by Holly Jacobs
Aunt Betty had already left for the day and the house was quiet. It should have made work whiz along. Instead, the silence seemed oppressive. Liam finally put a CD on.
When Anna brought Colm back, he felt a sense of relief. He wasn’t sure why he’d been anxious. He knew Anna would look out for Colm. As he listened to his brother’s account of the outing, Liam finally relaxed.
“…and then we picked up Josh. Anna, she was drivin’ the van, ’cause he’s in a wheelchair. His hands don’t work so good neither, so he can’t shake like Gilly, but he fist-bumps like this.”
Colm bumped Liam’s hand.
“I liked ’em,” Colm said with a huge, happy sigh.
“I’m glad.” As Colm had given his rundown of the day’s events, what stood out the most for Liam was that Colm had been lonely. How could he not have known that? Everyone needed people in their lives. And as he had the thought, he realized that so much of his life was wrapped up in work and Colm that he hadn’t cultivated many real friendships either. He had neighbors, colleagues and now Ben, a coworker. He had Aunt Betty and Anna, though he suspected there was a growing distance between himself and Anna. He glanced at her. Her hair was in a ponytail and she had on a baseball cap. She was smiling as she listened to Colm.
“Yeah, I got friends now,” his brother said. “They don’t call me names or nothin’. And Anna, she knows like everything about the zoo. She’s gonna take me to talk to a guy about a job. My friend Gilly, he has a job and he told me all about it.”
“Why don’t you get cleaned up for dinner, bud?” Liam said.
“That’s a good idea, ’cause I touched lots of stuff and my hands smell funny.” He thrust a hand toward Liam’s nose. “Wanna smell?”
Liam took a step back. “No, that’s okay. You go wash. I want to talk to Anna a minute.”
Colm disappeared noisily up the stairs.
They both watched Colm’s retreat, then Anna turned to Liam and asked, “So, what did I do now?”
“Nothing. I didn’t get rid of him to have another fight. This is about what I’m going to do…” And he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “There. I feel better now.”
She laughed the way she might have before Colm rode the bus, but Liam thought he detected a difference in the sound. It was more restrained. Still, she snuggled close and said, “Me, too.”
“I don’t like fighting with you.”
“Me, neither. And to avoid any possible miscommunication, I’m taking Colm for that interview on Monday next week.”
Liam reminded himself that it was what was best for Colm. And he wanted what was best for his brother, so this was a good thing. “Okay.”
“Okay? That’s it?” She looked up at him and smiled.
“I didn’t say yes to the job, only to the interview,” he reminded her.
Her happy expression faded and Liam felt bad. “But you and I both know that if he gets it, I’ll agree. No matter what you think, I do want what’s best for him.”
She buried her head into his chest. “I know that, Liam.”
He wished he could see her expression, so he broke off the hug. “Tell me how it would work.”
“When a client gets a job, we stay with them. We’d probably start off slow. Only mornings or afternoons. Just a few hours a day. I’d be right there next to him until he felt comfortable.”
“What would he do?”
“He’d probably start with small things. Mopping. Bringing in carts. Packing shopping bags. Zac Keller, who runs the grocery store, is a nice guy. He’s been involved in other community initiatives, and he’s willing to find what the best situation is for Colm. When Colm gets a check, I’d probably take him to the bank and open an account for him. That would lead to lessons in economics, on saving—”
Liam nodded. “I’ve noticed that. Everything leads to a lesson, that leads to another lesson.”
“Tailoring our teaching to our clients’ needs, that’s what we’re about.”
“I’m not a client, but I wondered if you’d consider giving me a lesson. There’s one I’d like to try—”
Colm came barreling down the stairs. “Okay, guys, I’m all cleaned. Yep, I cleaned the mess great. Wanna play some Go Fish?”
Anna looked at Liam, he nodded and was rewarded by a smile. It wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind, but he was spending time with Anna. That was all that mattered.
