Page 35 of Kissing for Keeps
Siena’s hand is still tugging on the crook of my arm.
“We’ll take four,” I say without even thinking.
Her eyes light up, and she bustles about, stacking four of the crates and packing them in a thick brown bag. I chance a glance at Siena, who’s looking at me like she doesn’t know what to do with me.
The woman hands me the bag, a big smile stretched across her face. “Quarante-cinq euros.” Her expression turns pensive. “Forty-five euros.”
Whoa. That’s a lot more than I was expecting. Guess I should have looked at the signs with the pricing. I pull out my phone and look around for the card reader, but there is none. That’s when it hits me: we’re at a local market. It’s probably cash only. I have no euros. I’ve just made this lady’s day by telling her I want four containers of her home-grown strawberries, and now I have to crush her and tell her I don’t have any money.
“Do you have any cash?” I whisper to Siena.
She pulls back. “You’re joking, right?”
I shake my head and smile at the lady, hoping to reassure her that everything is fine. “Do you, though? I’ll pay you back.”
“No, I don’t. I planned to get some today.”
The lady is watching us with slight confusion, trying to understand why we’re having this strange and rude private conversation right in front of her while she’s waiting for payment. “I just need to go to the ATM,” I say.
Her brow furrows. She’s clearly not understanding me. Eesh, this is painful.
I pull out a credit card and lift my shoulders dramatically, making my face look sad. “No euros.”
The lady’s face falls, and I feel like a monster.
“I will come back,” I say, making a walking motion with my arms. “For those.” I point at the bag of strawberries, then do a thumbs up.
She doesnotlook convinced, but she nods.
I put up my finger, hoping she understands I meanbe back in one minute,and Siena and I leave the booth.
“Whew!” Siena says. “That was a narrow escape. Oh! Look, there’s a booth with truffles!”
“We’ve got to find an ATM first. I don’t want to make her wait too long.”
She stops and faces me. “Wait, really?”
“Yes, really. I told her I was coming back.”
She stares at me for a second. “Yeah, but I thought that was like the thing you do at Costco after trying a sample.” She rubs her stomach. “Mmm, so good! Where do I find these? Then you walk super slow until they’re distracted by someone else getting a sample.”
My laugh comes out as a snort. “Yeah, Siena. I’m sure you’ve got them utterly fooled. They’d be shocked if they knew you didn’t buy the food you sampled.”
“Well, I’m sorry not all of us can compare with your amazing pantomiming skills back there.”
“Hey, it got the message across, didn’t it?”
“If the message wasI’m a lunatic American, then yes. Loud and clear.”
I bump into her with my shoulder on purpose, and she bumps me right back but twice as hard, eliciting laughs from us both. It occurs to me that this feels a lot like flirting, and I shouldn’t be flirting with Siena. Probably shouldn’t have wrestled with her on the bed last night either. In fact, I’m sure I shouldn’t have, purely based on the way it made me feel.
But there’s a line between doing things that will get a rise out of her and wandering into dangerous territory, and I’m still well on the side of the former.
After last night’s call with Madi, part of me wonders why I’m even trying to be a good brother to her. She clearly doesn’t have a high opinion of me, despite seven years of squeaky clean behavior on my end—at least in relation to her friends.
It’s twenty minutes before we find an ATM that will accept my card.
“If we miss the chance to buy Madi’s wedding favors because of this, Jack, I will force-feed you every last one of those strawberries.”
