4. Brock

Chapter four

Brock

I did indeed order extra sticky buns and put on the coffee with a second pot of cocoa. Percy did a fantastic job filling the order on short notice. That was one of the things I loved most about living in a small town like Foggy Basin. The other business owners were friends who would go out of their way for you with only a moment’s notice without worrying about ever being paid back. But I would try to do something nice for my baker friend.

The extra buns were needed, for sure. We weren’t open long before people streamed in. Starting with Jackie, but that shouldn’t have surprised me. He was my best friend and my backup for the store. “Hey, hey, hey!” he called as the bell on the door jingled softly.

“Isn’t that supposed to be ho, ho, ho?” Eddy rushed over and gave Jackie a big hug. I was incredibly happy and relieved that those two got along. In fact, they more than got along. They seemed to be working on a fantastic friendship. Then Eddy pulled out that old Polaroid and shoved it in his face. “Oh wait, you’re the reindeer!”

“What the hell?” Jackie snatched the picture out of Eddy’s hands and stared at it for only a second before he doubled over with laughter. “Oh. Gawd. Brock. Remember…” He took a deep breath and held the picture up. “Remember this…” And he was laughing again.

“Yes. I do. You goofball.”

Jackie slapped the picture on the counter and slowly, slowly calmed down. “This is too much. Where did you find this?”

“We pulled down boxes from Brock’s attic.”

“This is great. I’m going to share it on my blog.” Jackie whipped out his phone and snapped a picture of the picture. “Those were the days, right, Brock? We were so ridiculous back then.”

“Back then?” I glared at him but also handed him a cup of coffee, fixed how he liked it.

“Whatever. You’re not as quick to jump at my proposed shenanigans but I have a feeling I know how to goad you into doing whatever I want.” He raised an eyebrow and stared at Eddy, who stood there nodding with a big shit-eating grin plastered all over his face. I was in trouble.

“Whatever, you goof. Let’s get started on the decorating already.” This was going to be a mess, but if it made everyone happy, I could live with it. “Eddy, when’s your mom getting here?”

“They’re on their way. So soon. I hope.”

“Oh?” Jackie asked. “Is your brother coming with her?”

“No. He’s still coming later in the week. He has to work, but Al is going to drive her up.”

“Oh. Al? So…uh, they’ll be here? Later today?”

“Uh, yeah…why?”

“No reason. Just curious. Let me help with these lights.”

I watched Jackie with narrowed eyes. He was acting suspiciously. I didn’t know what he was up to or what that had to do with Eddy’s mom, but if he pranked her, that would be a problem. She was a sweet, loving woman, but she was getting up there in age too, and I did not want anything to happen with her. I’d have to keep an eye on my buddy.

Eddy and Jackie got to work on stringing lights, but the tiny tree we bought had them built in, so they worked on the shelves while I set it up on the front counter. Eddy had found tiny ornaments in one of our boxes at home, so he brought them for the tree. It took all of two minutes to decorate it.

“Yoo-hoo! Brock!” Evelyn jingled her way inside. She wore bells that out-rang the door. I hadn’t thought that possible, but she was something else. “Some others are coming in a few, but I wanted to get here early to see if you needed anything else.”

“I don’t think so. I brought some stuff from home and some we got at Nuts and Bolts, so…”

“Oh, I saw Paige yesterday. She’s also bringing some things.” Evelyn was entirely too excited. The last thing she needed was sticky buns and coffee, but we made our way to the back of the store where she’d get both.

“Here you go. Thanks for spreading the word, Evelyn.”

“Mmm…my pleasure. For sure.” She dug into the sticky bun and rolled her eyes with pleasure. “You need to put some holiday music on, Brock. It’s feeling festive here!”

“Oh, yeah. Eddy brought some. I’ll get it going.” I moved to my office, where the controls for the seldom used PA system were and plugged Eddy’s phone in to run the playlist he made.

It wasn’t long before Paige showed up with her wife Sharon in tow, a couple of guys from the police station with them. They had their treats and then worked on decking out all the shelves with garland.

Everyone was working happily or snacking on the buns when Reuben stopped in. “Brock, hello. Look what I have for you today.” He was the mailman in town for as long as I could remember. In fact, I recalled him and Pops standing at the counter—or rather leaning on it—and shooting the shit for hours when I was a kid. He handed me a card. It had a picture of Foggy Basin Main Street all lit up with holiday lights on the front of it. “Look. Your store is right there.” The back side said Happy Holidays from Foggy Basin .

