“No one.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Okay, weirdo.”
Ross untied the straps of his leather work apron, slipping it off. Growing up under the same roof made Luna more sister than cousin. She was extroverted, making her the opposite of him. But their differences, and four-year age gap, didn’t prevent their closeness.
He studied her as she applied balm to her lips. “What are you doing here, anyway? I’m closing up soon, and I’ll be at the house to help you pack up your car—”
“I’m already packed,” she said before tossing the lip balm into her purse.
“What? You should have waited. You don’t know how to pack a car to its max efficiency.”
“And yet, I still managed to get everything in regardless. Strange.” She rolled her eyes.
“Are you really so eager to get away from home? I mean, I know it’s a dump and all—” His words stopped when Luna sniffed. “What’s wrong?”
“That dump has been my home for…what? Twenty years?” Her voice fractured. “You would have laughed at me. I spent an hour today crying over how much I’ll miss the cracked window pane in my bedroom. How can I be so sentimental about something so silly?”
Ross pulled his cousin into a hug, rubbing her back. “You’re right. That is something silly to get sentimental over. I hope missingme, an actual person, generated at least two hours of crying. When did you find time to squeeze in packing? I bet your car organization job is shit.”
Luna sputtered a laugh in between weepy tears, but Ross understood what she was going through. His sarcastic words masked his own depression, which settled across his soul from the reality his kid cousin was leaving him for better things, like being accepted to Chico State. This caused Ross to go through a fair amount of eye-rolling sentimentality as well. He’d miss her taking ownership of the bathroom counter with numerous hair and face products. Or their countless thermostat battles at the childhood house they shared. Or the constant tug-of-war over how El Dorado Jewelry should be run. There were too many silly, ridiculous things to count.
But spirited Luna couldn’t be held back forever no matter how much he wanted it. She’d already delayed her ambitions long enough to help him with the shop. Ross should be used to being left behind, but his cousin had been in his life since her birth. He adopted the protective big brother role when Ross’s aunt departed for better things shortly after Luna’s fourth birthday. Whatever thosebetter thingswere, Luna wasn’t included. The cousins were connected in their financially poor, unconventional upbringing, both of them parentless being raised by their grandfather. Ross worried this new distance could affect their connection and perhaps she wouldn’t want to come back at all. Why would she when it was possible to do so much better?
“You know,” he started, “I can close the store for a few days and make the drive with you if you want.”
At this moment, he’d take anything to stave off the inevitable change that arrived with the force of an emotional train. It seemed as though it was yesterday when Luna had shared the news about getting into a university. They had celebrated the rare moment of good luck without a thought to the bittersweet parting soon to follow. It was too bad Ross couldn’t spend an hour crying over a cracked window pane as freely as his cousin. Instead, he’d rather avoid the situation and lose himself in his work.
Luna leaned away from him, giving Ross a flat expression. “And what would Grandpa Victor-for-victory say about you closing up the store?”
Thinking about their grandfather, a man who had died several years prior, brought another layer of sadness to Ross’s heart. He pulled himself out of it for her sake and smiled. “He’d say,That Lulu got her act together and is going to college? My god. Ross, drive your cousin and make sure she actually gets there and doesn’t take a detour to go party instead.”
She laughed. “Okay, you might be right, but that means he’d still be working in the store.”
Luna followed him into his office, stopping to pet Hermes, who was snoring on the carpet. Ross began his standard closing practices at the desk while she watched him.
“Speaking of which, have you found a store replacement for me yet?”
He kept his focus on the computer, not wanting to reveal anything in his demeanor. “I’ve had a few inquiries.”
“Anyone good?”
“There’s a woman named…” He shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk in an attempt to refresh his memory and found the application from an older Indian-American woman. “Ah, here it is. Aanya Pujari. I’m considering hiring her. She worked in a jewelry store in Sacramento. I guess she’s not enjoying retirement as much as she thought she would. She’s nice.”
“Well, she sounds like a good choice,” Luna agreed. “And maybe let her actually do the sales work, so you can concentrate on what you’re good at.”
“Being good looking?” Ross gave her a wink.
She wrinkled her nose. “Gross. In what world? I know you’re not referring to the one we’re living in now.”
“Uh-huh,” was Ross’s dry response. He gave her a glance before clearing his throat. “I actually had a person from school stop in for the job.”
“Oh, yeah? Anyone I would remember?”
“Nope.” Ross powered off his computer. “Just someone who used to tutor me.”
“You mean someone whotriedto tutor you.”
He gave Luna a small grin. “I guess. This person was the smartest student in school. It would make sense to pair them with the biggest educational disaster in the district.”
