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At least being in the fire station to handle any fires that came in was something that I could handle. This, not so much.
Upon arriving home, I sighed and got out of my truck. It was somewhat silly to get out, but I knew that I had some time before Jade arrived. At least ten minutes, I’d think. So, I was going to have this conversation in the fresh air. With that in mind, I dialed my father’s number. The phone rang a few times, but I half-expected it to go to voicemail. This time of day, a call to him either went right to voicemail or I sat waiting for him to pick up.
My father picked up.
“Jesse. I didn’t think I’d be hearing from you today. What’s the verdict? The meeting?” he asked. “What happened?”
I let out a breath.
“It’s fundraising season. Usually, I take a vacation and go to the ranch for a while, but I forgot to book my vacation this year. I’ve been put in charge of helping one of the businesses here put together their booth and making sure they have everything they need,” I said. “I’m probably not coming until after the fundraiser itself, which is in a couple of weeks… if I’m remembering my dates right.”
“I see. Well, we’ll miss you,” he said. “Have fun and stay safe. And Jesse? If it’s not too much trouble, remember to smile. You and your brothers all got so jaded… and I hate to see it. At least your brothers did eventually find something to smile about again outside their jobs.”
“And the ranch,” I mentioned. “The ranch is my sanctuary, Dad.”
“Of course.”
With that, and some extra pleasantries, we hung up. And just in time, too. I heard a car pulling up into the driveway. When I turned to look, I found that Jade had just arrived home.
She got out of her car, holding her purse, and then dug in the backseat for something. I pretended not to watch as I got up into the truck, but I couldn’t help but notice that she was quite slender for someone who didn’t work a physically demanding job. I wondered what she did to keep her figure… but quickly shook those thoughts away.
That wasn’t something I needed to worry about. Nor was it something I needed to ask her about. I was all right with her calling me a grump; that much might actually have some truth to it. However, I refused to allow her to find a reason to call me a creep.
“You ready or what?” I called to her, mainly to distract myself. “We don’t have all day.”
“Just a moment. The jewelry spilled while I was driving.”
I held back a groan. It was just jewelry. Did it really matter if it was all neatly put together in the box just to take it inside?
When she was done, I noticed that she wasn’t taking it inside or even setting it back in the backseat to be taken in when we returned. Instead, she got up into the truck with a small box that clearly locked.
“I forgot to lock it before I drove off,” she said. “Now, to the shop. I’ll give you directions, but Maria thinks we’ve got something better at the shop that I could use to display the jewelry for the fundraiser. But I’m not sure that she’s on the same page I am.”
I nodded slowly. Whatever it took to get this nightmare over with.
I drove in silence. Jade more or less followed suit, only breaking the silence to give me directions to the store. As I got closer, I realized I recognized the area. This area was known for having some more interesting, exotic local businesses around. One of my favorite Indian restaurants was around the corner from her store. Considering this area of town was mostly filled with immigrant-owned businesses, rent in this area typically stayed a bit cheaper which made it more accessible to families new to the USA, working to make a living as new citizens. Alternatively, I supposed, that also made it a great spot to start a business from scratch. Basically, I wasn’t entirely surprised she had managed to snag a good rent on the property.
“Here we are,” she said as we pulled into the parking lot. “We’re still waiting on our sign to come in so we can put it up on the front entrance, but it’s a sweet little store.”
“I swear there was something here last year…” I said as I got out of the car. “Don’t remember what it was. Wasn’t all that interesting to me. Something too niche.”
“From what we heard, it didn’t get a lot of business,” Jade said as we walked towards the store.
The only other car in the lot must have belonged to Maria, I realized. The lights in the store were on, and the only person who could have gotten in, who wasn’t Jade, was her friend. While other people might have noted that Maria had arrived out loud, I kept all of this to myself. The sooner we finished here, the better. I just wanted to go home, open a bottle of wine, and quietly sip the evening away while watching a movie. By myself.
I didn’t think that’d happen without Jade attempting to converse with me unless she went upstairs to do whatever it was she needed to do for her business. Maybe make more jewelry.
“So, what did we come here for? You said you had supplies here?,” I asked.
“This!” Maria pulled something from the back room. “This is what I was thinking of Jade. With the beaded curtains in another color coming down to give a little bit of shade in the front, I think this would work to give us some shade.”
She came out with a large, blue tarp. Probably some kind of a painter’s tarp. I’d heard of worse being used to make a canopy for this fundraising event, but this wasn’t going to work at all. They’d stand out for miles. And not in a good way.
“It might be cheaper, and easier, to just get some cheap fabric and seam it up nice,” Jade said. “I think this is going to be too heavy for any of our poles to handle. If we’re supposed to be supplying everything, we have a canopy frame for something akin to a tent at a wedding, not a tarp for camping, Maria.”
“Yeah… I’m just worried about the cost,” she said.
“Besides, if you use the fabric, you can reuse the cheap curtains if you decide you want to do an expo or something and it’s outside. Save the tarp for a rainy day, literally,” I offered.
