Chapter 4
“Jody and emo boy sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S...”
“Good morning to you too, Dana,” Jody said as she rolled her eyes and donned her apron to officially signify her shift had started.
“So...?” Dana questioned.
“So what?” Jody responded.
“What happened?”
“Um... I hit him in the face with the door so we came in here and I offered him some consolation hot chocolate.”
“And then...?”
“And then I left and went home.”
“By yourself.” Dana was incredulous.
“Yes, by myself. Why? Were you expecting me to whore myself out?” Jody continued her work on a caramel frap.
“No, I just expected... you know... that you two would hook up or something.”
Jody had it. “What is this- let’s inquire about Jody’s social life? Yes, I hit him with the door. Yes, we had hot chocolate and a slice of cake. And no, I did not go home with him nor did we hook up. It was innocent. Nothing happened- nothing. He’s just a customer. If it had happened to anybody else, the same thing would have happened. Not a big deal, got it?”
Dana backed down. “Sor-ry. Didn’t mean to pry.”
“Well you did, so drop it.”
Jody and the rest of the staff pretty much continued in silence after the outburst. Dana had pried and nudged in a little too far. It’s not that Jody wasn’t social, but it’s just that if she didn’t feel comfortable sharing a piece of birthday cake with her co-workers, she certainly wasn’t going to divulge weather or not she thought the stranger was attractive.
Which she did- she just wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
And, like clockwork, Taylor came in for his usual raspberry chi tea- extra raspberry, not so much ice.
“Here you go, Taylor,” Jody merrily chirped as she placed the drink on the counter.
His eyes lingered on her, much like they did the afternoon before. “Thanks,” he said looking up at her.
With that he took off to his usual corner. Halfway through his usual 20 minute stay, a cell phone rang. Jody checked her phone, but it wasn’t her.
She heard the stranger pick up and begin to talk. Jody tried as hard as she could not to listen, but it was human nature to be curious, so she ended up hearing half of the conversation.
“When did she do that?” Jody heard him say. She also heard him sigh. From what she could gather, he did a lot of sighing. “So do you need to go over the legalities now, or... OK,” she heard rustling as he got up and came over to the counter and motioned that he needed a pen. “Yeah, hold on a sec.” He grabbed a napkin and scribbled something down. “Uh huh, got it. 57th and 4th...” Taylor pushed the napkin toward Jody as he turned and left the store. He quickly rushed to the left and down the street. The wind was whipping and she saw him shiver before he went out of sight.
Looking down, she saw an almost illegible note that was quickly jotted down on the brown napkin. Squinting hard, Jody was barely able to decipher what was written.
“See you tomorrow ~Taylor”
This was huge. The depressed little emo kid who wouldn’t look at anything beside his shoes was now leaving her notes. Holy crap- Hell had frozen over.
So the next day, Jody was awfully surprised when Taylor wasn’t there. After another day she was concerned. After a week, she wondered what happened. A note and then he’s not there? Something was up.
Jody had just taken a rest-room break and was in the stock room readjusting her apron when Dana came rushing back.
“Jody!! Jody get out here!”
“What happened?” Jody asked without any vocal inflection. Catastrophe and Dana were practically synonyms.
“You’re raspberry chi boy is back.”
“OK. Go help him.”
“You might wanna get out here and do it yourself.”
“For Heaven’s sake, Dana. What the hell is going...” Jody froze as she walked out of the room. There on the counter was the biggest surprise of her life.
“Hey,” Taylor said while still looking down.
“Hi,” Jody answered quietly as she stood behind the counter. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh,” Taylor said while adjusting the clothing on the boy. “This is Ezra.”
The boy motioned that he wanted to be picked up, Taylor obliged.
“He’s cute,” Jody smiled. “How old is he?”
“How old are you, Ezra?” Taylor coaxed the child. Ezra buried his face in Taylor’s shoulder. “Can you hold up a number?”
