He smiled. “Deal.”
I turned to the table and noticed that Kerry and Joey had moved to look at some other products.
“Do you need a receipt?” I asked as I charged Craig way less than I should have.
He smiled and shook his head. “Thank you.”
“And I’ll take this set,” Joey declared, picking up one of my charcuterie bundles that included the board and utensils with turned handles. “My sister and her mate love to entertain, and I think they’ll love this.”
“I’ve got it,” Kerry said as I reached for my receipt pad. “You two keep catching up.”
I nodded. “Ok.” Then I turned back to Craig.
“Haven’t seen you in a few weeks,” he murmured. “When do you think you’re coming in again?”
“Probably late next week,” I replied. “Spindle projects do well at these markets.”
“Like the pens?”
I nodded. “And the other small items.”
“Well,” he paused and took a breath. “I hope to see you. I’ve got more scraps set aside, but you said there were too many last time, so I cut back. I only work during the week, though.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Welcome,” Kerry said as somebody else walked in. “Please ask if you have any questions.”
“I think that’s my cue,” Craig murmured.
“Ok,” I replied. “It was good to see you.”
“You too.”
There was a long pause before he stepped back. He gave me a smile, turned, and followed Joey out of my booth.
The woman who had come in browsed for a few minutes, then left without buying anything. A couple more customersflitted through before I was able to sit to finish my lunch—which had cooled some.
“Well, that was fun,” Kerry chirped as he plopped back on his chair.
“Hmm?”
“Meeting your future alpha. He’s hot.” He chuckled. “And his friend gave us all the goods.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s not my future alpha. And what do you mean his friend gave us all the goods?”
He laughed. “You keep telling yourself that. But I bet you’ll be riding his knot before the end of the year.” He paused. “And he gave us the goods.”
“Explain.”
“Dude! He went full-wingman as soon as he realized who you were!”
“I caught that Craig had been talking about me.”
He shook his head. “It was way more than that. How old is he?”
“Umm… I don’t know.”
He laughed. “Yes, you do. I don’t know the lingo, but he said he worked as a faller for almost fifteen years and was on a chainsaw by the time he was twenty-one. Context clues put him in the thirty-five to thirty-six range.”
