Page 60 of Ocotillo Kisses
She looked a little unsure of her welcome. “I know it’s a big job. I thought I could come in and give a hand.”
He noticed then that she wore old jeans, old shoes, an old t-shirt that was just a little too snug. He wondered if she’d had those clothes still at the house. He didn’t think she’d left anything behind.
Except him.
“I think we’ve got it managed,” Sofia said. “We’re getting into a groove.”
“Okay, well, you talked about doing the windows. I can get started on those.”
Con liked how she wasn’t deterred by Sofia’s tone.
“She drove in to help,” he said. “Let her help.”
“We didn’t bring the supplies,” Sofia said.
“My grandmother said to use vinegar and newspaper. We have those right here.” Britt pointed to the stack of free advertising papers in the wire rack by the door. “At least I can get the old tape off the windows.”
Sofia made a sound of agreement, and Con handed off the stripper to Austin so he could work alongside Britt. He knew how it looked, but he didn’t care.
“Poppy’s not helping?” she asked, her tone cautious when he joined her to remove the ads from the grimy windows.
“Last week of school. She said she’s wiped out.”
“I just don’t want to think she’s avoiding you.”
But just when he decided how to respond, Austin started up the machine, making conversation difficult.
He noticed her using her thumbnail to try to removed the brittle cellophane tape, and put his hand over hers to stop it.
“I have a scraper in my truck,” he tried to shout over the sound of the machine.
“What?”
Instead of repeating himself, he held up a hand to stop her, and walked out to his truck. The evening was still bright. Some kids played on the playscape across the street in the square, but otherwise the evening was quiet. He could hear the muffled hum of the stripper in the store, but enjoyed the break from the noise as he walked over to his truck.
He tried not to make anything of the fact that Britt had parked right next to him. There weren’t exactly a lot of cars around, and the rest of the group had walked over. He retrieved the metal scraper from the glove box and hurried back into the store. He handed the tool over, and she gave him a brief smile of thanks.
Why was she here? He wanted to know the answer, but wouldn’t ask the question in front of everyone. She had nothing to gain from this. She’d driven all the way into town to help. He needed to know why.
The windows were far beyond the help of vinegar and newspaper, and his hands smelled like pickles when they were done. Caleb was running the stripper in the produce department, closest to the door. Hailey and Sofia had begun applying fresh wax to the back of the store.
All of them were grimy and hot, since the old air conditioner couldn’t keep up with the space, the heat of the machine, and the exertion.
“We’re going to need another pool party after this,” Austin said when Caleb shut down the machine near the front door, wiping his forearm across his forehead.
“At least with the machine off, we won’t have the added heat in here,” Caleb said. He lifted on his toes to look for Sofia. “Should we start waxing the other aisles?”
She leaned on her mop at the end of the second aisle. “I figure by the time the first one is dry, it will be time to add the second coat, so no, not yet.”
“We can switch off though, and give you a break,” Britt said.
Sofia looked past her at the windows. “Those don’t look so great.”
“We are talking years of neglect,” Con said in Britt’s defense. “We got a lot of the new grime off, and all the old tape. But I think we’re going to need something stronger than vinegar.”
“Is there something here we could use? She has cleaning products, doesn’t she?” Britt asked, craning her neck to see where they might be.
“Sure, down the aisle we just waxed. You better not go down there,” Hailey said.