ANNA WAS MORE NERVOUS than Colm on Monday at the interview. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it, but wasn’t sure she was really successful, or if it was only wishful thinking. She really wanted this to be a good fit for Colm.
“Hi,” she said to a beautiful young blonde at the customer service desk. “My name’s Anna Chapel and this is—”
“Hi, I’m Colm.” He thrust out his hand, and the girl smiled and shook it. “My friend Gilly, he said you should shake hands.”
The girl smiled and shook his hand. “I’m Ariel. And Mr. Keller said to show you to his office when you arrived.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go meet him and get a job here,” Colm said as Ariel led them toward the back of the market. Anna followed behind them. “I’m gonna be very good. Maybe you could get a job here, too.”
“I already work here, Colm,” Ariel told him. “Mr. Keller gave me a job last year when I was going to have a baby. I’m in college now, and I still work here.”
“You gotta baby?” Colm asked.
“Yes, a little girl. Her name is Nora. Sometimes she comes to work with me. I’m sure you’ll meet her.”
“Oh, I like babies, but I promise, I’ll be careful. There was a lady once and she had this baby in a stroller and I went “Hiya, baby” and was goin’ to pat its head, but the lady she screamed and said to be careful, but I was bein’ careful. Liam said I can’t touch no babies like that, so I won’t, but I’d sure like to meet Nora.”
Ariel glanced over at Anna and she could see the girl was moved.
“Colm, we’ve only just met, but I can tell right away that you’d be very careful with my baby. When you meet her, you can hold her if you like.”
“Really? You’d let me hold her?”
Ariel nodded. “Really. And Mr. Keller, he has a baby, too. Johnny’s about Nora’s age.”
“Man, I really like babies.”
“And I bet they love you, Colm.” Ariel stopped in front of a door at the very back corner of the store. “This is it. Good luck. And you come find me if you need anything, Colm.”
She strode toward the front of the store and Colm looked at Anna. “Hey, Anna, I think I got another friend. Ariel said I could hold her baby. I promise I’ll be real careful, and I won’t touch no babies unless their moms say so.”
“I’m pretty sure you do have another friend, Colm. Now, are you ready?”
“Sure.”
Anna was going to knock, but Colm beat her to it.
A voice called, “Come in,” and without any hesitation, Colm walked into the office. “Hi, I’m Colm. And I wanna work here. I’m friends with Ariel already, and she said I could hold her baby. I like babies, but if I work here, I won’t touch none unless moms say I can, ’cause moms they worry a lot.”
Zac Keller was an average-looking guy. Brown hair, maybe four or five inches taller than she was. But he grinned as Colm’s speech wound down, and went from average to absolutely gorgeous that quick. “Well, it seems you’ve been busy.”
Colm nodded. “Yeah, I’m very busy. I know I’m different, but Anna says that’s special. I can learn all kinds of stuff and I can work really hard.”
“Why don’t you both sit down,” Zac offered.
Colm ran to a vacant chair and sat down, Anna took the other chair more slowly.
“I hear you got a baby, too,” Colm said. “I bet he’s really cute. We don’t got no babies at my house. There’s me and my brother Liam. He works, and we’re twins, so I should work, too ’cause I wanna be like Liam.
And I really wanna work here with Ariel and meet her baby.”
“Well, that about says it all, Colm. Let me tell you a bit about what you’ll be doing. At first, you can come in during the mornings and learn the ropes.”
“You guys got ropes?” Colm asked.
“No. It means learn how we do things. We’ll start you out with getting carts from the parking lot and bringing them in. Maybe sweeping some floors and wiping up spills when we have them.”
“Oh, I’m really good at spills. Anna, she says, if you make a mess, clean it up, so I’m your cleanin’ man.”
Zac smiled. “It sounds like you’re going to work out fine. We can have you start tomorrow. If that works for you.”
Anna had known from her earlier conversation with Zac that Colm probably would be successful in getting the job, but still she felt a rush of excitement. “He’s got the job?”
“He’s got the job. I have a feeling Colm is going to be a very good addition to the Keller’s Market family.”
