Page 22 of The Hampton Beach Café 3
"Ouch! Who gave you fingers of steel, woman?”
"No, but seriously," she said. "Why? Will they not let you sit in the racing car now that you're six feet and tall and forty?"
The dishcloth came again; this time, she wasn't quite fast enough to get around the flicking tip that stung her leg.
"Hah, gotcha," he said. "I win."
"The most antagonistic way to end a game you were losing is to call time the second you manage to score."
She opened the fridge to offload more milk into the storage containers. They used way too much to rely on cartons and bottles.
"And yet you always let me, so kind," he said in his teasing tone. "Queen of humility and generosity––"
"Alright, calm down," Frances said. "You're so annoying."
Even though the fridge door was between the two of them and entirely blocked her view of him, she could tell he was smiling. He could always make her feel almost giddy, just by being himself. She guessed that was why she had always been so protective of him, despite him being much bigger and meaner looking than she could ever pull off.
With the skim container full again, she was satisfied that they would get through the afternoon rush without resorting to the backup cartons on the top shelf. Closing the door slightly, she realized that she could see Alex through the narrow opening between the door and the side of the fridge. It felt like spying, but...Well, he looked so happy! Smiling at his hands as he dried the last few drops off the freshly finished load of cups from the dishwasher––they really needed to get a better one or more cups if they wanted to cut this ridiculously time-consuming task down.
"So…" he said without looking up from his task, "…this barber was your dad's. Well, he was everyone's barber, actually, until about twenty years ago. He used to be the only one in town, but then he and his apprentice had a falling out. The apprentice set up shop across the road. Mac's and Mike's––we're seeing Mac."
Frances stepped back and snapped the fridge closed.
"Mac? He knew my dad?"
"Yeah," Alex said, though it sounded a little guarded. "I heard he was the one to talk to about town history––gossip really––but I thought as he actually knew your dad, you might want to talk to him yourself."
She did....but she also didn't and couldn't exactly put her finger on why.
"Sure, but Lucinda and Vin will have to do the afternoon shift on their own...plus Hayley is arriving tonight."
"If it's too much, then don't worry about it," Alex said. "I'm more than okay going on my own. I just wanted to give you the option."
She nodded. "Thank you...yes, I want to go with you. It will be weird to talk to someone who remembers him more than I do...someone other than my mom, I mean. She doesn't really talk about him, more just curses his name and changes the subject."
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I know. Hey, is Hayley coming in by bus?"
"No, she's going to take a taxi from the train station," Frances replied, glad for the change in subject.
"Well, why don't we pick her up? It's only twenty minutes out of the way," he suggested. "That way we have a reason to cut the visit short if it's too much all at once, and we know we won't miss her because we're picking her up. What do you say?"
Frances nodded. He had two very good points. Plus, he was looking out for her, she knew it.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll text her."
Lucinda stepped into the kitchen. “Hey guys, we’re thinking about doing a bit of a reshuffle in the gallery––come see.”
Alex checked the temperature of the oven before leading the way out of the kitchen and into the gallery section.
They hadn't changed much, but the layout worked, and there were some new pieces that Frances really liked.
"So, has that Lauren Daniels actually commissioned anything yet?"
Vince nodded. "She's getting the contract to me this week––you'll be pretty pleased with the finder's fee."
"Will I?" Frances said. "She's not trying to jerk us around?"
With a laugh, Vince replied. "Well, I think she's going to make a decent penny on her middleman role in the whole thing with her clients, but she agreed to match the gallery percentage."
