Divine Charity (18 page)

After exchanging greetings he said, “Of course I remember. The bookstore, right?”

Violet nodded, which made her pale blonde ringlets bounce as she handed him a business card. “I’ve been utilizing a small portion of the space as a bookstore, but it’s going to be
so
much more. I inherited the building from my uncles, which they operated as the True Value hardware store for several decades.”

Justin chuckled and said, “I remember going in there with my dad when I was a kid.”

“I’m expanding the emporium and opening the rest of the space to vendors on consignment and I’m looking for fine antiques, artisan pottery pieces, art, collectibles, and that sort of thing.” She clasped her hands in a hopeful gesture and said “I was wondering, Justin, if you would please consider being my first art vendor. I would provide you with lighting, displays, and a space in the center front portion of the store.”

Charity nodded. “Her place is going to be
the
place to shop in Divine, babe. Everyone would see your work.”

Violet nodded and said, “If you have any pieces left once today is over with, I’d be happy to display them for you in the bookstore until the rest of the emporium is finished and ready for customer traffic.”

“That won’t crowd you?” he asked, recalling shopping for Charity there during the Christmas season when it had been teeming with customers.

Violet got big eyes and shook her head, making her curls bounce again. “I’ll make room, Justin. It would be a great way to introduce shoppers to the sorts of things the emporium will be offering in the future. The larger space will be available later this summer and you’ll be able to display all your new pieces. I could provide exposure for your work, sell them for you, and add on a little consignment fee for my trouble. They’ll draw attention, no matter where they’re displayed. You could bring me new ones as you finish them. But no pressure. Please say yes,” she added with a big smile and hopeful eyes, and Charity nodded behind her.

If she wasn’t opening the expansion until the summer, that would give him time to get a few more pieces completed. Justin looked down at the card and then smiled. “Absolutely, Violet. I’ll let my manager here work out all the particulars with you.”

Charity squeezed his arm and she and Violet walked off as they talked about the details. He turned to one of the display tables and straightened a couple of pieces as he laughed to himself.

Wow. We’ll see how long this lasts, I guess.

“Mr. Connors?” a deep voice said from behind him.

He turned and made eye contact with a familiar face, and nearly at eye level. Considering he was six foot seven, that was saying a lot. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted at the young man, who removed his baseball cap and held out his hand. Recognition dawned and he smiled as he shook hands with him. “Noah Cassidy, is that you? Damn, son,
you grew
. What’s your mom feeding you? Seems like I just saw you only a month or two ago.” His dark hair was also longer and he looked like he was shaving regularly.

The young man chuckled and nodded. “I’ve been getting that a lot lately, sir. Dad says the grocery bill is gonna kill him.”

“What can I do for you, Noah?”

Noah’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and he rolled his ball cap in his hands. “Well, sir, I asked Justine to the prom and she told me I needed your permission. I know you’re pretty protective of her, and even Beau told me I’d need to ask you if it was okay.”

Justin had looked forward to moments like this one ever since his little princess was a baby. Noah was right. He was hellaciously protective of Justine. She didn’t date often because his girl had goals, and dating horny boys didn’t figure much in her plans, for which he was grateful. Any boy who wanted to date his daughter had to ask his permission first and that was just the way it was.

Justine had grown up knowing this and had laughed, blushed, and told him it was fine and to have his fun, just to not terrify her dates too badly or she wouldn’t
have
any. He hadn’t met any boy at the door with a gun yet, but he wasn’t opposed to a little intimidation. They needed to know that he cared, he didn’t mind going to jail for her sake, and he knew all their dads.

As if on cue, Val and Ransome appeared, skewering Noah with dark stares as they flanked Justin, arms crossed over their chests. Noah looked from one to the other. Val held the boy’s gaze and lifted his chin in a minute greeting.

Shit, this is fun.

Justin glanced over Noah’s shoulder and saw Beau and Justine standing nearby watching. Beau was barely containing his laughter, while Justine waited with her arms crossed, too, standing next to her mom. Charity scrunched up her nose and nodded in approval at him and he turned his attention back to Noah.

Noah said, “She told me that I also needed to get…their…approval, too.” He gestured at Val and Ransome, who he very bravely offered a hand to shake with.

Ransome didn’t smile, just stared at Noah while chewing on the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “Saw you score that touchdown that won the homecoming game last fall. How long you known Justine, son?”

“Practically my whole life, sir.”

“Call me, Ransome, son.”

“Sure, sir—I mean, Ransome, sir.”

“You planning to score with Justine, too?” Ransome asked with a convincing scowl.

With wide eyes, Noah said, “N–No, sir. Not at all. I’d just like to take her to the prom. I have respect for her and for her family.”

Ransome let out a dry chuckle and said, “Kid’s got my approval.”

Val asked, “You got a vehicle, son?”

Noah nodded and gestured to the late model Ford pickup parked down the sidewalk. Not too new. Not too old. “Me and my dad fixed it up.”

Val craned his neck to see it and then said, “Can you observe a curfew and have her home on time?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Val, son. You call him sir,” he added, pointing at Justin.

Sure, Val.”

“Ransome’s right. That was a good catch last fall. Have fun,” he said, then clamped his hand down on Noah’s shoulder. “But not
too much
fun.” He and Ransome nodded at him and moved off to stand with Justine, hopefully to tease her a little. The girl was too serious sometimes.

Noah let out a breath of relief and looked up at him. “No wild parties or anything planned, sir. Just dinner and the prom, then home afterward.”

Justin raised an eyebrow. “I was young once, Noah. I know what goes on after the prom sometimes. No drinking, no after-prom parties, no hotel rooms.”

“No, sir.”

“I’m curious why you’ve never asked her out before, seeing how long you’ve known each other.”

