“I’ll take her and come back,” her husband Manny replies.
“Oye, why doesn’t Nellie take her instead? That way, you can put those muscles of yours to work,” Gus, his twin and Nellie’s fiancé, says. It helps that half these people are business owners and can jump out of work like this. I rarely ask for help unlessit’s completely necessary because of moments like this, days like today, where there’s no way I would make it without them.
“I have muscles,” Nellie mentions, but Gus wraps her in his arms.
“Yes, but for my heart, I need you to go. I could actually be the one having a heart attack.” Gus and his jokes about his heart condition piss Nellie off to no end. He raises his hands. “My bad, my bad. Go, please. Be trouble somewhere else.Please.”
“Fine. Let’s go, preggies,” she tells her sister with a pout, and they finally leave. I take a deep breath for the first time since she got here. The floor is wet, and although we found the leak and have contained it in a bucket, she could still fall.
I need to save as much as I can. We’re putting books into totes to take to my living room until I can repair everything. The shelves have to come out—if I can salvage them—and so many things from my desk too. It’s a little overwhelming when I think about it all.
Who am I kidding? It’s actually very overwhelming.
“Sorry, we’re closed!” Jake shouts, and when I look up, I wonder for a second if I’m seeing right. Because standing there, dumbfounded, is Holden.
“I was bringing you lunch,” he mutters, setting the bag on the table we moved outside and stepping in, looking around the flooded space. “I’m calling for reinforcements,” he adds, grabbing his phone and texting quickly before heading to Jake and offering him his hand. “My name is Holden. Nice to meet you.”
Jake narrows his eyes before shaking his hand.
I don’t even know how to introduce him. My boyfriend? Is he my boyfriend? Even after the conversation last night? Is he a friend I’ve had sex with in the supply closet? I may not be sure of much, but I’m sure he’s the man I’ve fallen in love with, even ifI’m lying to myself about it. But I can’t saythatthe first time my friends meet him.
“Jake.” They shake hands, and Holden gets to work, falling in place with the rest of the boys. They’re all here, except Santiago. He and Roe are at the opening weekend of their favorite race event. They might not race anymore, but they’re still part of the community. We pack books, bookmarks, stickers, and as many paper products as we can. We're so lost in the process, I almost miss the group of people who show up suddenly.
Four men, all huge, just like Holden. Wait, one of them is?—
“What are you doing here?” Alex asks Mateo, his brother-in-law.
Mateo, Livie’s brother, points at Holden. “That’s my best friend. What areyoudoing here?”
Alex points to me. “That’s one ofmybest friends.”
“Oh shit.” A guy laughs. He’s wearing shorts that hit him mid-thigh with tall garden boots and a hot pink comb headband keeping his long hair back. “Are you her? His dream girl?”
I turn to Holden, trying to find the answers.
“Wait, I know your name… It was, um, Nicole? No, not Nicole. Natalie! It was Natalie!”
“What if you said a name that’s not mine, and I was mad?” I tease. Even though I haven’t even met him, he seems like a guy you need to set straight from the beginning. There are some whispered cusses, a low grumbly laugh, and the guy in question, who I’m guessing is Aspen, judging by one of the conversations I had with Holden, flinches.
“Well, isn’t that your name?”
I nod. “It is. Nice to meet you.”
“Less talking and more working,” Holden commands. There are quick introductions, and Jake, who self-appointed himself as the organizer, gives instructions to salvage what they can.
Some of the guys leave, coming back half an hour later with a ton of towels and start drying the spots we didn’t get to. They also brought extra totes so we can continue packing things. I had to stop helping to make calls to see if I can get someone out here ASAP to file an insurance claim and get the ball rolling.
“Any luck?Holden asks, smiling but keeping his distance. It feels like no time has passed, but it’s been hours, and there’s nobody available to come and assess the damage. All our friends are still carrying things outside in between little jokes here and there.
“Nope. These are the moments when I really don’t love small towns.” What am I going to do? Losing a day’s worth of sales is bad enough; this might take days, if not a week.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He tilts his head. “Natalie, come on. I know you. What’s wrong?” he whispers this time.
There’s so much tension between us still; I can’tnottell him. That should be indication enough of how much I feel for this man. “This is going to be devastating for my business, Holden. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back from this.”
