to do.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, thinking how strange it was that I actually did feel okay. Better than I had in weeks. Maybe I needed to freefall on my head more often.
He took a deep breath and kissed my forehead, then my cheek, then…he stopped himself. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. “That’s what I get for playing with you. Your breath smelled fine—”
My finger touched his lips. Another mistake. “Hush, you. I’m okay. Really.” I sat up and smiled, just to prove it.
“Scaring a guy to death. Is that any way to treat a customer?”
I dusted off my pants and stood. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the guy across the street. He’s got them all.”
“All except the one I want.” Adrian held my hand so I could balance.
If my head wasn’t already throbbing, I’d have swooned. We both shared a goofy look, then Adrian turned his head sideways a little. “Did you fall on your chin, too?”
I bit my lip, remembering how I’d yanked at my chin one last time to be sure right when he’d walked in. “No. Why?”
“There’s something…I thought it was a scratch before, but it’s a…” He narrowed one eye.
I closed both of mine.
God, please. If he just doesn’t say it…
“It’s a hair!” He shouted it as though the Candid Camera team were going to shoot up from behind the displays and start taping. Before I could convey my embarrassment, he snatched it out and laid it on the counter. “Got to get ’em at the root.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. “Here, get that blood.”
I was still too stunned to speak.
He frowned. “What’s wrong? Embarrassed?” He smiled. “Don’t be.” He rubbed the top of his bald head. “I’m happy to see hair any way I can. Brings back memories. Mom used to get them all the time.”
His beautiful mother? That did me in, and I doubled over with laughter. “You are just crazy—”
His face went blank.
I covered my mouth. Crazy still wasn’t a word he was fond of. “I mean silly. Silly.”
“It’s okay.” His smile reemerged. “I’m kind of over that.”
“Right.”
Another awkward pause. The bell jingled at the door. Adrian tapped the Altoids on the counter. “Is it safe to leave these?” he asked, starting to leave.
“I’d say so. That’s the most fun I’ve had in weeks.”
The customer, an older Jewish woman who came in for my talcum-free powder every week—who could use a whole tube of powder every week?—entered the store.
Adrian chuckled, then paused. “The most fun you’ve had all week? Oh, Dane. Don’t tell anybody that.”
I snorted. He needn’t worry. I didn’t have time to tell anybody anything. Besides, wasn’t he the one with something to tell me? “I won’t. But hey, what were you going to tell me? About your, uh, employee?” I somehow felt ready to hear it now, whatever it was.
“There’s nothing to tell really. Just that she’s—”
The older woman turned and stared right with me.
Adrian moved a little closer to the door before finishing his sentence. “She’s a single mom who came to me for a job. There’s nothing between us. I just wanted you to know.”
A sigh whistled through the older lady’s lips and she wandered back to the lavender section. I stared at her for a second and did a little mental dance of my own. “No problem. That was nice of you.”
He swung the door open. “Glad you think so. It’s your sister.”
“It’s for my bedroom and master bath. The drawers, the sheets, the carpet. Lavender keeps everything fresh…and special, you know?” She tipped her head across the street and cleared her throat. “Have to keep things a little special, yes? That sister of yours, she knows that. But her eyes? Nothing good inside.” She pinched my cheek and wagged it back and forth. Ouch. “You? You are a good girl. You eat too much and work too hard, but you’re a good girl. And he’s a good man. Don’t be stupid, eh?”
And with that, she waddled down the avenue. I stared after her. How had things got like this? The week before Naomi fired me, I’d given away all my houseplants. The thought of a relationship with anything plant, mineral or animal, let alone human, was totally out of the question. Between making soap and stuff, church, work…there wasn’t time for anything. And I’d liked it that way.
Or so I thought.
Now there was Daddy, Jordan, Dahlia, Sierra, Jericho and Shemika, Rochelle and her…whatever he was.