Page 10 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

He chuckled and shook his head as he handed her his card. She grabbed it, but he didn’t let go until she made eye contact. “I can’t wait to try it then.”

A chill shot up her spine, and she yanked the card from his grasp, turning slightly as her face heated. She ignored the chuckle as she ran his card. When the tip option came up, she glanced up instead of clicking past. They never took tips. “Want to add a tip?” She gave him the blankest expression she could muster.

“Why not,” he said, not bothered in the least. “Add a twenty.”

She wanted to roll her eyes, but she’d started this. And she started it on a day when her brain was all a jumble. She wanted to tell him she wouldn’t take twenty, but there was a line, and he’d outdone her fair and square. She dropped her gaze, which she realized now must have been startled, and added the twenty-dollar tip.

“Thank you.” She slid his card back across the counter. “Next!”

“Nice to see you, too,” Cash said as he grabbed the handles on his bag.

“Cash,” she said before he walked off.

He made eye contact. “Yes?”

“It was good to see you.” She gave him a genuine smile this time, though it just about killed her to, then turned to the customer behind him.

***

Cash took his honey and walked away with his head held high. Seeing Allie again had been so much easier than he’d expected, and harder too. It’d brought back all these feelings he’d long suppressed. Three stalls away from hers, he stopped to check out some belt buckles bigger than the platters in his restaurants. He smirked, and consider sending one to Tim. Then he sneaked a quick glance in Jo’s direction.

Her line had expanded in the thirty seconds it’d taken him to walk this far. She hustled around, smiling and being friendly, but she was tired. Even if she didn’t look it. She’d looked nothing but perfect to him as kids, and the same held true now.

As long as Cash had known Jo, he’d thought she was beautiful. From a twelve-year-old girl with pigtails to a lanky teen with dirt on her nose. There had been times where he’d stared openly at her and got caught at it. She’d never known why. She always thought it was because she had something in her teeth, or a bug on her face.

She hadn’t known that he often wondered how she could be real, with her strawberry blonde tresses that leaned slightly more red than blonde, and her eyes a deeper blue than the ocean, and her full lips. And the way she moved, like a dancer, graceful and with purpose—even though she’d never been the dancer, that’d been her twin, Allie. Jo always seemed more fairy creature than reality.

And while Allie held the same beauty Jo did, it presented differently on Jo than it ever had on Allie. It was always real. It was what you see is what you get. It was unintentionally, unassumingly disarming. He’d had a crush on her since they’d met when she was eleven and he was twelve, but he’d said nothing. He’d placed her safely in the friend zone, where he thought she’d always be. If he didn’t date her, they wouldn’t get serious, marry her out of high school, and regret every moment like his parents had.

And then, he’d never be at risk of losing her.

That plan had sure worked out well for him.

He faced her now, not caring who saw, his heavy bag of honey dangling from his fingers, and remembered how she’d grabbed her ankle, the way she’d tilted her neck. She was never one to complain, but she was tired. And more than the normal tired. Something was off with her, and he wanted to know what. He’d seen her for the first time in years, and already she had this pull on him.

Bag of super expensive honeys in hand, he marched back to her booth, his gaze falling on her as she hustled around her the small space, grabbing honeys and other things. He bypassed the line and leaned on the counter, ignoring the stares of the patrons.

Her deep crystal blue gaze landed on him, and he felt it like a shock of icy cold water.

“Uh—” she started, but he lifted a hand to stop her, then handed her his bag of honey. She took it, as he knew she would. He placed one hand on the counter and leapt over the top.

“Cash!” she yelped, stumbling back into her stool and knocking it over. “What are you doing?”

He landed next to her, grabbed his honey and placed it on the ground off to the side, then picked up her stool. “I’m helping.”

“What?” Her face screwed up in confusion.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her back onto the stool. “You’re going to sit there and check people out, while I grab things for you.”

“But—”

“No buts,” he said. “You’re tired. Your feet hurt, probably because you chose those unpractical little flats to wear. I’m here to help. So, you’re going to order me about, and I’m going to follow your every command, just like I used to make you do in high school when you needed it.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Now,” he said, “what can I do for you?”

“You can go jump—”

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