“I’m gonna work tomorrow?” Colm asked.
Zac nodded. “Yes. How about I call Ariel and she can give you a quick tour of the store?”
“Oh, yeah, she’ll help me. She said she would. She’s my friend. I didn’t have any friends before, just Liam and Aunt Betty, but now I got all kinds of friends.”
Colm chattered excitedly until Ariel came to get him.
As they left, Anna turned to Zac. “I can’t thank you enough for giving Colm a chance.”
“Anna, it’s my pleasure. Keller’s Market has always been a family store. And in my family, that means giving everyone a chance. I think Colm’s going to be a real asset. He’s certainly got an outgoing personality. Our customers are going to love him.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re right. He’s special.”
They talked about the details. Anna explained how her support would work. They laid out specific goals for Colm.
At the end of their meeting, Anna stood. “Thanks so much, Zac. Colm and I will see you tomorrow.”
Out in the store, Anna found Colm wearing a Keller’s Market shirt. “Look, Anna, I got a shirt. A special one that says I work here. Ariel showed me everything. And I got a lot of new friends.”
Ariel smiled. “I’ll see you soon, Colm.”
Colm ran over and hugged the girl. There was no hesitancy in Ariel as she hugged him back.
“See you soon, Ariel.” He took Anna’s hand. “Come on, Anna. Let’s go find Liam and tell him I got a job, too. And a shirt. His job don’t have no cool shirts like this. Do you think he’ll feel sad? Maybe we could buy him a cool shirt?”
There was a K-Mart just down the street and Anna grinned. “That’s a lovely idea.”
LIAM WAS on the porch wearing a brand new neon-blue T-shirt and listening to Colm. “…and I got you blue ’cause you don’t got no cool work shirt and I didn’t want you to feel bad, so look, it almost matches.”
He held his shirt next to the sleeve of Liam’s. A sedate royal blue next to an eye-blinding one. “Yes, they’re both blue.”
“Okay, well, I gotta go find Aunt Betty and tell her. She’s gonna be so happy, ain’t she?”
Colm didn’t wait for an answer. He flew into the house hollering “Aunt Betty,” at the top of his lungs.
“You’re really okay?” Anna asked.
“How could I be anything but okay when I can see how happy he is?”
Liam ignored the worry-induced acid in the pit of his stomach. He was happy for Colm, but he was also worried. There were so many things that could go wrong. So many ways he could be hurt. Liam was positive that Anna would look out for him, but eventually Anna was going to leave and Colm would be on his own.
Liam didn’t want to think about that.
“Do you want to celebrate tonight? How about Mexican and a movie?” Anna offered.
“Sure, I’m in. And I can’t imagine Colm will complain.”
No, he was pretty sure that Colm wouldn’t complain about anything. His brother was happy.
Liam was going to focus on that.
CHAPTER NINE
THE FIRST WEEK at Keller’s Market was a busy one. And it wasn’t long before Anna had that bone-deep sense of contentment, a certainty, that this was going to be a good match, both for Colm and for Keller’s Market. Colm’s unflagging good nature seemed to appeal to the customers. “Hi,” he’d call and wave as he gathered carts in the parking lot.
Anna found it hard to believe it was Friday and Colm was almost done.
They were working in the lot, talking about traffic safety. “Okay, here’s an important lesson in the grocery business—the customer is always right. Even when they’re not.”
Colm stopped. “Huh?”
Anna gave a nod and he started pushing carts again. “If a customer makes a mistake—like not putting their cart away—we don’t yell at them because they might get upset and not shop here again. That would hurt Mr. Keller. And if someone’s being mean, we can’t say, ‘Hey, you’re being mean,’ we can simply try to help them. Everything we do is supposed to make the customer feel good about shopping here. We smile, we say hi—like you’re doing—and we help the customers whenever we can. If you see someone having trouble loading their groceries in their car, you can offer to help. Or—”
“Or if they leave their cart in the wrong place, I just smile and get it myself.” He nodded as if to say this new rule made things clearer, then he pushed his three carts onto the long line of carts he’d already collected.
