Nolan: Return to Signal Bend (Signal Bend)(15)
“I don’t want to hook up with you. That would be too weird.”
“I agree.”
“Why don’t you think you’d be good at being in a couple? Or was that just your way of being nice and not saying right out that you wouldn’t want to be in a couple with me?”
There was no accusation in her voice, nor any passive aggression. She sounded simply curious.
“I wasn’t being nice. Truth is, I’ve been thinking about you a lot the past few days, so I’m not just being nice. I’m being real. I…I don’t feel much. About anything. I don’t have much to give. So I’m better on my own.” He’d never actually said that aloud to anybody except his mom, once, and it hurt a lot more than he’d anticipated.
He didn’t add that the one emotion he was still capable of feeling acutely was anger. He knew it would hurt him more for Iris to know that.
She studied his eyes for several seconds, and then she put her hands on his face and pulled him close. She kissed him, just an innocent, soft little thing, almost a peck. He closed his eyes and felt how soft her lips were, smelled the flowers of her perfume.
“I’m sad for you,” she whispered.
“Pity is not something I want.” He stood straight, and she dropped her hands.
“That’s not what I said. You seem sad a lot, and now you tell me you don’t feel much, and that makes me sad. But I don’t pity you.” She chewed on her lip, then added, “If you want to just hang out, be friends, that’d be cool. Everybody else I know in this town is a lot older, a lot younger, or a twat like Mindy Jasper.”
Nolan laughed at her last comment. Mindy was definitely a twat. But he didn’t understand Iris’s reaction. “You’re not mad? Or hurt?”
“I like you, Nolan. I think you’re one of the good guys. I’d be good with seeing if we could work together. But I didn’t fall head over heels because of a couple of kisses. I have more sense than that, thank you very much.”
She was smiling up at him, and Nolan felt that stirring in his chest again. He might have accidentally kissed her again except that just then, there was a loud cough behind him. He turned and saw Show and Bart on the porch, watching the whole scene.
“Fuck.”
Iris laughed. “One, we’re grownups. Two, we weren’t doing anything. And three, if he’s mad, it’s you he’s going for, so I’m good.”
“Great. Thanks.” They turned and walked toward the house together. As they got close, and Show’s eyes hadn’t left them for a second, Nolan noticed that Iris looked a lot less confident than she’d sounded. Her cheeks were bright pink, and she hadn’t been blushing over at the car.
He smiled and followed her up the porch steps. Show stepped up, stood to his full height—a good four inches or more above Nolan’s—and looked down his nose at him.
“Daddy, don’t be a jerk,” Iris muttered as she walked into the safety of the house. Show held his position for another beat, then relaxed and walked in. Bart, with the wry grin of somebody who thought he knew it all, waved Nolan to head in before him.
Inside, Christmas was still happening at full volume, and now Nolan was glad for the distraction.
Each time he was with Iris, he was bummed when it was over.
But everything he’d said to her was true.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Any questions?” Geoff set the receipt book on the desk and smiled at Iris.
“Is there a reason you still use a paper receipt pad?” She pointed at the digital tablet propped on the desk. “Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“For credit card purchases, we have the square, but I find that it’s a lot easier to write on paper than to try to type in a detailed sales record or even use the stylus.” Geoff shrugged. “I just like it better. Call me old-fashioned.”
Iris grinned. “You’re old-fashioned.”
Geoff grinned back. “Be that as it may, Miss Iris, but I ask you: what better place to be old-fashioned than an antique shop?”
“Good point.”
On her first day of work, a couple of days after Christmas, the shop—and Main Street itself—was pretty quiet. All the shops had Christmas clearances going on, but these weren’t the kind of businesses that had people lining up outside the doors before they opened. Iris knew that Main Street would have a busier Monday than normal, but it wouldn’t be crazy.
Geoff hadn’t offered much Christmas-specific stock in any case, so he didn’t expect to do a big day at all. It was a good day to learn her new job. She had gotten the full tour and an explanation of the sales recording process before the gargoyle bell had tinkled even once.
When it did, Geoff turned to her. “Why don’t you take the book and wander around the shop, get to know the stock and where it came from. A big part of selling what we sell is being able to talk about it. Let me know when you have questions.” Then he headed up to talk to the customer.
Iris reached to the shelf under the desk and pulled up a heavy, old-fashioned ledger. Geoff had already shown her how he logged in every acquisition and gave it a number, based on its chronological order in the ledger. The tags on the items for sale included that number and the price. When the item was sold, the final sale price was added, and then a line was penciled through the entry.