Changes
G race manned the store Friday night while her parents were at the hospital in Cadillac, where Dad was getting his cast off.
It was a good thing he’d be back on his feet, because they needed him in the store. The parade float and the flyers seemed to have done some good. The totals were better this week than the previous week, and they had a few new customers from around town. Right now Grace was busy with a line of five customers at the cash register.
“Did you make these, Grace?” the woman at the checkout asked, holding up a package of oatmeal cookies with dried cherries. Grace recognized her as Sheriff Hank’s wife.
Grace smiled. “Yes, I did.”
“How do you find the time?” Hank’s wife asked. “Aren’t you busy getting ready to go back to California?”
Everybody in this town knew everything about everybody. “I’ve been fitting in some baking in the evenings,” Grace said. “And getting ready for California at the same time.”
“Wow! You are one busy young lady.”
Grace laughed. “I guess so,” she said. “I just want to help my parents with the store as much as I can before I go. Did you know we’ve just started a social media page?” She pulled a slip of paper from a box on the counter. “If you want to know what baked goods and local produce we have, we’re posting about it daily on the page now.”
“My goodness! Thank you, Grace.”
Grace was determined to show the people in town that their store could do things the dollar store and the forty-five-minutes-away Walmart couldn’t. The main thing she could think of doing herself was making more homemade baked goods, so she had been spending a lot of her free time baking, being careful not to burn herself. She wouldn’t want to have to go to Doc’s.
As Grace helped the last customer in line, the bell over the door jingled. It was her parents.
“Howdy, Gracie,” Dad exclaimed. “Look at my new boot!”
The cast on Dad’s foot had been replaced with a bulky boot brace.
“I’m allowed to bear weight on it.” He smiled widely. “No more scooter for me. Won’t be long before I don’t need the crutches either.”
“You better make sure you don’t overcompensate and injure the other foot,” Mom said. “Remember, the doctor told you not to overdo it.”
“Now, don’t you start fussing over me. I’ll be careful. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Mom shook her head at him. “Impossible man!”
“I can’t wait to show Doc,” Dad said. “He’s not around now, is he?”
Grace shook her head. “I haven’t seen him.”
She hadn’t seen Doc since the argument, even in the grocery store. Maybe he was avoiding her, getting his groceries elsewhere or coming in when she wasn’t working.
“We’d better get back to the house,” Mom said. “Ben, you need to do your physical therapy. I’m going to put some food together and see if I can get any work done on my novel. And Katie said she’s going to call. Grace, are you all right closing the store by yourself?”
“Sure, Mom,” Grace said. “Please don’t wait on me for dinner—I’m going to see if Alex wants to hang out.”
She couldn’t face the thought of doing National Board prep tonight. Her mind was too full of other thoughts. Improving the store. Doc avoiding her. Getting ready to start the school year. What she needed was a relaxed hangout with a friend before going back to California.
Alex knew all about Grace’s argument with Doc—Grace had filled her in on Wednesday, and Alex too was at a loss to understand Doc’s sudden change in behavior—but Grace was determined not to make that the topic of the hangout.
§
Alex replied immediately to Grace’s text asking if she’d like to hang out. “Sure, I’d love to,” she said. “Wanna go down to the diner and get milkshakes?”
“You’re just hoping we’ll run into Charlie,” Grace teased her.
“Maybe.” Alex sent back a winky face. “He’s working late tonight.”
Alex drove over to Grace’s house, and she and Grace walked down to the diner. The evening was warm, but not more humid than usual.
Charlie wasn’t behind the counter in the diner. Another guy who worked there was taking orders. If Charlie was there, he was in the back someplace.
“Sorry, Alex,” Grace said in an undertone. “Maybe Charlie took a break.”
Alex elbowed her instead of responding.
“What?” Grace asked.
Alex motioned with her head. Grace looked. It was Doc and Hannah, sitting in the far booth of the diner. Hannah, facing Grace and Alex, must have seen them, but she didn’t show any sign of recognition.
Of course Doc and Hannah would be hanging out here. Well, no matter. Wild horses wouldn’t drag her to approach those two, and she doubted either of them was likely to approach her.
“What do you think?” Alex hissed in her ear.
“Ssh!” Grace turned back to the counter.
“I think I’m gonna try something new,” she said, louder. “I’m not gonna get a milkshake. I’m gonna try that mixed berry smoothie they keep advertising.”
“Charlie says it’s not actually that great,” Alex said.
“Well, I think I’ll try it.”
They waited for their drinks at the end of the counter. Alex kept glancing over at Doc and Hannah. Grace kept her head turned the other direction.
“I still think they’re probably an item,” she told Alex, low.
Alex shook her head. “Maybe they’re just hanging out—as friends. I was positive he liked you.”
“Well, I think you were mistaken.”
Drinks in hand, the two girls walked toward the park. A small river ran through the park, making it a favorite summer hangout spot. They sat on the grass by the riverbank. The evening sun turned the rippling water to gold, and the sound of crickets filled the air.
“There’s only one more week until you go back,” Alex said. “Are you glad you spent your summer here instead of in California?”
“Well, if I hadn’t come out here, I wouldn’t have gotten to hang out with you,” Grace said. “Besides, I might not have learned about the dollar store taking my parents’ business.”
“That’s true.”
“I think the main thing we need to do is show people what a good thing they have with the grocery store right here in town. It’s close and convenient and has a lot of great stuff—including all your nice farm produce—and we just need to get the word out.”
“Mm-hm.” Alex took a drink of her milkshake.
“Hopefully the social media page for the store is helping too,” Grace said. “A bunch of people have told me they saw my baked goods advertised, so they must be seeing the page. Of course, I won’t be able to bake any more things after I go back to California. I don’t know how much time my mom will have to do that.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Alex said. “If your mom doesn’t have time to bake cookies and stuff for the store, maybe I could do it and sell them there. I think fresh baked goods really do draw people.”
“How would you possibly find time to do that? You’re super busy already.”
“I have odd free hours here and there,” Alex said. “It’ll be good for me to have another hobby. And I can make cookies and things for Charlie at the same time. It’ll be fun.”
All in all, Grace was leaving the store in good hands. She would miss Alex in California, though. She didn’t have any close friends back in L.A.
She wasn’t sorry to leave Doc behind. For a few days, she had thought they could be close friends too. That was in the past. Doc hadn’t made any effort to make up with her, and she certainly wasn’t going to go over to the clinic to try to make up with him.