Page 38 of Butter You Up
I have more ideas for Alex, but thinking about them makes me sad. I won't be around to make changes or see the farm’s success. That goes for both Udderly Creamy and Bedd Fellows.
When one o’clock rolls around, it’s not Kit who brings me lunch, but Alex, and my heart does a completely unnecessary flutter when he opens the door, balancing two plates on one arm.
It’s nerves, obviously. He’s seeing the newly redesigned farm shop for the first time.
I spread my arms wide and grin. “What do you think?”
Trixie follows inside and immediately races around the room, sniffing at the new stuff.
Alex looks around. I added a few touches that Ethel and I picked up from an antique store to make the shop cozier; there’s a collection of glass bottles of varying sizes, a few prints of farm life on the walls, and Ethan went through one of his storage sheds and found a bunch of old farm stuff that I’ve hung on the wall.
“It looks real good, Molly.”
My entire body warms at his approval. I haven’t seen him since Sunday, but I sure have thought about him a lot. That kiss was something else, and I want to do it again. And again. And again.
But first.
“Good. Now—” I make grabby hands at the plate of food that smells so goddamn amazing, “—gimme.”
Alex sets the two plates on the counter, and we unwrap them together, a column of steam rising from them. Underneath, it looks like a quesadilla, but it’s crispy. I spot refried beans and cheese and lettuce inside.
It’s not cut up, so I follow Alex’s lead and pick the whole dang thing up and take a bite out of it.
I moan, and Alex does too. After I swallow, I catch his eye across the counter. “Anna needs to open a restaurant.”
“I tell her that all the time. She doesn’t want to work that hard while her kids are still around, and she says it would be hard to get the right ingredients in bulk.”
“Are there any Mexican restaurants around? In Albany?”
Alex shrugs. “Some. Not the same, though. Burritos or weird fusion.” He tells me about a place in Albany called Bombers that closed after twenty-something years and another one in Troy where they served Mexican-Irish fusion. “Not any place that does Oaxacan food like Anna does.”
“I want to meet her.”
“You will, I’m sure.”
“Someday, someday,” I tease. “Like someday you’ll show me your digester and solar panels?”
“Anytime.”
I swallow the last bite of my lunch and dust my hands off. Anytime better come soon, really, because my time here is almost halfway done.
Trixie whines, and I realize something. “Oh no, her doggie bed.” I stashed it in a box in the storage room while we were moving everything. I retrieve it and place it back into the corner where it used to be, and Trixie thanks me with a butt wiggle and a contented sign when she flops down on the bed.
Alex wipes his mouth with his napkin and clears his throat. “Do you needed to take some time off? You’ve been working a lot between here and Bedd Fellows. And high school is over now, so Imara can come to work.”
I think about that for a moment. I have been working a lot, and I’m pretty sure when I get home tonight, I’m going to eat a sandwich and go straight to bed.
But…I know I’m going to owe Quinn several thousand dollars soon. I waggle my head, thinking, while Alex stacks our plates and silverware.
“Okay,” I relent. Alex smiles so fast I just catch the flash of teeth before it disappears.
He straightens from the counter and thumps a fist on it. “Good.” He doesn’t leave, though. Instead, he traces an invisible line on the counter and clears his throat again. His cheeks are pink.
Adorable.
I come around, and Alex shuffles out of the way while I move the plates to give myself room. Then, I hop onto the top of the counter. Alex’s eyes darken, and I reach out, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him in for a kiss.
Our mouths open immediately and Alex slots right in between my knees, his hands resting gently on my hips. His lips are warm and firm, and we play with each other, a real long, uninterrupted kiss where I get to figure out if he likes a bit of teeth and the sounds he makes when I suck on his tongue.
