Page 152 of Safe With You

I kept my attention on the register. “Naomi.”

“What?”

“Leave it alone.”

She nudged my shoulder before walking away.

I shook my head and reached for the stack of receipts beside me.

A few minutes later, Mila called Ellis back over to the children’s section. She was pointing at something in the book spread across her lap, her forehead scrunched as she tried to work through a word. He crouched beside her, listened while she sounded it out, then quietly pointed her back to the beginning when she got ahead of herself.

I found myself watching longer than I meant to.

Then the bell rang again.

I turned toward the door.

“Welcome to Chapter & Charm.”

By the time the afternoon rush came and went, none of us had paid much attention to the time. At some point, Naomi disappeared down the block and returned twenty minutes later with a cardboard drink carrier balanced on top of a white bakery box.

“I come bearing gifts.”

I looked up from the stack of receipts I was sorting behind the counter. “Is one of those mine?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“How nice you plan on being to me for the rest of the day.”

I reached for the drink carrier.

She pulled it back.

“Naomi.”

“See? Already starting off wrong.”

I laughed and reached again, and this time she let me take the iced tea before setting the box on the counter.

“What’s in there?”

“Cookies.”

Mila’s head popped up from the little table where she and Ellis had been putting together one of the literary puzzles we kept around for the kids.

“What kind?”

Naomi looked over at her. “See, Luna? Somebody appreciates me.”

“I asked what kind.”

I pressed my lips together.

Naomi stared at her for a second. “You know what? I like you.”

Mila smiled and went back to the puzzle.