13. Piper
PIPER
Danielle Pepper Fan Club
Dana Holden: When do we think Danielle will release a new book? I need a new hero to swoon over!
Comments:
Nancy Gilbert: You kids always want more more more. Back in my day, I had one book that I had to read over and over again!!!
Judy Cohen: She usually releases every few months, so soon! I personally can’t wait! I have a good feeling about this one. Then again, she never disappoints.
Trina Dunn: Speak for yourself.
Judy Cohen: No Negative Nancies please!
Nancy Gilbert: What? Why did you bring me into this!??
A bell above the door announced my arrival into Food ‘n’ Things. I took a shaky breath as I walked in. It was a miracle I hadn’t locked up yet.
An older man with thinning silver hair looked up from a book. “Oh, hi. I haven’t seen you here before.”
“Hi,” I replied. “I’m new.”
He blinked. “Piper, right?”
“That’s me.”
“You been going to Walmart, Piper? You’ve been here for a month.”
I shook my head. “I don’t go to the store very often, but I haven’t been there. It’s not my cup of tea.” It was my worst nightmare, actually.
Dale smiled. “A woman with taste. Welcome in. If you need help finding anything, just ask.”
I nodded. As I grabbed a cart and walked down the first aisle, I let out a breath. That hadn’t gone badly. That was almost a normal interaction.
The second I was surrounded by food, I knew I needed to focus.
It had been years since I took myself to the store, and I didn’t want to forget anything.
Each aisle was well-labeled, but I still had to go down a few of them multiple times.
Getting everything I needed took more focus than I thought it would, and eventually, I was more interested in the task than who was around me.
Plus, I was finding new things I’d never heard of before. Theo had been right. There was an incredible selection here, and instead of getting the same items I usually did, I was inspired to find more.
Thankfully, the shop was slow. I heard the bell above the door jingle a few times, but I didn’t run into anyone in the aisles.
I only saw someone at the end of my journey, when I was going down the frozen aisle. Someone was in the same freezer door that I needed to go in. I waited patiently as they grabbed what they needed, hoping they wouldn’t try to talk to me.
But when the frosty door finally shut, I realized I recognized them.
Kelsey had four pints of Ben and Jerry’s stacked in her arms. I opened my mouth to ask if she’d gotten her heart broken, but realized I’d rather not.
“Oh hey,” she said when she saw me. “Need comfort ice cream too?”
“I keep a little around,” I said. My eyes cut from her pile to her. “Uh, having a good night?”
“A very good one. I finally got Dale to stock chunky monkey, and I’m here to stake my claim before my mom finds out it’s here. I need something that’s mine. What are you here for?”
“Everything,” I said, gesturing to my full cart. “I waited awhile to do this.”
“Been there. You need help getting that home?”
“I’m walking, and you have ice cream.”
“It won’t take too long for me to help you out. And besides, walking with a full load of groceries sucks, and Dale won’t let you take the cart. Not since Jade tried to hitch one to Hugh’s tractor.”
I hadn’t met Jade yet, though she’d been nice in the Facebook group. In her picture, she had brightly colored hair, which only added to my mental image of her shopping cart thievery. “That’s a joke, right?”
“No. Not at all. The people here are weird. And I’m no exception.” She looked at her pile of ice cream and then at me.
“I guess I won’t feel bad if I need to stock up then.” When Kelsey looked at my cart again, I had a feeling she wouldn’t let go of the idea of helping me. “I’ll seriously be fine getting this home.”
“Theo keeps stealing all the time with you when you stay late at the coffee shop. It’s so not fair.”
I paused. “You know about that?”
“I do. But I’ll be keeping that to myself. I’m mostly jealous.”
I considered it. “Well, in that case, I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Yes!” She hopped in place. She stopped when one of her tubs nearly toppled over. “Come on. I’ll help you with Dale.”
“Will I need help? He seemed nice when I talked to him.”
“He loves to ask questions when people are checking out.”
“Oh, yeah. Help would be great.”
She gave me a smile before leading me to the front.
Dale saw Kelsey and asked if she would be using her college degree anytime soon. She fired back that she’d gladly go to Walmart if he brought it up again.
He almost started in on me, but one glare from Kelsey shut him up.
It was incredible.
After I’d paid, she grabbed half of my bags and walked out the door before I could beg for them back. I sighed and followed.
“I seriously can—”
“Are you terrible at accepting help?” Kelsey asked.
