Chapter 10 #2
The blonde and Bikini Top inspected the jam offerings while the others listened to Gennie’s breathless story about the dogs trapping a woodchuck in the kennel and not knowing what the hell to do about it.
They’d barked their heads off around midnight.
Shay gave me a sympathetic face, mouthing “oh no” over Gennie’s head.
“Strawberry verbena,” Bikini Top said as she read one of the jam labels. “I’m not even sure I know what verbena is.”
“It’s a flower,” the blonde replied. “Lots of tiny flowers, long, trailing stems.”
“So, it tastes like flowers?”
I was ready to explain but the blonde beat me to it. “No, it’s very mild. Like herby lemon or tangerine. You’d like it.”
Bikini Top nodded. Then, she spotted the price sheet and her eyes flared wide. “Holy shit, it’s fifteen dollars? For jam ?”
“Emme,” the blonde chided. She gave me a long-suffering smile. “We’ll take two, please.”
“Gennie, you have a customer,” I called.
To Shay and the others, my niece said, “Watch this. I get to use the pay machine.”
Gennie climbed onto her milk crate and tapped the screen. “Two strawberry verbena,” I told her.
“Two…strawberry…verbena.” She keyed in the order, her lower lip snared between her teeth. “Anything else?”
“Anything you’d recommend?” the blonde asked.
Gennie thought about that for a moment. “I like ginger peach on toasty bread.”
“I’ll have to try ginger peach, then,” she replied. “You’re an excellent saleswoman.”
They gathered around Gennie, cooing and praising her skill on the point of sale. I stepped aside to bag the jams for the blonde. I was almost finished when I sensed someone watching me.
“Hey,” I said to the one from the swing. Jaime. The best friend. “What can I get you?”
She tipped her head to the side, an order to step away from the others. “A word, if you please.”
I slid the paper bag across the table and then joined Jaime in the empty space between stalls. I glanced back at Shay and Gennie but they were in the thick of a story and didn’t notice.
“Hi. You don’t know me. Or I’m guessing you don’t since our girl has been playing fast and loose with the details these days.
” She held out her hand. “I’m Jaime Rouselle.
I taught first grade next to Shay for six years until she embarked upon this fantastic voyage.
In addition to being her best friend and coteacher, I’m also in very deep with an assortment of unsavories.
You know what I’m talking about. Motorcycle gangs, mafia.
And then there’s the worst of them—” She leaned in close. “Private equity guys.”
She was right about private equity guys being worse than any mafia on the planet but I still had to fight off a laugh. “You have my attention.”
“As I imagine you’re aware, our girl’s birthday is coming up.
” She raised an eyebrow. I nodded. It hadn’t crossed my mind but yeah, I knew Shay’s birthday was next month.
“I’m going to give you precise directions.
I expect you to follow those directions without deviation.
If you do not—and I’ll be checking—I’ll rain hell upon your bread and jam. You got me?”
Again, I had to fight off a laugh because this pocket-sized woman who could easily pass as a high schooler was threatening me with—with biker gangs? And finance bros? What was happening here?
“I think I follow, yeah. What do you need me to do for Shay’s birthday?”
She stared at me for a beat, as if she wasn’t convinced of my fealty.
Then, “She loves vanilla cake. The cake mix kind, from the box. And chocolate buttercream frosting but not the ready-made frosting. Homemade only. Butter, sugar, cocoa. That kind. She loves family dinner birthday parties but she’ll never say that out loud.
She won’t ask for it and if you try to find out what she wants, she’ll swear up and down she wants nothing.
All she has ever wanted is a family and the regular old things that come with families.
Cake mix from the grocery store. Family around the kitchen table.
” She wagged a warning finger at me. “Do not fuck this up. Her birthday is in the middle of the week this year and there’s no way I can get down here in time to pull it off.
She cannot handle another disappointment so I need you to swear to me you’ll get this right. ”
It never occurred to me that Shay wanted to belong to a family but it made complete sense. I couldn’t believe I’d missed that. I guess I’d been busy assuming she had everything she could ever want. “And why are you asking me to do this?”
