“Don’t be, my mom and Daniel deserve each other. She’s a horrible woman who only cares about her own happiness. She wouldn’t know how to be a parent if her life depended on it,” Michelle said, but refused to look at me. I looked down at her hands and saw they were shaking. “Her husband is vile, and that’s all there is to sayaboutthat.”
All logical thought left my brain seeing her like this. That was the only explanation for what I did next. I covered her hand with my own. “She doesn’tdeserveyou.”
“Yeah.” Her response was too fast to be genuine. “Didn’t you say you had boxes to unpack in the back? I can hold down the fort, and I swear I won’t scare off the romancereaders.”
“It’s not Mrs. Bristol’s day to come in any way,” I said, dropping the previous topic of conversation. “Just let me know if you needme,okay?”
“Iwill.”
“Okay,” I said awkwardly, before walking to the back. It was our big delivery day and one of the slowest nights in the front of the store. Not that we had busy days, but I thought I could trust Michelle to take care of the few customers that came in. Hopefully, she would leave those cherries in their containerthough.
I could imagine the reaction our poor customer base would have if they saw the way she was making out with them. I didn’t want to think about it, but couldn't get the burned image out ofmyhead.
Boxes. Unpacking. Checkingslips.
I needed to focus on those things instead of what Michelle was or wasn’t doing out front with her bowl offruit.
I spent the next couple of hours opening cardboard boxes and putting books on the cart that was sitting in the back room. When I finished, I would bring it out front. If there was any time left in our shift, we might put some of them away on theshelves.
It wasn’t a necessary task, but I knew Jenny would appreciate anything we got done tonight. I put my energy into my work, and before I realized it, I was kneeling on the ground finishing up the last box. Just in time because Michelle was opening thebackdoor.
“Oh.” She stopped in the doorway. “Whatwasthat?”
“Whatwaswhat?”
“The song you were humming. I don’t think I’ve heard itbefore.”
I hadn’t meant to sing the tune, but as soon as she said that, I realized that was exactly what I had been doing. With all the band practice lately, I didn't have much time to focus on the song that haunted me these last few weeks. It must have found its way through my subconscious while I focused on my tasks in the back of thestore.
“It’s nothing, just some stupid song Imadeup.”
“Does it havewords?”
“Not yet,” I answered feeling uncomfortable. I hadn’t played or sung my tune to anyone. I’d been too self-conscious. I wasn’t ready to share it with anyone, most of all, not Michelle. We may have hit an uneasy truce earlier, but I didn’t want to give her anything else to make fun of me. “Did you needsomething?”
“Oh, right. Your sisterstoppedby.”
“Sarah?” I asked like an idiot since I only hadtheone.
“No,Volvo.”
“Very funny,” I said, getting up off the ground. “What didshewant?”
“She brought you asnack.”
“Awesome, I’m starving. Would you mind putting these last few books up so I can gograbit?”
She didn’t move from the doorway, but pulled a hand from behind her back and held out a pretzel. “So, your parents are hippies,right?”
“Yeah,” I answered as I grabbed the food from her hand and took a huge bite. Man, Michelle had a lot of questionstonight.
“Like, vegetarian or vegan orsomething?”
“Vegetarian,” I said, my mouthstillfull.
“Does that mean youaretoo?”
I swallowed while considering how to respond. “Kinda.”
