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“Hey, girl, hey.” He kissed Mia’s cheek and waved at the rest of us. “Are you all having fun?”
Mr. Cross peered at him. “I know you.”
“Yes, you do, Mr. Cross,” the young man replied happily.
“I like you. You serve me cookies and tea at the bank.” Like that settled all he needed to judge someone’s character.
“Hey, don’t you have a partner to play with?” Mia asked. Before he could contain himself, he looked longingly at Mark Johnson, the town minister’s son. “Ohhh.” She smiled in understanding. “That’s so cool, you’ll look incredibly cute together.”
Tuned to their conversation, Mr. Cross chimed in. “What do you mean?” He looked at Jimmy. Then at Mark. Then at Jimmy again. “What? Are you fond of that man?”
I’d never seen him be disrespectful or intolerant, but I had no idea how he’d react. I’d hate for him to hurt Jimmy, just as much as I’d hate to lose the respect I had for the old man.
Jimmy shrugged his shoulder in response, intimidated as the grump glared at him, not being done with his inquisition. “Does he like you?”
“I...I don’t know?”
“How is that possible? Haven’t you asked?”
“Hum...no?”
“Then how the heck are you supposed to know that?” The man snapped before mumbling, “We need to teach these kids everything.”
Suppressing a chuckle, Mia touched the oldie’s arm. “I think what he’s so sweetly suggesting is that you need to let Mark know about your interest in him. Why don’t you ask him to join you today? He can be your partner, and if you need a buffer, you both can join us at the table.”
He seemed unsure for a minute before taking in a deep breath and marching to the other guy.
“This night is already promising,” Lisa giggled, and she wasn’t wrong.
After the guys joined us at the table, we started eating and playing Bingo and other games the seniors enjoyed. If that wasn’t enough, seeing Ben uncomfortable under Mr. Cross’s scrutiny was always as funny as the old man and Mia’s banter. We also got to enjoy a new romance blooming right in front of our eyes.
Dressed in charcoal slacks, a gray button-down shirt tucked into the waist of his pants, and a black vest, Mark wasn’t as flamboyant as Jimmy, but if his blushing whenever they touched was any indication, I’d say Jimmy wouldn’t need to ask him if the guy liked him, as Mr. Cross suggested.
Between playing and eating, I got to know more about Lisa. I’d yet to find anything about her that wasn’t fascinating.
“You mentioned a while back that you wanted to have your own business. Have you any idea about what?” I couldn’t stop touching her. Her arms, her face, her hair.
“Well, April and I always joked about this idea...” She hesitated.
“What is it?”
“It’s kind of crazy, I’m not even sure we’d have that kind of market in Holy Water. But we always joked about having some sort of bookstore where people could buy books, or even read them on-site, but also with an eating area. Something like an ice cream parlor-slash-bookstore.”
“We don’t have that here.”
“I know.” She sighed. “That’s why I’m not sure it’d work.”
“No,” I corrected. “I meant that we don’t have that here, so you girls would be the first ones to bring that kind of venture into Holy Water. I think it’s a great idea.”
“Really?” Her hopeful eyes and bright smile made me want to run outside and build a space with my own hands, just to make her dream happen.
“I’m telling you, it’s great.”
“Who knows? Maybe one day April and I will finally do it. I’ve even been looking for how we could make it happen. You know? Just out of curiosity. But it can be overwhelming sometimes. Ask me anything about books—I loved my time working at the university library while I was studying—but not about business.”
“You’re incredibly smart, I’m sure you’ll learn. Besides, you don’t need to do it alone. Whatever you need me to do, I’m your man. I can help you find a good place; Ben and I can move stuff around. And I’m sure Izzie and Mia would be happy to help you with a business plan. They both had to come up with one for Beans and the Company. Mia and Haley do our books, they can also help you with that. The activities might be different, but they could guide you.”
She stared at me in gratitude and caressed my cheek. I got lost in her honeyed eyes, and for some odd reason, among the elder chaos surrounding us, I felt peaceful.