I immediately shook my head. “I accept too much of it sometimes. This is supposed to be something I do alone.”
She blinked. “Oh. And here I am crashing your plans. I just wanted to chat with you a little, but I can leave you alone.”
“No, I don’t want that. I’d love to talk. When else would I thank you for helping?”
“No problem. Now, can I at least help you put everything up? I wanna see what your place is like now that you moved in.”
“Yes, of course. And it’s not much, but I’m trying to make it homey.” She and Wren had seen it when they welcomed me to town, but I’d done more work on unpacking ever since I moved in. It was a nice distraction from my writing.
It was a short walk to the apartment, and Kelsey gave me plenty of space as we walked in. I flipped on the light as we entered the kitchen.
“Wren did a great job here,” Kelsey said. “She did the coffee shop too. It’s hard to believe this part of the square was abandoned for over a decade.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yep. The town ran out of money when I was a kid. We’re lucky that we’re doing so well again.”
“I bet the show and the library helped.”
“The show was a whole thing.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed a box of pasta. I showed her where it went before she continued. “They screwed Wren over at the end for the drama.”
“Was it the thing with her mom?”
“You’ve seen the show?”
“It’s why I moved here, actually.”
“Glad to hear about more of the good that came out of it, then. But that part was really bad.”
“It was kind of weird. Just like the whole love triangle thing was. Her thing with Henry was real, right?”
“Very much so,” Kelsey replied. “I hear way too much about Henry, but she’s happy with him.”
“I love watching people fall in love,” I said. “I could tell that was real.”
“You’re a big romantic?”
“You could say that. I write about it. I want it . . . one day.”
“You write?”
I nodded. “That’s what I’m doing on my laptop.”
“Are you published?”
“I am.”
“You should tell—”
“The ladies that run the library?” I laughed. “I don’t need to. They had them already.”
“What’s your author name? I wanna read your stuff.”
My cheeks heated. Mitch read my works and that was miserable enough. There was no one else who knew me who read them. “Danielle Pepper. They’re uh . . . spicy.”
“Really? Now I have to read them. I’ll report back.”
“Just don’t tell me if you hate them.”
“What am I, a dick? I would never. I’m sure I’ll love them. Do you mind if I tell the other girls too?”
“Do you mean Wren and her other friends?”
“Yeah. Mollie, Grace, and Jade. Mollie’s daughter ran into you when you uh . . . Yeah, that.”
I winced. “Oh, God. I need to apologize to her.”
“Mollie was embarrassed.” Kelsey shook her head. “She wants to apologize to you, actually. They’re all really nice. I usually keep my distance, but they’re slowly sucking me in. And they keep secrets. If you wanted to ever tell them about Theo, you could.”
“T-Theo? Nothing’s going on with Theo and me.”
“Yeah, yeah. The way he cares about you? Come on.”
I blinked. “You’d say he cares about me?”
She laughed as she put away the milk. “I would, which is more than any other woman in town could say.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Theo doesn’t date. Ever, as far as I know.”
“Oh.” That brought me back down to Earth. “You know, that might be for the best. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I have a thing with touching. That makes it hard to date.”
“And yet you want it, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty miserable, but I’m working on it.”
“With Theo?” Kelsey asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Theo’s been nice, but I highly doubt he’d want to deal with all of this. And I don’t even know if I’d let him. I want to, but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen.”
She hummed. “Weirder things have happened. You know, when I left for college, I never thought Strawberry Springs would have a library again. Much less a coffee shop and a thriving economy. Jade has always said there was something magical here, and maybe she’s right.”
“I think I need a lot more than magic to help me.”
“True, but the idea of it can help.” She gave me a smile before she looked at the pile of empty plastic bags. “We did it by the way. One massive store run. Done.”
I blinked, following her line of sight. True to Kelsey’s word, everything was put away and I had all the basics to survive.
I was okay.
Not perfect. I still felt jittery from being out of the house and letting someone into my space.
But it was better. I’d just started my medicine and it was better.
Hope sprouted in my chest. If I’d done this, what else could I eventually do?
My thoughts went to Theo. It felt like something was there. Maybe I was too hopeful and maybe I wanted more than he could give.
But what if I got over this fear?
For the first time in my life, it felt possible.
“That’s the look I like to see,” Kelsey said. “You’re liking it here, aren’t you?”
“I am. Things are getting better for once.”
“One of us needs that kind of energy.” She laughed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go dig into way too much ice cream and pretend I’m normal.”