Page 72 of An Introvert's Guide to Life and Love
“Best job ever. I get a free scoop every shift, and the customers are always happy, because, like, they’re getting ice cream so why wouldn’t they be?”
I lean against the dessert table. “When I was a senior in high school, I worked at a bakery, and it was kind of the same. No one can be rude when you’re handing them a frosted cinnamon bun.”
Ellie nods, gives me a tight smile that may or may not be sarcastic, and walks away to talk to her brother. Of course. Kids these days have no time to make polite chitchat with their elders.
I glance around, looking for either someone else to talk to or some sort of hostess duty to perform. There are plenty of cups and beverages, and the guests all appear to be enjoying themselves, including Gramps, who is laughing with Lenore and one of his friends from the retirement village. Maybe I should go check on the surprise I left in the bedroom, make sure he’s okay. But then I see a tall head of red hair: Daniel is standing near the pool, holding a can of seltzer and talking to Angela.
“You’re here!” I sidle up to them.
“You invited me,” Daniel says, and there’s an adorable edge of nervousness in his voice, as though there’s a chance he wasn’t actually invited.
“I know! I just didn’t think you were here yet.”
“You can’t be late to a surprise party. You’d miss all the fun.”
“Hi, Mallory.” Angela smiles at me. She’s wearing a short skirt and a silky pink blouse, sort of the party equivalent of her usual tennis attire. “Love what you’ve done out here.”
“Thank you! I’m glad you could make it.”
Angela glances from me to Daniel, and I realize how close I’m standing to him. I shuffle half a step sideways.
“I must go say hello to the birthday boy,” she says, and slips away.
“Did she accost you?” I ask Daniel, my voice low.
“Angela? No,” he says, laughing, “we were catching up. I manage a house for her. For her son, mostly, but Angela shows up a lot.”
“She does, doesn’t she?”
“She’s a hoot. And she sends the best Christmas baskets.”
“Christmas baskets?” I lean in conspiratorially. “What are we talking? Pears? Cheese and crackers?”
Daniel nods with a look that says,All that and more. “Flavored popcorn, sausages, chocolates, fruit, you name it.”
“Wow.” I sip my wine. “I should get into a field where people send you holiday baskets.”
“Absolutely. It’s why I got into this business.”
This makes me laugh. “Really?”
He looks at me, deadpan. “Yes, Mallory, I chose my career purely based on the number of gift baskets I might hope to receive.” His jaw twitches a little, and I can’t help but notice the cleft in his chin. I want to press my finger into it.
“Makes sense to me. Working in tech, I never receive so much as a mug for the holidays.”
“Aw, you poor thing. But no, my dad was a handyman and my brother’s a real estate agent, so it just worked out. I had a lot of connections right off the bat just from the people they worked with.”
“What does your other brother do?” I ask, remembering that he mentioned two of them.
“He’s a middle school science teacher.”
“Ha! From catching lizards to teaching science.”
“Hey now, I don’t remember telling you we caught lizards.” He pauses. “But we absolutely did.”
We’re skating perilously close to discussing the first night we met—when we swapped saliva but not names. Part of me wants to toe the line and push the conversation further in that direction, but I decide to be nice. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.
“So, your family is, like, super enmeshed in the community here,” I say.
