Page 22 of A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love

Until the Store Closes

Pepper

Nerves shook my body as I drove toward the haunted house to drop off the pallets Christina had asked for.

The feeling was completely ridiculous. I was doing her a favor.

Her little heart emoji in her text was because she was grateful, nothing more, and trying to assign some kind of deeper meaning didn’t make it true.

I was being ridiculous. Even though there was zero doubt in my mind that I was crushing hard on her, it would’ve been completely irresponsible to try and do anything about it.

First—and actually most important—I didn’t even know if she felt the same, despite that moment we had in the back of The Dead of Night.

And second, I really had no idea how to pursue her even if I wanted to.

Dewy had once told me it was called being a late bloomer—but I still felt like a dandelion in a garden full of roses.

I’d only ever dated men—a casual make-out session at a party didn’t count—so this was all completely new territory.

My insides were all twisted up like a pretzel, and this thought, this feeling, made me burst out laughing.

This wasn’t a problem. Pretzels were delicious.

I loved one with a little bit of crunchy salt and some mustard.

I was being silly. Whatever was meant to be would happen.

Sure, free will existed, but there was something called fate—which was how I ended up at The Dead of Night.

Yes, some things you could control, but people weren’t one of those things.

As much as I liked Christina, I couldn’t make her like me back.

I just had to go with the flow and enjoy the butterflies dancing in my belly.

I pulled up to the front of the haunted house, and Christina walked out in black jeans and a black T-shirt, her blonde hair hanging loosely around her face, and I threw the car into park.

A beat passed—Christina looking at me, me looking at Christina. My heart pounding harder than a double bass drum.

“I hope this wasn’t too much trouble,” she said just before biting her lip—the signature red lipstick of hers made her already white teeth seem even brighter.

I cleared my throat. “No trouble at all. It’s not really my day to be on shift anyway.” It wasn’t technically a lie since I was never technically supposed to be on shift.

“I had good timing, then, I guess.” She brushed her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“Seems that way.” I opened the back of the hearse. “Where do you want these?”

Christina spun around and spread her arms out. “Anywhere here is fine.”

“Perfect.” I grabbed the first pallet and yanked.

“Let me help you.” Christina stepped forward, hands outstretched.

“Oh yeah. Sure.” Oh yeah. Sure. I wanted to kick myself. It had been forever since I’d felt so awkward around anyone. Why was it when you liked someone, it turned your brain into mashed potatoes?

“I’m sorry I was a little freaked out last time I saw you at the store,” she said, and there were those cheeks bright as the sweetest cherry. “If I made you uncomfortable—”

“Me? Uncomfortable? No. Not at all.”

“So you didn’t think I was weird about being afraid of the rain?”

I shook my head. Christina, “weird”? There were a million words I could use to describe her—smart, beautiful, determined, driven—but “weird” would never be one of them. “No,” I replied to her.

“Okay.” She smiled. “You were just so cool and calm, I wasn’t sure.”

Me “cool and calm”? I wanted to laugh, but instead I slid the pallet forward, and she grabbed the other side. “Things seem to be coming along.” I had no idea what else to say, and I especially didn’t want to talk about me and how nervous I was just standing this close to her.

Christina nodded. “The kids really know what they’re doing.

Seriously, I’m not sure any of this would be done without them.

They have it down to a science; I’m not even sure they need me here at all.

” She laughed but it wasn’t the funny kind—it was a little sad, a little self-deprecating, and she didn’t need to do that to herself.

“They’re lucky to have you,” I said as we hoisted the second pallet out of the car and laid it on top of the first one right outside the house’s front door.

“This is all a lot of work, and having someone they trust and depend on is really important. Don’t sell yourself short.

” I think you’re incredible is also what I wanted to say, but I kept that to myself.

“I guess. Sometimes I wonder if I’m cut out for all of this.”

We grabbed another pallet and put it with the others.

“My family is a bunch of overachievers,” she continued, “and sometimes I get the feeling this isn’t good enough for them. That I’m just the odd one out.”

“What about you?”

“What?”

“Is it good enough for you?” So many people looked at teaching like it was this easy job, but it wasn’t.

It was challenging and rewarding and frustrating and satisfying all wrapped into one—usually all happening on the same day.

Christina seemed like someone who wasn’t afraid of a challenge.

She took on this job, built furniture, and jumped into this event with both feet.

But today she seemed unsure. I hated that anyone made her feel less than what she was.

“I’m enjoying it more than I expected—not that I didn’t think I would enjoy it—but I’m not sure it’s something I’m passionate about, and I think that’s really what the kids need, you know?”

“That’s true.” I’d had too many professors over the years who probably should’ve retired instead of trying to teach teachers how to teach when you could see they didn’t have the heart for it anymore.

But if Christina didn’t think she could do this, that could mean she would leave, and I, for one, didn’t want that to happen.

“My older sister got her law degree, and now she’s a stay-at-home mom, but she’s given my parents grandchildren, so…

” She let out a long sigh. “And my little sister, she’s designing this app that’s going to revolutionize the way people connect with one another. It’s hard to compare to those things.”

“Right. You’re just changing kids’ lives is all.

No big deal.” I cringed at the sarcasm in my own tone.

But teaching was hard, and more people needed to respect that.

If there weren’t teachers, there wouldn’t be lawyers or people who could create apps.

They all had to learn from someone. Teachers were the heart and soul of communities—and I didn’t feel that way just because I was one.

Plus, Christina needed to see how important she was in the grand scheme of things.

She stopped, her gaze shifting to the side. I wished I could look inside her head, see what she had going on in there. “You really think so?”

“I do. Teaching feels hard and thankless, but when you see your students grow and succeed, it makes it all worth it.” She would see. This would all be worth it.

She raised her brows at me. “Have you been a teacher before?”

Damn it. She’d done it again—broken down my barriers and gotten me talking without thinking.

There were too many things I couldn’t explain, and I didn’t want to have to try—especially when she was just starting to open up.

“Ouch.” I yanked my hand away from the pallet and shoved my finger in my mouth.

“Splinter,” I told her, but I was completely unharmed.

“We should probably be wearing gloves, huh?”

“That would’ve been smart.” I slid the next one out of the back of the hearse, and Christina came to assist. “It seems like this Halloween thing might be rubbing off on you a little if you are watching videos about it,” I said, mostly to change the subject again.

“Unlike some people, I don’t particularly like to be scared.” There went those brows again, like she was scrutinizing me.

We placed the next pallet with the others, and I spread my arms out, gesturing to everything around us. “It’s not real, though. Dead people aren’t really coming out of the ground.”

“I suppose.” She tipped her head back and forth. “?‘Do the thing you think you cannot,’?” she said. “Sorry, Eleanor Roosevelt said that. Never mind.”

I wasn’t sure where she was going with that, nor did I know much about Eleanor Roosevelt, and since all the pallets were out of the car, I closed the back of the hearse.

“Thanks again for bringing these over,” she said, her cheeks rosy again.

“It’s like I said, I got you. It was no trouble at all.” I stood there staring at her. She shuffled her feet from side to side. “I don’t want to keep you.”

“Oh. Yeah. Same.” She looked a little surprised. And I immediately realized my mistake. I should’ve been thinking of a reason to stay, not leave, but it was too late.

“I’ll see you around,” I said, but what I really wanted to do was punch myself.

“I’ll text you if I need anything else, then,” she said. “Or you could text me.”

“Yeah, totally,” I said as I got in the car and drove away. Well, that was a disaster. If only there was a book on how to talk to hot girls. I really could’ve used one.