Page 17 of Semi Sweet
I put the note on the table before wrenching my eyes shut and mumbling nonsense as I attempted to process the poem.
"You feeling okay, Princess Q?" Bruce stared at me with an eyebrow raised from his usual perch at the counter.
"Not. Now. Bruce."
The man shrugged and turned back to his sandwich. I picked up the note and read it again. Fine? Did people still use that term? Once I got past the somewhat dated term of endearment, I realized that what they had written had narrowed down my search.You've talked to me before and I'm older than you.They were indeed someone in the store and were at least twenty-five. While that ruled out the young teen kids they hired every summer like I had once been, that still left so many options. They knew I liked to write.... But then again, I would talk about it to anyone who would tolerate listening to me, and Evan was also not shy about diminishing it in front of me or behind my back. This person also could have learned of it that way.
"Olivia to the courtesy desk, please. Olivia to the courtesy desk."
I cursed when I realized I'd been sitting and mulling this over longer than fifteen minutes. The gossipy front end girls would be accusing me of abusing my breaks because of Evan for sure. I hadn't even gotten a chance to eat the cupcake. I hastily put it back in its box, vowing to enjoy it fully at my class later. I grasped the note tightly because I planned on inspecting it between customers.
"Love note?" Bruce teased as I collected my things and began to make my way towards my department.
I was still too excited and jumpy to let him get me down. "Oh yeah!" I exclaimed. "Racy as hell, it would make your hair curl." I turned on my heel and power walked to my post before they paged me again. I could have sworn a gaggle of bakery employees were standing together taking in the interaction.
There wasn't time to salute.
Chapter Ten: More Questions Than Answers
Thatnight,duringanespecially dull statistics class in a mostly empty lecture hall, I ate my cupcake and I tried to take notes. Most people yawned while my professor babbled on, but my mind kept going back to the newest poem and the reply I was working on underneath my textbook.
I came to the conclusion that the chances of this mystery person being a customer were slim. I had to believe I would have noticed a shopper being around enough for them to know certain things about me. I didn't exactly have regulars come in for returns or price checks. There were the lottery customers, but they would never venture to the other end of the store to order a cupcake. That, and they probably didn't like me that much. I didn't let them loiter like it was their personal casino.
So that leaves an employee….But that could be anyone. I encountered so many people at Cash Value Market, but no one truly stood out. I assumed they thought I was a snob like everyone else in my future family. Some people at the store flat out hated me, so while that narrowed things down, it didn't exactly help.
The more I thought about it, the more apparent it was that I was kidding myself. Something wasn't sitting right with me. Someone in the bakery had to be aiding this mystery person. At the very least, they were putting the note in the box for them. They had to be making cupcakes or taking fancy ones from someone. Was it an inside job? Did someone in the department know more than they were telling me? Everyone claimed they had no idea who was calling the orders in, but sometimes I wasn't so sure. The handsome, serious face of Sean flashed through my mind. There was no way this could be happening without him knowing something. I wanted to doubt it was him. He was a manager with responsibilities and he hadn't said much to me. It had to be someone else. Would he tell me if I asked him what he knew? Would he ask me to stop wasting both of our time? He'd been nothing but amused by the ordeal at best and irritated by it the rest of the time. But it seemed as though he delivered my last note, so that counted for something.
I was getting frustrated, so I flipped back to my newest reply, playing with the rhymes and making sure I liked them before I made my final draft.
What does it mean
That you think I'm fine?
Does it mean you're just settling
Or that your heart is mine?
How can that be
If I don't recognize your face?
Why do these things
Continue to make my heart race?
Don't you know who I am?
Don't you know my life?
Don't you know that I'm trapped,
About to be someone's wife?
I appreciate the clue;
I like dogs too.
But I have to know
