I couldn’t suppress the giggle. The thought of Bonny wielding a torch was almost as comical as the poof of smoke that hung over her head in study hall. She connected the dots and gave me a disgruntled sneer. We weren’t friends, but everybody in Firefly had a rhythm. There wasn’t enough space to have enemies.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a customer perusing the wall of produce. I couldn’t fathom who wouldbuy vegetables here when the farmers’ market started in an hour.
“Simon?”
I gave Bonny a wave as I wandered past the bread and pasta. He hovered in front of the zucchini, and I prepared for a lewd comment. My shoe slipped in a puddle from the vegetable mister. I slid and knocked into Simon’s back.
He spun about, catching me by the elbow. I was going to have nothing but awkward encounters with this man. He helped me to my feet and raised an eyebrow. Under his gaze, my face turned red, and not from bumping into his backside.
“Hey,” I said. I looked down at his other hand, a firm grip on the zucchini. “Nice produce you’ve got there.”
He dropped it in his basket. Did I see another blush? I would never tire of his bashfulness. “I wanted to say thanks.”
“For?”
“Last night, Lucas came to me and asked if we could read a story.”
The thought of him flipping through the pages of a comic warmed my heart. It sounded like Lucas wasn’t much different from me at that age. If comics got him reading, then I’d consider it a victory.
I put my hands on my hips and struck a pose. “Making readers one comic at a time.”
He patted me on the chest. “You’re my hero.” Did his hand linger? It was probably wishful thinking.
“Bring him by Legends. Get him hooked on comics, and he’ll never have money for drugs.”
Simon laughed. The daddy bear had a certain appeal on his own. Knowing that he had a kid and how hard he tried to be a good dad? That only made him sexier. As much as I wanted to throw myself at him, I saw the potential for a friendship. I could live with our encounter being a one-time thing. But… friends with benefits? No, no, that’d just make things complicated.
“Do I have your consent to touch your zucchini?”
Before he responded, I reached into the basket, removed his produce, and put it back on the shelf. Any other day of the week, the market would be fine. Having tasted his food,finedidn’t strike me as good enough.
“I’m going to introduce you to the farmers’ market.”
“Firefly has a farmers’ market?” He sounded surprised. Did he not understand that half the town worked on a dairy farm or had livestock?
“Let me introduce you to the fun of small-town living.”
“I’m not sure how much more fun I can handle.”
He winked. Right? He definitely winked. This wasn’t me dreaming anymore. I’d spend the rest of the day guessing and picking apart every detail. Not knowing… it gave me butterflies.
I took his basket and gave him a push toward the front. Bonny had already returned to applying more nail polish and didn’t raise an eye as we passed.
“Bye, cupcake.”
“What—”
I continued pushing. “Don’t ask.”
I always wandered through the farmers’ market. The green between our stores had been filled with white tents and bright blue canopies. It normally took me twenty minutes to bounce from vendor to vendor. I’d grab a little of this or that, just to support the farmers. Simon, however, needed to touch and smell every ingredient.
“What’s his story?”
For the last hour, every time he made a purchase, I’d give him a quick story about the owner. “Jones? I don’t have any facts about him.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“This one time, Dad took me to Jones’ potato field. He said we were looking for potatoes he missed. What I didn’t know, Dad had forgotten to buy them at the store. When Mom asked, we went on a mission to find potatoes in the wild. I’m officially a potato thief.”
