Once (Gypsy Fairy Tale) (4 page)

I rubbed my hands over my face and through my hair.

“Oh, I don’t know," I said. "I guess I just didn’t sleep well.”

Alec nodded as if he understood. “It must be hard; you’d probably miss your grandmother a lot.  I always missed my dad more at night too. It took a long time before that got better.”

I flinched, instantly feeling guilty that it wasn’t a nightmare that ruined my night, that maybe I should be missing her even more.

“Something like that,” I whispered.

He went over to the counter where I stood, reaching out and placing his hands flat down on its surface, very near mine.

“Well,” he said trying to meet my eyes. “I meant it, if you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

I pulled my hands back, “Thanks.”

It was awkward, I felt like I should say more, but I wasn’t sure what. I glanced up at the clock and saw that it was almost midday.

“Do you think you could watch things here for a while?” I asked, pulling off my apron and hanging it on the post behind the counter.

He seemed a little surprised that I didn’t immediately confess all of my misery to him.

“Sure,” he mumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I think I’ll just go grab a sandwich,” I said, not sure why I was explaining anything to him. “Maybe the fresh air will get me out of this fog.”

That seemed to soothe his ego to some degree because he smiled and waved his hand at the door. “Go ahead, I got this.”

“Do you want anything?” I offered, “I could bring you something back.”

“Nope, I’m good.”

I stepped out into the heat of the noon day sun and onto the sidewalk, crossing Chestnut and walking down Capitol Avenue. It was a peaceful walk; I only passed a few elderly tourists coming in and out of the shops.

The diner sat on the corner looking busy and crowded even from the sidewalk. I walked in, straight up to the counter, and began reading the menu. I could hear the people in the booths and at the tables carrying on typical lunchtime conversations, but every once in a while I’d overhear something about the new visitors in town.

“Did you see all the campers at fairgrounds? There sure are a lot of them.”

“Forget about campers, did you see some of those men?”

“They’re definitely easy on the eyes.”

“What about the girls? Have you ever seen girls dressed like that?”

“Yes, but it was years ago.”

“Really? When?”

“It was back when I was a kid and the Irish travellers came to town.”

“Irish travellers?”

“You know, the gypsies.”

“Do you think that’s what these are?”

The door opened with a clang of the bell at the top and the diner fell quiet. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that it was Kieran walking in.

I quickly covered my face with the menu, ducking down as far as possible. I didn’t want to see him! I had no idea what to say after he rescued me from my own stupidity only last night.

It was dead silent in the room as Kieran walked up to the counter and ordered a simple roast beef sandwich in that enchanting accent of his.

I peeked over the top of the menu. He was very near, close enough I could see the faint shadows under his green eyes. I cowered back down before he noticed me.

I waited until he got his food and left before I lowered my menu and the diner burst back into loud conversation.

“They are a handsome breed of people.”

“They are, but there is just something odd about always going from place to place was no permanent home.”

I did my best to ignore all of the talk. I didn’t want to think about Kieran or the others. I ordered my own simple sandwich and got out of there as quickly as possible.

Once outside, I stopped on the sidewalk and pulled my sunglasses down from the top of my head.

“So why were you hiding from me?”

I turned in there was Kieran, looking at me with an amused smirk on his face.

I blushed and turned away, “I wasn’t.”

“Really?” He laughed, following me as I tried to walk away. “I didn’t know that menus were the latest fashion.”

I wished the sidewalk would open up and swallow me whole. I could feel his eyes on me, making me very aware of how I walked, how I carried my bag of food, and how I bit my lip when I was nervous.

“What happened here then?” He asked, pointing to the knot on my head. “I didn’t do that, did I?”

“No,” I mumbled. “I fell out of bed.”

He turned and walked backwards so that he could face me.

“You are an absolute hazard to yourself,” he said with a chuckle.

I narrowed my eyes, almost blurting out that it was sort of was his fault and the fault of all the others in my dream, but there was no time. We were back at the feed store.

Kieran performed an elaborate bow, "Well then, you have a good day and take care of yourself.”

I turned to go inside, but he called to me again.

“Oh, and Miss Harmony,” he said. “Be careful when you go to bed.”

I was too shocked to say anything. All I could do was watch him cross the street whistling an oddly familiar tune. Once he reached the other side, he turned, bowed again and smiled impishly before turning and walking into the fairgrounds camp.

Chapter 5

The next day, I tried to keep myself busy with the mundane tasks of running the feed store. It was easy enough to fill of my time with orders and customer calls, but despite all of that my mind kept drifting back to Kieran.

Why did he keep turning up everywhere? What was it about him that made it so difficult to think? Was he really flirting with me or was it all just in my head?

Why was I doing this to myself? What did it matter how good looking and charming he was, when he would be gone in just a few weeks?

It seemed as though I was watching for him each time the door opened. It got so ridiculous I turned the store over to Alec and resigned myself to the back room. At least back there I could try to focus on something other than Kieran.

I could hear Alec out front talking to customers, always cheerful and helpful. How did he do it? No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get that excited about oats and corn.

It was easy to see that I was lucky to have someone like Alec working here, especially with the mess my grandmother left behind. I was sick to see that nothing was organized, the storeroom and barn out back were a mess, and there were stacks of bills to be paid.