“Well, that’s real nice. Thanks.”

“Your Pops would have loved it.”

Evelyn sidled up to him with a cup of coffee. “He would indeed.” They made an interesting pair, with Reuben’s flaming red hair and Evelyn’s light brown, turning to silver.

I left them chatting. Or rather gossiping. I heard a few mentions of Pops, but I was sure it would turn to current events soon enough. Evelyn giggled at something he said, but I moved on. They could go like that forever. I did miss Pops being with them in that gossip gaggle, though. I missed him in everything, but not as painfully as I used to.

It didn’t take long at all before the place looked like Christmas exploded all over it. Garland and lights were everywhere. The music was cheery, and people were laughing. It all warmed my heart. I wondered what Pops would think. He’d never done this, and I didn’t know exactly why. This was nice.

“Hello.” Eddy’s mom bebopped in with Alfred in tow. He worked for Eddy’s company as head of IT and security.

“Hi, Mom!” Eddy ran over and hugged her, long and tight. It was so easy to tell how much he missed her. Maybe we needed to talk about moving her to Foggy Basin, or at least Miller’s Point or Hartsville. They had hospitals and were a lot closer than Sacramento. She was happy at her assisted living center, but maybe to be closer to Eddy, she’d consider it. In fact, they should move their HQ to Foggy Basin so all of Eddy’s family could be here. That probably wasn’t going to happen, but I wanted it for Eddy. To make him happy, but also maybe to give me a little more assurance that my husband wasn’t going to leave me to go back home to the city.

But when he finished hugging his mom and saying hello to Alfred, he put his arm around my waist and squeezed. That was everything.

We got them coffee and the last few buns. “Alfred, how long are you staying?” Eddy asked him.

“I’m not. Leaving soon. Gotta get back.” He held up his coffee. “As usual, this is the best.” Then he pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the coffee and half-eaten sticky bun. He tended to post things on Instagram a lot. I didn’t care. It had helped drive heavier tourist traffic through here. People often stopped in on their way to the lake to fish or just pass through on the way back to the city. But it has increased since last spring when Alfred attended our wedding and posted everything on social media.

Jackie walked back from the store front. “Hello. I was working on the window. Good to see you.”

“Oh, and you.” Eddy’s mom got up and hugged Jackie. She’d taken a liking to him as if she could sense he needed a mother figure.

Alfred hummed and then slipped off to the bathroom without saying anything.

Jackie stared after him. Hmm…maybe I had misunderstood his earlier reaction. He wasn’t pranking anyone—he was anxious about Alfred. I’d have to keep my eye on that. And for the next hour, I did. They danced around each other until finally Alfred found Eddy and said his goodbyes. Jackie watched him leave with a puppy-dog pout but didn’t say a damn thing to the man.

I bumped into Jackie’s shoulders. “What’s up with that?”

“Up with what?”

I made the puppy face at him and pointed the way Alfred had gone. “That.”

He punched my arm. “Shut the fuck up.”

Oh, there was definitely something going on with them. “Really? Alfred?”

Jackie’s cheeks turned pink. “Really. Stop. Okay, he’s nerdy cute. And do not say anything to Eddy. I mean it.”

“How do I not keep something from him? He’s my husband.” I suspected there was more here than Jackie crushing on Alfred. “Why would he care if you liked the man?” Jackie looked off to the right—his tell that he was lying or hiding something. “Wait. Did you sleep with him?”

He jumped at me, covered my mouth with his hand, and mad whispered at me. “I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone. Come on. He doesn’t want to get in trouble with Eddy.”

I peeled Jackie’s fingers off. “Why would that get him in trouble? You’re grown men. And it’s not like you work for the company.”

“I don’t know.” He held up his hands, clearly exasperated.

“You want a repeat, huh?”

Jackie sighed. “Doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t even look at me.”

“Oh, he looked.” Jackie’s eyes flew open wide. “You should go after him. Hurry before he really goes.” I was betting he was sitting in his car, waiting and maybe struggling with indecision.

Jackie took off like a bat out of hell. Eddy came up behind me. “Where’s he off to in such a hurry.”

I grabbed Eddy’s face and popped a kiss on his mouth. “I’ll tell you later.”

Not long after that, everyone cleared out, and we took his mother back to our place. Eddy broke out the cocoa and we settled in front of the tree after he hung the four stockings he’d swiped from the stuff Paige had brought over. I had to admit it was nice. It had been a long, crazy day, but the ear-to-ear smile on Eddy’s face was worth every bit of it.