Page 33 of Beat around the Bush
“Carl passed away five years ago,” a male voice said.
Taking my eyes off Margaret walking to her car out the window, I found Scooby Snack Guy standing across from me. “He did?”
He nodded, setting the small bag of kibble on the counter. “I’m not sure if she forgets sometimes, but I know she misses him. Everyone does. My mom goes to her knitting group and she talks about him all the time.”
Thinking about losing a loved one so close to you and being alone hit me like a punch to the chest. I cleared the emotion from my throat and grabbed the bag to scan it.
“You know we have bigger bags of this, right?” I asked.
“I saw them,” he replied.
“If you buy a bigger bag, you won’t have to come in as often,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “I don’t mind the drive. Gets me out of the house.”
The total came up on the payment terminal and he inserted his card.
The silence as it processed the payment was awkward, so I asked the first question that came to mind. “How long have you had your puppy?”
“About two weeks now. I got her when she was eight weeks.”
“That’s the best stage. What breed is she?”
“Chihuahua. I rescued her from the pound,” he said as the terminal beeped for him to remove his card.
“She must be so tiny.”
He nodded. “She is.” He slipped the card back into his wallet and pocketed it. “Do you have any pets?”
I shook my head, handing him the receipt. “No. I just moved here and don’t really have time for a dog right now.”
He grabbed the bag and held it by his side. “You should get one. You know a lot about this stuff.”
“Maybe,” I said, thinking about a dog to come home to. Maybe I wouldn’t feel as lonely then.
“Get home safe later, Oakley. Roads are getting bad out there.”
I internally frowned at the use of my name, silently cursing the name tag pinned to my shirt. On the outside, I smiled. “Thanks, I will.”
He headed out of the store as I stood there, dreading having to stay through the rest of my shift. The weather forecasted it would be snowing into the night, which meant the roads would only get worse, and my tires were not ready for ice or snow.I hadn’t had the chance to buy chains yet, and I was cursing myself for not forking up the money and buying them sooner.
Lennon wasn’t here today either, which was somehow making the day go by even slower. I was scheduled with Jacey who’d been unloading freight from our recent shipment all morning. Leaning an elbow on the counter, I blew a stray hair from my face. If I just didn’t look at the clock, it’d go by quickly.
If only it worked that way.
***
Six o’clock did not come quickly, despite my efforts to not watch the time. Business had been slow all day, so I’d been helping Jacey put out products near the front so I could simultaneously keep an eye on the register.
I found Jacey in the office counting out the money for the safe and leaned against the door jam with my hands in my coat pockets.
“The first snow always keeps people inside, but it’ll pick up. They’ll all get in the groove of driving on the roads again,” she said.
“Thank God. I thought being busy was hard, but having no customers just made the day lag.”
“Like keeping busy?” she asked, bending to shove the bag in the safe with the till.
“Busy means I have no time to think about the other stuff going on in my life,” I replied. It was true. When there werecustomers needing my help left and right, I had no time to think about my parents, but today, I had thought of them constantly.