“I bet you can,” Jody tried. She had always liked kids. In high school she took to tutoring kids between grades 3 and 7. She studied the small child for a moment before speaking again. “Do you want to know how old I am?” Ezra turned his face so he was facing Jody. “I’m gonna need your help though, is that OK?” Ezra nodded. Taylor looked at her as if she was crazy. “It’s gonna take all three of us though, ‘cause I’m old,” Jody said with a crinkly face. Ezra smiled. “Here,” Jody said as she held up her hands. “I’ve got 10 fingers. Do you have 10 fingers?” Ezra nodded. “Can I see them?” Ezra held up his fingers. “There they are! All 10!” She winked at Taylor. “Now if you,” she directed at Taylor, “could hold up 2 fingers, we’ll be all set.” Taylor obliged with a smile.
Unknowingly, she had won over one more person than she intended to.
“Look at that! 22 fingers!” Jody played to the baby. “It took almost 5 hands. I’m really glad you could help me out, Ezra.”
“You’re really good with kids,” Taylor remarked.
“Thanks.”
“Large family?”
“Nah. Only child.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I used to tutor kids though. I learned more from them than they learned from me.”
“Hmm,” Taylor said thoughtfully before redirecting his attention back to the baby. “So,” he said to Ezra, “are you going to show Jody how old you are?”
Ezra looked at Jody and held up 4 fingers.
“4! Wow!” Jody played up. “You’re almost a whole hand old!!”
Dana took the register next to Jody. “Next please!” she called after realizing that Jody was more focused on raspberry chi boy and the child and not on her register duties.
“A whole hand? Wow Ezra, you’re almost as old as Jody,” Taylor remarked with a laugh.
Ezra laughed, making Jody smile.
“So what can I get for you?” Jody asked, returning to her more professional self. “A raspberry chi and a...?”
“You have anything uncaffinated?” Taylor questioned.
“Something more like apple juice?”
Taylor looked at her in amazement. “Something exactly like apple juice.”
“Here’s your raspberry chi,” Dana chimed in as she placed the drink on the counter.
“And here’s the apple juice.”
“What’s the new total?” Taylor asked, trying to figure out how to move the child and get to his wallet without dropping either one of them.
Jody, noticing the predicament, intervened. “Well since Ezra is so old, he qualifies for the senior discount.” Taylor looked at her as if she was crazy. “It’s on the house.”
“Are you sure that’s OK?”
“It’s fine. It’s the employee discount.” He still didn’t look certain. “And besides you’re in here often enough.”
“OK, well, thank you,” Taylor said quietly before turning to the little boy. “Can you tell Jody ‘thank you?’”
“Thank you,” Ezra said shyly as he reburied his face in Taylor’s shoulder.
“Thanks,”Taylor mouthed as he picked up the drinks and walked over to his usual corner.
Jody went back to helping the other customers, but once the line had died down, she was back to rinsing out the blender.
“I didn’t know you were into younger men?” Dana teased.
“Yeah,” Jody said, “he’s a real heartbreaker.”
“The baby or raspberry chi boy?”
Jody rolled her eyes. “The baby.”
“Uh huh... That’s what they all say.”
“Hey, uh...” Taylor said coming up to the counter. “Are there any more napkins? Ezra kinda had a little spill.”
Dana elbowed Jody in the ribs. “You take this one. I’ll take care of the blender.”
“Need help?” Jody asked as she grabbed a bunch of paper towels. Taylor looked uncomfortable with the offer.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“Theoretically,” was the answer. Taylor still didn’t look satisfied. “It’s right before the holiday season. They’re not gonna fire me for this.”
“You sure?”
“Horace said the only reason he’d fire me would be if I was late again, and so far so good. He never said anything about being fired over helping to keep the store clean.” Jody grabbed a whole roll of paper towels and started to walk over to the spill. “Besides, your cousin’s really cute.”
“Cousin?” Taylor questioned as he took some paper towels and began to wipe up the mess.
“Yeah,” Jody answered just as confused. “Ezra.”
Taylor chuckled. “Ezra’s not my cousin.”
“Oh I see,” Jody said with a twinkle in her eyes. “You’re his babysitter.” She checked for a reaction. “I mean, it’s cool. I know plenty of guys that babysit. It’s really not a big deal.”
“Jody, Ezra’s my son.”
Index
Chapter 5
Email: BunchOfFrogs@aol.com
