Marigold Blues

The grand opening of Tailyour Stories and Coffee Shoppe is just two weeks away, and there is so much left to do. Dom is looking for Nate. My mother is trying to get me to talk to Sarah. She can jump in the lake as far as I’m concerned. I am sitting in the middle of the store sorting gifts for the shelves getting more flustered by the minute. Nothing seems to be going right today.

“Okay, that’s it!” screaming to myself. “I need food.” The bell on the door jingled, scaring me half to death.

“Hey there,” Ransom smirked. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh, you’re fine.” I was getting hangry. “I was just getting mad at this mess and thinking I need to go forth and forage for sustenance.”

“Well, that sounds like I need to escort you. And fast”

“Sounds great. What did you have in mind?”

We drove a couple of miles out of town to the Peterson Tavern, a quaint little pub that serves old-fashioned home cooking and craft beer. We sat at a table in the corner near the bay window. On the table sat a milk glass vase with a bouquet of marigolds. They smelled sweet against the bitterness of the beer. We ordered a country ham plate and sweet peach tea each.

We talked about what was going on in town and the plans I had for the store. I updated Ransom on the progress and the final events for the grand opening. His phone rang with a piercing siren that echoed in the nearly empty room. I covered my ears in pain as he answered. “Hey man, what’s up?”

I was still shaking my head that a grown man would have that for a ringtone.

“Oh, sorry to hear that. Listen, I’m having lunch. Can I call you when I get back to the office?” Well, at least he was trying to be nice to whoever was on the other end of the phone; he certainly wasn’t to the rest of us.

“I’m so sorry about that. I wanted to make sure I could hear my phone ring.”

“I think the dead could hear your phone ring.” I scolded.

After our interrupted lunch, Ransom dropped me off back at the shop. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. Not really. All of this is a tedious mess at this point, so I have no clue where to tell you to help. It is overwhelming, but if I take one slice at a time, I can get this all done. I have one more smallish shipment of gifts to process tomorrow before the cafe equipment and seating arrive. I will have that professionally installed. Then in three days, the first books will begin to arrive. “On second thought, could you help me with these last two bookcases?” But thanks anyway.”

I took him to the back room to show him the fixtures I wanted help with. He turned to me in almost a blank stare. “Are you serious? These are huge and at least a two-person job.”

“I know I’m not a man, but I am an able-bodied human.”

“I’ll call a couple of guys to come help.” Ransom walked out, and I laughed.

“Don’t laugh at me. I’ll be right back.”

Twenty minutes later, he returned with half of the high school football team. “How did you get these guys to come to help me?” I had to know. They all laughed.

“I’m not telling my secrets. Besides, contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to know everything.”