing, Bran?” he asked.
“I’m good. He just got here a few minutes ago, and I introduced him to Salem.”
“Remember, I’m here if you need anything.”
“I know. Thank you.” I snapped the lids on the drinks, grabbed two straws and two double chocolate muffins, then headed back to the table.
“Thank you,” Chase said as he jammed the straw into the lid.
“Yeah, no problem,” I said. I pushed the straw into my lid and then tossed a piece of the muffin in my mouth. While I was chewing, he started the conversation.
“She seems very artistic,” Chase said, referring to Salem.
“She is, for sure. She does the sketch work for our Socks and Coffee stuff. Mmm—” I held up one finger and raced over to the shelf that had our mug display. I picked up two of them and took them back to the table. “These are from our Socks and Coffee line. I come up with the design and she draws them.”
“These are really cool, Bran.” Chase looked the mugs over and smiled at them.
“Thanks! It’s kind of funny to me that all these years I didn’t know you existed, only to finally meet you and discover you were the one who inadvertently got me interested in socks.”
“It is quite the shocker to see my kid created mugs with goofy colored socks on them.”
I got so wrapped up in the mugs and talking to him that I rolled right into the conversation I’d so desperately tried to avoid.
“The proceeds help the anti-human trafficking organization of Los Angeles.” It just rolled off my tongue before I could stop it or think about where I was leading this conversation. I set the mug down and then looked at my chocolate muffin. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
I could feel how awkward the atmosphere had quickly become. I tried to think of what James would say in this situation.Breathe.
“Hey, you okay, Brandon?” Chase asked me.
I nodded but knew I needed to say something.
“Yes.” I cleared my throat and then took a sip of my coffee.Don’t be a weirdo. I willed myself not to make things worse by being weird about this. “Sorry about that,” I mumbled without looking up. I didn’t want to risk seeing the look of disappointment or concern on his face.
“It’s okay.”
