“May I help you?”
The same girl who was here last November is standing by the counter. Her break from high school just started and already she’s working. That must suck.
At least I know Jesse isn’t around. He should be at school and as much as I’m hoping to run into him, I don’t expect to and consider this more of a practice of how I’m going to “bump” into him unexpectedly. “I’m just looking.”
“Well, let me know if you need anything.” She steps forward and frowns. “Do I know you?”
“I was in here last year, right before Thanksgiving.”
Her eyes harden. “With Jesse.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I hope you don’t want to see him now because he’s too busy.”
I hadn’t even planned on asking. I was nervous enough coming in here. I’m certainly not bold enough to ask to about him. That is the whole point of hoping to run into him. Though not well planned, I was going to look over the displays and think about purchasing something then come back Friday when I assume Jesse will be around. Or, maybe later this afternoon, after school has been released.
“Larry?” Jesse’s voice calls from the back.
Shit! What’s he doing here now?
The young woman grits her teeth before answering. “Just a minute, Jesse.” Her tone is all sweetness and light despite the quick irritation that swept across her face.
“Do you know where we put the new glazes?” His voice is louder, like he’s coming nearer. My palms begin to sweat all over again.
“I’ll get them,” she calls back before turning an indulgent smile on me. “Jesse would be lost without me.”
“Oh, I didn’t know we had a customer.” His eyes meet mine as he steps from the back and a smile comes to his face. “Deirdre?”
He remembers me. Yes!
“What are you doing here?” He wipes his hands on a towel as he saunters forward.
Damn, he’s just as hot as he was back at Thanksgiving. Straight, light brown hair, longer than most guys wear it, with a smile full of promise and hypnotizing green eyes.
I shrug, trying to act nonchalant and praying he can’t read my mind. “Just out and about, shopping along the square.”
“I’m glad you stopped in.” He hitches his hip against a display counter, completely comfortable with himself. “How’s school going?”
“I couldn’t wait for Spring Break if that tells you anything.”
He laughs, revealing straight white teeth. Brown hair falls over his eyes and with a slight jerk of his head, it’s gone again. “Want a cup of coffee?”
“Oh, no. I’m sure you’re busy.” At least that’s what Larry had said. Really, her name is Larry?
“Not at all. Just organizing the back. Larry can keep an eye on the place.”
He turns toward the back and gestures.
“Laurentia,” she corrects him in a teasing tone then looks at me. “Larry was fine when I was little, but Laurentia, suits me much better now that I’m no longer a child.”
“Sorry. I keep forgetting.” Jesse rolls his eyes behind Larry’s back.
Laurentia simply giggles. “Just don’t forget again.” There is a teasing tone in her voice that is better suited for someone much older.
“Take care of the shop, will ya?”
“Of course.” She smiles lovingly at him “Just don’t be long.” The hair stands up on the back of my neck.
“Let me know when you want to go to lunch.” Jesse barely looks at her as he gestures to the back of his shop. “I need to be out of here by twelve-thirty.”
Does Jesse even realize Larry has a major crush on him?
I was wondering if I’d ever see Deirdre O’Brien again. I’ve wanted to, but she is way out of my league—a Vassar student working on her cognitive science degree. I’m not even sure what you do with a degree like that. She’s also only twenty. Not that that’s too young. But, I’ll be twenty-five in a few months. I’m done with school and have a nine-month-old son. She doesn’t know that and I was careful not to let it slip during our one conversation. Nothing sends a pretty, single girl running quicker than a guy with a baby. At least that’s been my experience.
I grab two cups and pour the coffee. “Shopping for anything special?”
She shrugs. “Not really. Wandering around is more like it.”
“Staying with your brother?” Kian, her brother, is a deputy and liaison to the school I teach at. He lives with the other art teacher, Alexia.
“Yep.” She takes the cup of coffee. “Thanks.”
“Do you need cream, sugar?” Shit, I hope she doesn’t want cream. I only have milk and that’s upstairs.
“Just black.”
Whew.
“I didn’t think you’d be here. Alexia already went to school.”
Damn. I hoped she’d stopped in to see me. Guess not. Still, I’m glad I was here. “I’m only part-time,” I explain. “Alexia has taken on more of the administrative duties for the department, which I’m glad, because I don’t need to close the gallery in the morning to take care of paperwork at Baxter.”
Her light-brown eyebrows draw together. “Part-time?”
Shit, now she’s going to think I’m a looser. An artist with a shop that does mediocre business with a part-time teaching position. “Academics are in the morning at Baxter. Art classes in the afternoon. I teach from one until school is out. Three classes each day.”
“So, you need to close shop every afternoon?”
“Usually,” I answer. “I don’t get much traffic in the hours between lunch and supper anyway, so it’s not that big of deal.”
Deirdre’s frowning now. I wish I knew what she was thinking.
“That’s a shame that you can’t be open all the time.”
I shrug. “Maybe someday I’ll hire someone older than Larry who can be here. Until then, I do what I can.” Besides, it’s not just the shop and teaching
