Page 15 of Love in Mission City: The Shorts

“Oh, darn.”

I turned back to see her escaping out the front door.What now?

I didn’t have long to wait as she returned with two Starbucks cups and a little paper bag.She handed me the bag and the cup.“Chocolate croissant, heated up.”

These were my favorite, but I was never comfortable with her buying me things.Did I pick up things for her?Sure.But she was my employee.That, and chocolate croissants held a lot of calories.

“To make up for all the energy you expended when you…” She cocked her head and this time the blush crept across her face.

For one horrible moment, I worried she envisioned the whole thing.She wasn’t psychic, but she was a sensitive.Her ability to sense emotions, no matter how hidden, was prescient.That and knowing the gender of babies, forecasting good gossip, and predicting who was likely to break up.

Too bad she didn’t see her own marriage ending.

But she’d always admitted to having a blind spot for herself and the clearest view of her sisters.The rest of the world fell somewhere in the middle, and that meant she meddled far more than was wise.

Finally, at length, she smiled.A wicked grin.A little more than I was accustomed to.“Well, I told you that you’d be compatible.”

With that, she pivoted to flip the open sign and headed into the back room.“I’m jacking up the air conditioning.It’s going to be a barn burner, as they say.You should plan to take a few bottles of cold water over to your new boyfriend.”

I wasn’t sure which part of that sentence annoyed me more—the fact she wanted me to take care of him, or the fact she believed we formed some kind of relationship after one fuck.Still, her comments weren’t easily discounted.She claimed she couldn’t predict the future, but that wasn’t true.I could think of two or three—or more—times in the past ten years when she’d been right on the nose about something.Something unpredictable.Even things that’d been unlikely or, in one case, I would’ve said impossible.Funny, after all this time, I’d learned to roll with it.To accept she saw the universe in ways I never could.

Would it be great if she could predict sports-team wins or the stock market or the winning lottery ticket numbers?Of course.Would I settle for the heads-up that my parents were planning to retire, and I needed to prepare to take over the business?Yeah, that warning from her came at the perfect time.I’d been contemplating a few things that’d take me away from Mission City.And my parents would’ve encouraged me.But that would’ve meant putting off their dreams, and I’m so glad Sun stuck her nose in it.I later discovered my parents had said nothing to her.She’d just known.

Whatever.

A motorcycle engine revved.

Sunshine passed by me and laid a hand on my shoulder.

Yeah, today was going to be a long day.

Yet silence reigned after that, and I settled into my work.

Miss Edna paid us an unexpected visit.The woman was eighty if she was a day.

She’d taught almost fifty years in the Mission City district and, although she retired before I started, I’d heard stories.

She spent most of her time hanging out at the library these days, where the librarians Loriana and Marnie took good care of her.

Few items caught her fancy that she couldn’t get from the library, but occasionally I was able to find something that was too obscure for the library to be able to justify acquiring.

They were always on a tight budget.

“Good morning, Miss Edna.”

She waved her cane in my direction and headed for one of the comfortable overstuffed chairs.

Immediately, as soon as she settled, Ari leapt onto the arm and demanded scritches.

Miss Edna was always very happy to oblige my nosy cat.

“Could I make you a cup of tea?”

She waved me off, but then held up her hand.“Do you have iced tea?”

“Of course.”Powder and not great tasting, but she’d had it before and hadn’t complained.In fact, in all the years I’d known her, I couldn’t remember her ever saying anything untoward.

I prepared the iced tea, adding plenty of ice, and came back out into the store.

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