Page 11 of Unlikely You

Do you ever wonder who you’d be if you’d made one decision differently? I can’t help thinking about that all the time. That there are all these different paths in front of me and which flavor latte I order at the cafe is going to send me on a new one. I hope I don’t sound like I’m losing my mind. I hope you know what I’m talking about. I feel like if anyone knew what I was talking about, it would be you.

Okay, enough of that. Here’s an article about a really cool jellyfish.

-Bibliofile

I read the article about the jellyfish, which was less cool and more completely terrifying. I went upstairs to my computer to type out a response. I could write emails on my phone, but I liked the sound of a keyboard when I typed them out.

Biblio,

Yes, I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about. I think about decisions I’ve made years afterwards and wonder what would have happened if I’d chosen something different. Isn’t that what life is? Making choices and living with whatever future those choices give you. That sounds depressing, sorry about that.

Did you know that there are more trees here on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy? I think that’s pretty impressive and inspiring. Oh, and here’s a cool video of some hummingbirds that I saw. That jellyfish is TERRIFYING and I don’t trust anything that lives that deep in the ocean.

-Melliferal

Chapter Five

Bren

I wasin the midst of setting up my table at the marketplace on Thursday morning when I could feel Honey watching me. As soon as I glanced over, she wasn’t anymore, but I wasn’t that unobservant. Mostly because I’d been watching her back.

I was making sure my display was perfectly spaced and fiddling with the last elements when she came over.

“Good morning,” she said, as if she’d woken up on the right side of the bed and had a cup of sunshine instead of coffee for breakfast. It was a wonder she hadn’t been plucked from Maine to go pretend to be a princess at a theme part or for children’s birthday parties. She had that pure, kind, wholesome energy. For some reason, it made my skin break out in little prickles of heat.

Honey wasn’t my type. I preferred people who were just as brooding or more so than I was. People who had also had a rough time so we could commiserate. That was when I actually dated, which I rarely did. I’d never even had a committed relationship. There wasn’t the time or energy available for it. Everything I had went into my business. Sex was a whole other story.

“Morning,” I grunted, hoping my gruffness would dissuade her from trying to make small talk with me.

“I know we’ve had the spot next to you for a while, but I realized I never gave you a sample of our honey to try. We have hot honey too, if that’s more to your liking.”

I hadn’t turned to look at her, too busy staring a hole in the cloth that covered my table. If I looked at her, I was going to stare, and if I stared, she was going to think I liked her, and I didnotlike her. She was nice to look at, that was it. Everything else about her got on my nerves.

But then a jar of honey entered my line of vision, pushed toward me by her elegant fingers. Her nails were short but painted a light pink that was probably called Baby Whispers or Sweetie Girl or something insipid. She had a few rings on her fingers, including one that had a little gold bee on it. Guess she was really into the whole bee thing.

The jar of honey was cute, a hexagonal shape, a lid with a sticker on top and a little tag with the logo on it as well, tied with a little bit of twine. Very nice packaging and I did love the logo and the font and everything about the way they’d branded themselves. It was pretty and whimsical, when they could have gone in a completely different (tacky) direction.

“Thank you,” I said because I wasn’t a total asshole. I just wanted her to stop being so sexy and for the rest of her family to stop singing and being loud and intruding into my bubble. I was lucky that I only had them on one side of me. Nearly every other table had one person on either side and sometimes another booth behind as well. I had paid more to only have one other booth next to me. Things had been fine up until the Holloways had gotten here. And now I would have taken being surrounded by other people who weren’t them.

“You’re very welcome,” Honey said, her voice soft. I waited until she walked away to glance over at the booth. The parents were singing as they unboxed jars of honey and set them up. At least they didn’t have an instrument today. Sometimes they did. Those were the worst days. It wasn’t as if they were bad singers, either. No, they were all talented, but it was just…why? Why the singing in the morning in a building with high ceilings and good acoustics when they hadn’t asked anyone around them if they minded?

I’d forgotten my noise-canceling headphones today. That was the origin of my particularly awful mood. Or I was getting my period soon. Both, probably.

My hand closed around the jar of honey and I put it carefully in my bag. The least I could do was bring it home with me. I wasn’t going to use it or anything, but as long as she thought I had taken it, that was what mattered.

I wasn’t going to use it.

So why was I on my phone two minutes later looking up “recipes using honey?”

Despite the badstart to Thursday, the rest of the day went much better. The Holloways were busy, which meant they weren’t in my hair, and I had a lot of business myself. I spent way too long talking with two teen girls about their favorite books and they each bought two book sleeves and tons of stickers and bookmarks. I had to replenish my stash after they left, and I was feeling really great when one of the booths that sold the most delicious challah came around offering samples to everyone. Each piece was slathered in butter or jam from another vendor. I almost grabbed the entire tray, but I held back and took two pieces, one with butter and one with what turned out to be blackberry jam.

Heaven. Absolute heaven.

“Honey goes great on bread,” a voice said, and I opened my eyes to find Honey standing in front of my booth.

“Does it now?” I said, wiping my face to make sure I hadn’t gotten any jam on my chin.

She nodded and pretended she was perusing my table. She’d done that before, but I just assumed she wasn’t interested in anything I was selling.

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