Noah blushed a little and he squeezed his hat tighter. “I grew up thinking of her as a little sister, sir. And well, I had a girlfriend for a few years, and when I turned around one day, Justine was just…”

“All grown up?” Justin growled with a steely edge to his voice that made Noah squeeze his hat even tighter and Charity rolled her eyes.

“Yes, sir. But I was dating someone.”

“That Maggie-girl, right? How come you aren’t going with her to the prom?” He remembered hearing something about a confrontation between that girl and Justine from Charity but couldn’t recall the details.

Noah nodded and Justin watched as his jaw firmed. “We’ve broken up, sir. Been broke up for a while.”

“Seems like I recall her giving Justine a hard time recently.”

“I heard about that, sir. Maggie had a hard time accepting that we were finished. But she understands now.”

Justin frowned and said, “I don’t have any problem with you dating my daughter, Noah, but I also don’t want Justine catching flak from this other ex-girlfriend while you’re out on your date. I know she can defend herself but you’ll stay with her and bring her home safely?”

Noah nodded vigorously. “I’ll stick to her like glue, sir. Well, not
that
close. I won’t let anything happen to her, I promise.”

Justin smiled at Noah. He was a good kid, came from a decent family, and he knew from Jack Warner that he was a hard worker, since he and Beau had been helping out on one of Jack’s framing crews on the weekends. He held out his hand to shake and said, “Treat her right and we won’t have any problem.”

“Yes, sir.”

Charity caught his eye and raised her eyebrows expectantly at him and he said, “
Oh
, one more thing. Come to the door and ring the bell when you pick her up. If you pull up and just honk, you’ll have to deal with her”—he pointed at Charity—“and her shotgun. She has a pet peeve about boys who do that.”

Noah looked back at Charity, waved, and then turned back to Justin. “No problem, sir. I’d never do that.”

“Well, then, just remember she’s my princess and have fun. Just out of curiosity, what did she tell you about Val and Ransome?”

Noah said, “She said they’re like dads to her and that was how I needed to treat them. Their approval was just as necessary as yours.”

Justin chuckled and said, “Then I guess it’s a good thing you scored that touchdown last fall, huh?”

“Yes, sir. Me and Beau were planning to go check out the food booths and I wanted to invite Justine to come, too. That okay?”

“Sure.”

After he’d moved off with Beau and Justine, Charity came over and gently poked him in the chest. “Enjoy yourself?”

Finally able to laugh, Justin said, “That was fun. You looked like you were enjoying it from over there.”

“Val and Ransome must’ve suddenly developed the daddy radar because they both perked up when Noah approached you. That boy has done some growing lately. Seems like only yesterday he was a short, nerdy middle-schooler.”

“Looks more like a man and less like a boy,” he said, not certain he liked the idea of his daughter dating a guy who looked like he was already in college.

“I know, and getting…um…tall, too. Yup,” she said with a nod before turning to greet a customer.

He would’ve asked about the twinkle in her eyes, but a customer got his attention to ask questions of him about the horse sculpture.

* * * *

Headed to the food booths, Justine Connors walked between her brother Beau and his best friend, Noah Cassidy. Beau was talking with Noah about the trip they were planning after graduation. There was nothing unusual about the conversation, except that instead of being on their periphery as Beau’s kid sister, she was now planted between them. Every so often, Noah would casually touch her shoulder or her arm as he spoke, drawing her into the discussion. Nothing about his demeanor was brotherly and she found herself enjoying that.

She was still trying to process the fact that he’d run the gauntlet to be her date for the prom. Not many boys had been as successful as he’d been, and he’d had to face the
three
of them. The memory of the way Val and Ransome had joined that scene made her smile.

There was a lull in the conversation and she looked up at him and saw the questioning look on his face. “What? I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”

Beau chuckled and pointed at the booths surrounding them. “Barbeque, hot dogs, hamburgers, or tacos, sis. Which would you prefer?”

She looked at Noah and he shrugged, so she said, “Tacos.”

Noah pulled out his wallet and tried to hand Beau a couple of bills which he refused to take. While he went off to get them food from the booth, which Cassie Resendez and her son and daughter were currently manning, she and Noah found an empty picnic table to eat at. Her dad would’ve been impressed that Noah hadn’t asked her to contribute to the cost of lunch, not that Beau would’ve allowed it.

While she took a seat, Noah sat on the table top facing her at an angle and said, “So do you want the corsage and limo and all of that?”

“For prom?” she asked, knowing already that was what he meant. “No, that seems stereotypical. I’d prefer to keep it simple. And limos can be really expensive. You should save that money for your trip this summer.”

Noah nodded and shrugged. “Maggie always expected it. I wasn’t sure how you felt about it and didn’t want to make a mistake.”

“I wouldn’t consider it a mistake if you showed up in a stretch limousine. I’m just not…that girl.” And she really didn’t want to hear any more about Maggie. She was actually fighting the need to be everything Maggie
wasn’t
just to hammer the point home. Over their school years, Maggie had gone out of her way to be threatening to any girl who became friends with Noah.

Noah shook his head, “No, you certainly aren’t
that
girl.” The smile on his face told her that was a good thing. “Your dad was pretty cool.”

“I appreciate that you understood you’d need to ask him and you didn’t make me feel bad about it. I know some people don’t think it’s cool but I
like
that my dad is protective.”

“Your brother is pretty protective, too. So…Val and Ransome…” His unspoken question hung in the air.

Justine sat with her elbows on the table and her chin resting in her palms. Uncertain how much he understood about her family, especially her extended family, she decided the best thing to do was plunge ahead. She normally kept family business out of her conversations with friends, but she wanted him to understand. For all she knew, he’d already been informed by Beau.