I took a deep breath and sighed. How was I going to cope with all of this? Where was I supposed to even start? It was clear that I had no idea what I was doing.

I slid down to the floor, right next to the ten chicken feeders that I would never sell, covered my face and tried not to cry.

I can’t do this... It’s just too much...I’m just a kid...I just got out of high school...I should be starting college...Not dealing with all of this....

My heart was pounding in my head was starting to ache. I had to somehow make all of this work. I couldn’t just toss away everything my grandmother worked so hard for. If I screwed up and lost all of this, it would be like losing her all over again. I just had to figure it all out.

To make matters worse, the voices of the customers out front drifted back to me, and of course, they were talking about the camp at the fairgrounds.

“Did you see all the campers they have set up now?”

“And all of those children! All of them running around like holy terrors!”

“What do you expect? They breed like rabbits.”

“Other than the noise over there, they have been a nice change of pace.”

“I have to say, I saw a group of the women at the grocery and they were just as nice and friendly as they could be.”

“Well if I was you, I would keep my guard up and watch out for the roofing and driveway sealing scams to start any day now.”

Alec tried to keep the peace, “Now you don’t really think that, they haven’t done anything to hurt or bother anyone.”

“Really?” I heard one elderly man bark, “You’re too young to remember how it used to be when that trash would come through town with their trashy women and fighting amongst themselves. They would camp in the fields, rob us blind, and then leave their rubbish for us to clean up.”

That stirred everyone up, and again it was Alec they came to the rescue.

“Grandpa,” he said patiently. “I told you not to come in here talking like that.”

It grew quiet out front and a short while later Alec was knocking at the storeroom door.

“Harmony?”

I stood up and dried my eyes, “Yes?”

He opened the door and just wide enough to peek his head in, “I’m sorry, but I need to get my grandpa back home. Is there any way that I can go ahead and take my lunch now?”

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost noon,” he said with a glance over his shoulder.

“Sure,” I mumbled, twisting my hair up and poking a pencil in the tangled mess to hold it. “Go on. I’m going to lock up and go get a bite myself.”

“I can wait.”

“No,” I said as I gathered up all of the bills and papers. “I’ll just leave the key in the mailbox in case you beat me back here.”

He hesitated, “You sure? I wouldn’t ask, but –“

“Go on,” I ordered.

Alec nodded and went to leave, but turned back one last time.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

I looked away, afraid I would start crying if I tried to explain.

“I’m fine,” I lied. “I’ll see you after lunch.”

He left and I was able to step out of the back room and breathe in the silence of the empty store. It was peaceful enough that I could see myself actually being able to do all this. It wasn’t a strong feeling, but it was there.

This won’t be so bad... I can do this...

I reached under the counter and grabbed a dusty green accounts ledger and scooped the bills out of the wire basket. I stacked the papers I had already collected, and gathered it all up to take to the diner. Maybe I could make some sort of sense out of it all while I ate my lunch.

As I stepped outside and locked the door, the muggy heat of the day smacked me in the face. I looked up at the cloudless sky and smiled. If this weather held much longer, the area would be in the middle of a full-blown drought. As horrible as that would be, I couldn’t help but think that it would be good for business.

That would at least pay a few bills...

I pushed the thought from my mind. I wasn’t desperate enough to start praying that there would be no rain and that the grass in all the pastures would brown and die in the sun. I wasn’t that desperate...yet.

I felt like I was dying, or at least melting, as I walked down to the diner. I could feel the steamy heat radiating up from the sidewalk. It was a relief to step into the icy air conditioning of the diner.

Slipping into the first available booth, I plopped down my stack of papers and immediately began trying to organize the bills and receipts into some type of order so that I at least knew how much money I had available.

It was a mess. There were checks for large orders that were a month old and never deposited, bills that were past due, and deliveries that were never paid for.

What am I supposed to do with all of this?

“Hey Harmony, what can I get for you?” The waitress asked when she came up to my table.

I vaguely recognized her as the girl that got pregnant our sophomore year of high school, but I could never remember her name. “I’ll have a, um... How about a sweet tea and a cheeseburger with fries?”

“Okay.”

“Make that two,” a male voice behind me said.

I looked around the edge of the booth and there was Kieran, looking very sexy in his jeans and tee-shirt.

He smiled, his teeth a glaring contrast against his tanned skin. “May I sit down?”

I could feel myself starting to blush, “Sure.”

The waitress raised her eyebrows and walked off. It was clear from her reaction that I would be the subject of her afternoon conversations with Mrs. Jennings the owner of the diner.

Kieran slid into the booth and rested his arms on the table, “So, what is it that you’re doing?”

Stacking everything back in a neat little pile, I pushed it aside. “I was going over the bills and stuff for the store.”

“So, is this normally where you do your accounting duties?”

I could feel him watching me, studying my every move, I didn’t dare look up. If I was to meet his eyes, I knew that I would turn into a stuttering idiot and just embarrass myself.

“No,” I replied. “I couldn’t really concentrate at the store with everyone talking about you all.”

Oh my God! Why did I just say that?

When I glanced up at him though, he didn’t seem offended. If anything, he seemed slightly amused.

“Ah, so they talk now, do they?” He asked in that enchanting accent.