“Hey!” someone called. “Kid!”
Justin turned.
The cashier with the pink lipstick was walking toward him through the small parking lot, an unlit cigarette hanging between her fingers. In the sunlight her makeup looked patchy and her platinum dyed hair, stacked in curls on her head, looked brittle and thin. “Bill blew you off, huh?”
“Yeah,” Justin said, squinting in the sunlight.
“You’re an O’Dwyer, right?” the cashier asked.
He nodded.
“Hmm.” The woman lit her cigarette. “My brother Lloyd owns the feed store out on the highway. He’s looking for someone who can lug bags of grain around. His back can’t take it anymore. That sound like something you’d be interested in?”
“Yeah,” Justin said, his heart thumping with sudden and unexpected hope. “Yeah, that sounds great.”
The cashier nodded and blew a cloud of smoke toward him. It hung in the air between them like fog before it slowly dissipated. “You tell him Carol sent you, and see what he can do.”
“Thanks,” Justin said. He gripped Del’s car keys tightly in his hand, hard won experience warning him not to get ahead of himself. “I appreciate it.”
The cashier showed him a thin smile and then turned and headed back toward the store.
* * * *
It was later than Justin had intended by the time he drove back to Del’s place. The afternoon was wearing on into dusk, the late light casting long shadows across the road, and Justin hoped that Wyatt and Scarlett hadn’t been too much for Del to handle for so long, and that Harper hadn’t been a monster after school. Not that he didn’t trust Del to manage—he was doing a hell of a better job with them than Justin was—it was just that Justin knew exactly how much of the day the kids could swallow up, and Del probably had stuff he needed to get done. He’d said something about writing a cookbook. Justin couldn’t even imagine what sort of work went into that, and how time consuming it might be.
He turned into Del’s driveway and pulled up near the house. He sat in the car for a moment, wondering if he should feel more embarrassed about going in after last night abortive kiss, and then Del’s sweet, gentle kiss that had turned what Justin had thought about the first one on its head. Except he wasn’t embarrassed, or at least not embarrassed enough that the low thrill of anticipation at the thought of seeing Del again didn’t drown it out. Justin had had crushes before, but they’d been passing things, vague and unformed, burning hot and fast, and nothing had ever really come from them. Del was different, or maybe it was Justin who was different now. He’d wanted to kiss guys before and mess around with them, even if he hadn’t worked up the courage, but he’d never wanted to be held. To be loved and saved and cared for. Del had been right to tell him to take his time, because no way was Justin in the right headspace now to make any smart decisions.
He drew a deep breath as he looked at the front of Del’s house, and opened the car door half expecting to hear yelling or screaming. Instead, it was quiet as he crossed the front lawn and climbed the porch steps. And then he heard, faintly through the closed front door, a sudden shriek of laughter.
Harper
Justin froze, guilt and bitterness coming hard on the heels of brief wonder. A part of him was tempted to just turn and walk away, but he stepped forward instead and rang the doorbell.
The doorknob turned back and forth for a moment before the door opened to reveal Wyatt, clutching a doll to his chest as he stared solemnly up at Justin. And then Del appeared at the end of the hallway, wearing an apron and wiping his hands on a dish towel.
“Good job, Wyatt,” he called, smiling broadly. “Justin, how did it all go?”
“Good,” Justin said, blinking numbly at Wyatt as his little brother dashed back toward Del. He looked at Del in time to see the faint furrow appear in his brow. “Oh, the stuff at Eriksen’s. That was okay, I guess. We’re not doing a service or anything.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “But I got a job offer. It’s at the feed store. It’s three days a week, starting on Monday if I can take it.”
“That’s great,” Del said. “Is there any reason you can’t take it?”
“Maybe,” Justin said. “With childcare and stuff.”
Del nodded. “Come on through to the kitchen. Harper and Wyatt and I are making mac and cheese. Harper has a lotof opinions on my recipe.”
Justin gave him a tentative smile and followed him through to the kitchen.