She gave me a look that must scare the shit out of her students. “You know why, Mr. Just Dropping By With a Freshly Baked Loaf of Carby Goodness.”
“I really don’t.”
She nodded slowly. “So, that’s the game? Pretend you don’t care? How’s it working out for you?”
I glanced over at the kombucha crew. When I didn’t respond, she went on.
“Yeah. Just as I thought.”
“What did you mean about Shay not being able to handle another disappointment?”
“James,” Grace called. “Get over here.”
Jaime held up her hand in acknowledgement. “I said what I said. Don’t fuck this up. I can end you.”
“I can pull off a birthday dinner and cake.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, you can.”
“Noah,” Gennie yelled. It was like a battle cry. The same one she employed when she couldn’t find any socks and believed it was faster to yell than open her sock drawer. “Which bread am I supposed to give Shay?”
My niece held up the two paper-wrapped loaves I’d set aside first thing this morning while Jaime swallowed her laugh with a sip of coffee. “Don’t try to be smooth,” she said. “Kids will shut it down before it even starts. This munchkin will kill your game.”
With a parting glance for Jaime, I moved back behind the table and relieved Gennie of the bread in question. To Shay, I said, “These are our most popular. Give ’em a try.”
“Oh.” She blinked at me. “Oh, thank you.” She reached into her bag and retrieved her wallet. “What do I owe you?”
“What did I tell you about that? Not when you’re with me.” I handed over the loaves.
Her brow wrinkled as she accepted the bread. “That’s really nice of you.”
She held my gaze for a long moment. Her expression seemed to say she was confused and that made two of us. I shrugged because it was all I could do to keep myself from babbling and making it much worse.
“Do you need any jam to go with that?” my niece asked. “We have some apricot carmumum.”
“Cardamon,” I said.
Shay smiled at us and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“I’m good with the bread. Thanks.” She glanced back at her friends, who were very busy pretending they weren’t listening.
“We’re going to walk around. See what’s here.
” To Gennie, she added, “I’ll see you Monday.
I’ve got a bunch of cool shipwreck stories for us. ”
Gennie and I watched from behind the table as they strolled through the park, stopping occasionally to visit vendors or fall into conversation. Lillian returned, and she and Gennie were busy with a late surge of customers.
Shay and her friends left the market shortly before closing time. We usually stayed open as long as we had goods to sell and people were still buying but it was hot and humid, and a dense mass of clouds was moving in, the sure sign of an impending thunderstorm.
“Let’s pack it up, Lill,” I said.
It was quick work since we’d cleared almost all of our stock, and Lillian and I got the tent and table folded up just as the first rumbles of thunder started.
Once Lillian had met up with her boyfriend, Gennie and I settled into the truck. As casually as I could manage, I said, “You know, Shay’s birthday is next month.”
From the back seat came an unhinged screech of “What!”
“Yeah, later in the month. After school starts.”
“Ugh. Fucking school.”
I glanced at her in the rearview. “I have a job for you. A secret task, actually.”
“Is it about Shay’s birthday?”
“Yes.”
“Good, because I don’t want any stupid school jobs.” She crossed her arms and pouted.
“What do you think about having a birthday dinner for her? Maybe after one of your playdates?
“I love it,” she said. “Do we have any juice?”
I tossed her the lunch box she’d ignored all morning. “I need you to get some information from Shay but you have to use all your pirate skills to do it. She can’t know that we’re planning a birthday party for her.”
I heard her slurp a juice box. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Right. You need to find out her favorite special meal and get some ideas for a gift.”
God knew I couldn’t keep forcing bread upon her. I could but that move was already obvious. If Shay didn’t know it, her friends were sure to explain it any minute now.
“I can do it,” Gennie replied.
“I know you can.” I glanced back at her again, juice box straw clamped between her teeth and her head resting on the seat belt.
In this single moment as fat raindrops slapped against the windshield, Gennie and I understood each other. More than that, we knew we were on the same team.
It gave me a strange jolt of confidence, as if I could make it through this parenting thing without losing my mind. At the very least, I could conspire with my niece—and that was enough for me today.