Page 4 of What August Heard
“Cliff.” I shook my head.
“I’ve lived long enough to know your type,” Cliff said. “You get sad. Of course you do. But it takes a lot to knock someone like you all the way down.”
I looked at Fletcher. He was smiling.
Not a big smile. Fletcher didn’t do big smiles. It was small, tucked away, like something he hadn’t completely decided to let out yet. It didn’t go all the way to his eyes. It never did. But it still hit like a mug to the face on a cold morning.
I smiled back.
I could feel my face getting warm again.
Stop it,I told myself.Stop it right now.
“I was passing by,” Fletcher said, looking away from me and back at the market. “Had some work at the bank nearby, thought I’d drop in and grab some coffee. Say hi.”
Cliff looked up from his honey bottles. “Which bank?”
Fletcher blinked. “Sorry?”
“Which bank.” Cliff gestured around. “There’s no bank near this market. I walked the whole block before I set up this morning. No banks.”
Fletcher opened his mouth and closed it.
His ears went slightly pink.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Cliff said, looking like he just won an argument.
Fletcher straightened. “I also wanted to buy some flowers,” he said. “For the house.”
I pressed my lips together.
Every week it was something different. The bank, the coffee, the dry cleaner that also did not exist within walking distance. And every week he stood in front of my table and looked at one bouquet and then bought all of them.
He did exactly that.
He looked at the dahlias for about four seconds and then he bought everything. The dahlias, the sunflowers, the peonies, the loose stems, the last two mixed bouquets that I’d honestly thought I was taking home. He paid without blinking. Then he moved to Cliff’s booth.
“I’ve been meaning to buy some local honey,” he said. “Allergy season’s coming soon, in the fall. Local honey’s supposed to help.”
Cliff looked at the twelve bottles Fletcher was picking up from his booth. “That much honey?”
“For my family. And some friends.”
Cliff looked at me. I looked at Cliff. Cliff looked back at Fletcher. “Whatever your reason for buying all my honey is,” he said, “thank you for your business, young man.”
Fletcher smiled again.
I was not going to think about his smile. I had made a decision.
I was absolutely thinking about his smile. It was the best one I’d ever seen on a face and I had seen many faces.
A dog appeared from somewhere to my left. Small, brown, very excited about existing. I saw it and my brain turned off completely.
“Oh my god, look at you,” I said, crouching down. “You are the cutest thing I have ever—”
The dog launched itself at what was left of my peony display.
Flowers went everywhere. I grabbed for the bucket and missed. Petals hit the ground in every direction like the world’s saddest parade.
