The man sniffs. “See that you do. We do not accept out of town checks.”
Jaak sighs and takes out a few bills for the man. “Here, this should be more than enough to cover the damages.”
The sales person’s eyes bug out of his head as he takes the bills and bobs his head. “Yes, yes, more than enough, sir. We can have someone clean that right up too, ma’am.” He snaps his fingers at an associate and they come running with a broom and dust pan.
“Thank the gods,” I whisper and stand up beside Jaak. “Sorry again about the sword.”
“No worries, it’s all in a day’s work here at the Candy Shoppe! Now, what can I interest you two in? You’ve already qualified for our Sweet Spender Pack,” he says, pulling out a basket of assorted candy. I spy another candy sword in the mix as well a few lollipops, candy bunnies and what looks like a five pound bag of gummy worms.
“There’s no apples in there, right?” I ask as I lean forward to look in the basket.
“Ah, umm,” the man stammers and pulls at his collar nervously, “No, no, of course not! We wouldn’t dream of putting any apples in our Sweet Spender Pack. I assure you, this pack is completely safe.”
Jaak gives me a ‘See, I told you apples were bullshit’ look and nods. “That is satisfactory. Now then, about your business owner. Are they available for questioning?”
The salesman gives us a confused look. “What? What kind of questioning?”
I step in front of Jaak with my best smile that I know will get my way. I was trained to smile through every kind of discomfort and disappointment in life, and that means this smile is a million dollar trust me smile.
“He means, questions for our, um, newspaper feature. We’re writers, you see and new to town. We’re hoping to pitch a few ideas to the local newspaper to get on staff.”
“And you think a feature on business owners is going to be enough to get you on at the Bitter Root Reader?”
I lean forward and put my hands down on the counter. “I don’t think, I know. This feature is going to be hot. Real modern and cutting edge. We could even do a piece on you.”
“I’m Leo. I manage the Candy Shoppe for Brian, our owner. Which practically makes me a business owner too,” he says, puffing up at the mention of being included in our feature. “Well, your sense of a story isn’t wrong, I’ll give you two that. I do like the way you spend money when it comes to quality candy. That’s taste you can’t teach, right there.”
“We know quality when we see it,” I lie.
Leo leans forward like he’s going to tell me a secret and so do I. “There’s a lot going on here with the businesses. Enough to write about for years. This would be the story of a lifetime.”
“Interesting. You think we could get a quote from your owner about these events?” I ask. I don’t know where this side of me is coming from. I must still be riding the high of fending off the apple peddlers, or something. Whatever it is, I feel sure and steady. There’s nothing I can’t do. I’m electric. I could convince this man the moon is falling, I know I could.
“He’s not back from his camping trip with the business owner's social club. They, um, they got delayed. Brian usually checks in with us but he hasn’t since last night.” Leo pulls out his phone and frowns. “That’s very unlike him. I hope someone fed his guinea pigs, Lucy and Ethel. I should swing by and check on them after my shift.”
Oh my gods, we blew up a pet owner.
I look away because I can’t bear to look at Leo and know that we orphaned those pigs. Jaak doesn’t look the least bit phased about the thought of ownerless guinea pigs.
I clear my throat and give him another bright smile. “Oh, ah, that’s too bad. Maybe we can interview the owner when they return? And is that social club something we could interview? That’d be a real nice inclusion.”
Leo shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. They’re very picky. They never give interviews or anything like that, but you can try. There’s a few owners that didn’t go on the trip. They might have an in for you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I can give you a few names if you want to write them down.”
“Would you have a piece of paper, I don’t have anything to write with and-”
“Of course you do, dear.” Jaak hands me a small official looking notepad and a pen. “I was holding these for you, remember?”
I shoot him a grateful smile. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Jaak winks at me and like a school girl, I blush. “The pleasure is all mine,” he tells me, and for a second the entire candy shoppe vanishes. There’s no psychotic apple pushers or the chaotic sugar hungry crowd, not even Leo exists. It’s just us. I reach up and cup his cheek and Jaak turns his face into my touch. He kisses my thumb and my insides turn to warm jelly. There’s nothing sweeter than my husband in this entire candy shoppe. Not by a long shot.
“Are you two newlyweds?” Leo asks, flicking a twisted licorice rope at us and popping our bubble.
I laugh. “Actually, yes.”
