Chapter Fifteen
Xavier
Dominick told me he was going to be swamped the next week, so I didn’t expect to hear from him much. In a way, I was almost relieved for the breather. It was one thing to obsess over my sexual fantasies, but ever since the surprisingly tender date at the karaoke joint, I had started to develop other feelings, too.
Like that morning, I had started off chatting to Bea Arthur like always and telling her about the day I had planned. Then, without even realizing I was doing it, I started chatting to Dominick, too, and pretending he was right there with us.
“Bea,” I said, “this is Dominick. He’s going to be a part of our life from now on. I know he seems very different than you and I, in his expensive suits and with his fancy job, but you’ll see. He’s a sweetheart, just like you are.”
I probably wouldn’t have even heard myself doing it, except that I got so wrapped up in the daydream I ended up burning my eggs.
I was still struggling to stay focused that afternoon. Even with a busy day at the shop, my mind wandered, and I ended up mispricing a box of bubblegum and sending some very lucky kids home with some very underpriced sweets.
It had just been so long since I last fantasized about the future without feeling instantly and totally depressed. When I was a kid, the idea of running the shop used to make me all bright and optimistic. But back then, I had always pictured my father happy and retired. He had always been a part of the picture. Now, for the first time in two years, thinking about the future didn’t just make me depressed about who was absent from the picture.
“Excuse me, sir?” a girl asked, leaning up on the counter. She must have been seven or eight, and with a bow in her hair and ahappy birthdaysticker on her shirt, I knew she was celebrating.
“That’s me!” I said brightly. “Are you the birthday girl?”
She looked away shyly, then pushed a candy bar onto the counter, followed by a few quarters. When I glanced up, I saw the man who must be her father, grinning from behind.
“She’s learning to count change,” he said.
“That’s a very good thing to do on a birthday,” I said to her. “But I have some good news for you.”
She looked up, blinking at me with wide eyes.
I leaned forward on the counter. “On your birthday,” I said slowly, “everyone gets a free candy bar.” The girl’s eyes lit up, and I laughed as I nodded. “So you can keep the change and the candy,” I said. “Just promise me you’ll have a good day. How does that sound?”
“Say thank you,” her father said.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, then grabbed the coins and the candy so fast I couldn’t help but giggle.
Just as they were walking out the door and I thought I might finally get a minute alone in the store, a man in a black suit came walking in. His face was blank, but he walked with so much determination, I felt like he was going to serve me with a summons.
“Xavier?” he asked, approaching the counter. “Do you own this store?”
I squinted back, quite certain he wasn’t there for candy. “That’s me. Who’s asking?”
The man set his briefcase on the counter, then removed a tablet, setting it up with the screen facing me. “Mr. Russo wanted to get in touch,” he said, his voice practically a monotone. “Is now a good time?”
“Um, I guess so?” I answered. Chatting with Dominick sounded lovely, but the production was a little overwhelming.
The man nodded, then tapped the tablet a few times. Almost instantly, Dominick’s frame filled the screen. He seemed to be in his office, with a view of the city stretching across the window behind him.
I stared at him for a minute, then started laughing. “Really?” I said. “Is this how you get in touch with me now?”
Dominick had one of those stress balls in his hand, and he tossed it in the air and caught it while he smiled at me. “It’s just so fun to impress you,” he said. “Anyway, I can’t well ask you to measure the Zing Machine yourself.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the man in the suit, browsing the aisles. “You’ll have to back things up a little for me—I’m not as fast as you corporate types.”
Dominick set the ball on his desk, then leaned forward, folding his hands. “My grandfather lives outside the city,” he said simply. “His property is large, including the basement of his home, which is well insulated and temperature controlled. I checked with him this morning, and he’s fine if you’d like to store the Zing Machine there.”
“Your grandfather will store the machine for me?” I asked, surprised by the offer.
“That’s why Markus is there,” Dominick answered, and the man in the suit nodded my way. “If you’d like to take me up on the offer, he’ll measure the machine and send the specifics to the moving crew I have on reserve.” Markus crossed back to the counter, then placed a business card in front of me. “The crew has also been paid in advance to return the machine. All you have to do in the future is reach out to the number on the card Markus should have just given you, and they’ll pick it up from my grandfather’s and deliver it wherever you’d like. Assuming you’d like them to move it in the first place, that is.”
I picked up the card, blinking as I stared at it, then looked at Markus. He still had a blank look on his face, although I did notice the lollipop in his hand.
