Page 28 of Mr. Frosty Pants
“Likethat. It’s creepy. Like you’ll be glaring, all normal and stuff, and then all of a sudden, you’ll just…smile.” She shuddered. “Like you can’t even help it, and you don’t know why you’re doing it. Are you possessed?”
“No.”
“You are. You’ve got the devil in you.” She waggled her dark eyebrows. “Call the priest! We’ll exorcise this freakish happiness right out of your body.”
“I’m nothappy.”
Angel tilted her head and examined him. “No, you’re not. Which is what makes that smile so creepy.”
Joel snorted dismissively. “Get back to work.”
He knew the smile she was talking about. Ever since he was a little kid, when he was nervous about something, he’d break into what his pop called a “simpering face,” like a whipped dog. He hated it. He resented having a nervous, anxious tic of any sort.
But he wasn’t exactlyscaredfor Casey to show up. Eating lunch with his old friend didn’t terrify him. It was more about what Casey might expect or want from him now that they’d kissed, and even more what Caseywouldn’twant from him. He didn’t want to deal with the horrible confirmation that, yeah, he really wasn’t worth anyone’s effort after all. Or face the possibility that the kiss this morning was a bizarre hallucination born out of lonely, desperate insanity.
Joel left Angel behind the register where she was using a tiny stamp she’d brought in to add green Christmas trees to her black-lacquered nails. He should reprimand her for messing around at work, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He pulled on his jean jacket and headed out to straighten the rows of trees in the lot again. It’d only been a few minutes, but it was possible one had gotten blown out of line by a freak gust of wind. It gave him something to do at least, and that calmed his mind.
He’d just gotten to the end of the first row of Scotch pines when he heard footsteps and then Casey’s warm, tenor voice. “I brought your favorite Ham & Goody’s sandwich plus lemon cookies for dessert.”
Joel turned around to find Casey holding a big white bag in one hand, as well as a paper tray with a few sodas in the other.
Joel’s weird smile leapt onto his face again, and he tried to play it off with a joke. “Well, how gallant. It’s almost like you’re courting me now.” He wanted to swallow his own tongue as soon as the words were out. Sure, Becca had said the same thing, but that was different. That wasn’t him being an ass.
Casey’s smile grew serious and his gaze grabbed Joel’s and wouldn’t let go. “Would it be terrible if I was? I think you deserve a little courting.”
Swallowing thickly, Joel muttered, “Better than a kiss-n-run, I guess.”
“Definitely.” Casey’s eyes drifted down to Joel’s mouth and back up again. His tone softened. “Do you still hate onions? Because I asked them to leave those off.”
“Still gross.”
Casey grinned. “Some things never change.”
Joel let out a slow breath, taking in Casey’s tall form and muscular shoulders. “And some things do.” He grabbed the white bag from Casey and motioned for him to follow. Pine filled his nose, and needles crunched under their feet.
They headed around to the back of the store, where the noon sun shone on a patio area. It was set up with winter-worthy deck chairs and a table. Because there was a view of the back of the store from the interstate, Joel and Brandon had decorated the patio for Christmas, including a large tree strung with white lights and golden, plastic balls that glinted brightly.
By the chairs and table, there was a privacy screen that shielded the area from the passing cars and dulled the road noise. A window into the store allowed Joel to keep an eye on things when taking his smoke breaks out here—back when he used to smoke enough to require breaks for it, anyway—but the view inside was currently obscured by faux frost Angel had sprayed on.
It was the most private place he could think of to eat with Casey without actually abandoning the store to Angel for his lunch hour. After last night, he had a lot to make up to her, so he really needed to stick around until Brandon relieved him in the afternoon.
“This is nice,” Casey said, looking around. “I remember your dad kept a swing set out here for the kids to play on while their parents looked around the store.”
“Huge liability. When I got rid of it, I was able to get our insurance down by enough to make it worthwhile, but not by as much as you might think. There are always safety hazards in a home-and-garden store. Lawn mowers, weed whackers, pruning shears.”
“Insecticide.”
“Exactly.” Joel motioned at the table and then sat down with his back to the privacy screen and within eyesight of the door. Angel might come out and ask him for help with loading up a tree. Things sometimes got hectic around noon with people making quick stops on their way home for lunch. He should have told Casey to come at one or even eleven.
His hands shook as he reached out to grab a soda from Casey and started unpacking the bag of food. The sandwiches were wrapped up neatly with their names on each, and the cookies were enough to share. “This really is my favorite.”
“I remember.”
Joel shook his head. “Why? Surely you have better things to keep in that head of yours.”
“I remember everything about you.” Casey blushed like he’d embarrassed himself.
Joel said nothing, unwrapping his sandwich and poking a straw through the soda lid. He remembered everything about Casey too. “Sprite?”
