Page 21 of Rise After Fall

“Oh, whatever. I won twenty bucks.”

“Good. You’ll need it to buy medicine to treat your flu,” Zoey tells her.

Two boys about Tucker’s age walk past, and their eyes are trained on Zoey and Joanna, who give them a little wave.

They turn bright red and scurry off.

“Mean,” I mumble.

“So, Tuttle, what do you have to offer?” Zoey asks as she checks out the table of goodies.

“Full-sized candy bars. One with nuts and one without. And organic hemp lip balm from Weston’s farm store. In cherry, coconut, or bubblegum flavor.”

“Hmm … what if we can’t decide?” she asks.

“I can choose for you.”

“Or you could look the other way so we could take one of each,” Joanna suggests.

“Candy or lip balm?” I ask.

“Both, duh,” Zoey says.

“You two are hustling every single station manned by a guy out here, aren’t you?” I accuse.

Zoey shrugs. “If asking nicely is considered hustling.”

I lean over the table and whisper, “It is when you look like that.”

She blushes, and it’s the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen.

Joanna clears her throat. “If you two are done, a line is forming behind us.”

I look over her shoulder to see a line of children has indeed gathered.

“Okay, you two take what you want quickly and don’t let the kids see it,” I say.

They load the goods into their bags. Blow me a kiss and head off into the night.

“Who’s next?” I call to the young’uns.

After Weston and Anna return with a sleeping duckling, I help them pack up the truck.

Weston takes his girls home, and I seek out Mom and Leona and hang out at their fried pie stand for the remainder of the evening.

When I make it back to Misty Mountain, I see the light is still on in Zoey’s cabana, so I grab one of the canisters from the passenger seat of my truck and knock on her door.

I hear the lock disengage, and she peeks out at me.

“Morris? What’s up?”

“I have something for you.” I hold it up. “Here you go.”

She pulls the door open a little wider and gives me a quizzical look.

“It’s a fire extinguisher,” she says.

“Wow, nothing gets past you,” I tease.