“That’s right,” Anna said. “The customer is always right.”
“Okay.” He turned and scanned the lot for more carts, then pointed. “See that lady over there? She’s kinda old, and might need some help.”
“Well, we never, ever tell a lady she’s old—she might not like that. But you can go offer to help. That would be nice.”
“And it would make her like Mr. Keller’s store. Okay.” He took off across the lot toward the lady in question.
“Look both ways,” Anna called.
Colm shot her a look that said of course he knew that. With exaggerated caution he looked both ways, then walked up to the older woman and with great care put the bags in her trunk for her. They exchanged some words, Colm took her empty cart and brought it over to Anna.
“That was great, Colm. You definitely did a good job. You’ve really learned a lot this week.”
“What’s your job, Anna?”
“My job is helping you until you feel comfortable doing stuff on your own.” And as she said the words, Anna realized that Colm wouldn’t need her much longer. In the last few months he’d come so far. Faster than almost all her other clients. It was as if he’d simply been waiting for someone to show him what to do.
“Oh, okay. That’s a good job, Anna. Later, Vic said he’s gonna teach me to mop and pick up stuff. ‘Gotta keep the store clean, Colm,’ he said. Hey, here he is…”
“Hi, Colm,” Vic said.
Vic took a broom and a dustpan with a long handle and showed Colm how to sweep up the litter in the parking lot. Anna sat down on a bench in the shade and watched them work.
“He’s doing good then?” Liam asked as he sat down next to her.
Anna turned and couldn’t help but smile. Things with Liam had been better. They’d gone all week without butting heads. He seemed to be adjusting to the idea of Colm working. “Spying, Mr. Franklin?” she teased.
“I was in the neighborhood.”
She stared at him, waiting.
Finally, Liam laughed. “Okay and maybe spying a little, too. I worry. I know, it’s not manly to admit it.”
“Hey, having a guy who cares as much as you do is every woman’s dream. And when you care that much, worry is part of the package.”
“So, how’s he doing really? I know you’ve painted a glowing picture at home every night. Today’s the end of his first week, and I wondered.”
Wondered,
not worried. That was progress. Maybe she was making major progress with both Franklin brothers. “Honestly, I was sitting here thinking that I’m going to be obsolete here a lot sooner than I anticipated.”
“And everyone’s been kind?” There was worry again in Liam’s voice.
Anna understood where it was coming from and reached out and took his hand. “Colm is already a hit. I suspect he’s going to be one of the customers’ favorite Keller’s employees soon. Your brother is a bit of a flirt. No woman can resist his smile. He does it so often. It’s too bad his brother doesn’t do it more often.”
“I think all Colm’s smiling has something to do with you.” Liam gave her hand a squeeze. “And his brother’s smiled a lot more often since you’ve been around, too.”
Anna felt a tingle of happiness. Liam did seem happier than he had the day they’d met. And if she had anything to do with that, she was pleased. “Ah, when I’m not making you crazy, I make you smile?”
“Something like that.” He reached across the bench and played with one of her stray curls. “Any chance we could go out on a date sometime soon?”
She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. “I think the chances are pretty good. What do you have in mind?”
“A friend has a boat docked on Lake Erie. I thought we could spend an afternoon out on the lake.”
Anna loved Lake Erie, though she normally only got to visit its shores, not go boating on it. “That sounds lovely. I’ve taken the tour boat out onto the lake, but never a real boat that I could hang out on.”
“I’ll talk to him and see when it’s available.” He gave her a look that melted her. “The sooner the better.”
It took a moment for Anna to find her voice again. “Just let me know.”
“Anna, thanks for everything you’ve done with Colm. I should have said it sooner. I should have said it more often—say it more often.”
“Are you feeling any better about everything?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“I still worry. Obviously. Otherwise, why would I be here spying?” He smiled at his admission. “But I do think he’s happier. He’s more sure of himself. Thanks to you.”