“I give.”
My head snaps up. “Give what?” I don’t want to get too excited, too fast. If he’s talking about what I think he is. Please say he is.
“You’ve been doing the books for months and everything has been perfect. Taxes went off without a hitch and aren’t you about to graduate from your accounting program?”
I nod my head with way too much excitement. I am super close. In fact, I am pretty much done. Everything is done online and I had a set of projects to complete and turn in by the end of the year. I’ve turned everything in already but they don’t give final credit until the semester end date. Really, I am just waiting at this point. “Then have at it. I trust you.”
I stand, going over and leaning down to give Mr. Higgins a hug. I don’t know what I would have done without this man for the last year. He pretty much saved me when I was at a low point with nowhere to go. My mom took off with her boyfriend, leaving me with a place that I couldn’t afford. I knew that no one was going to hire an accountant without a degree yet. The only person that gave me a chance was Mr. Higgins and I’ll forever be grateful for his generosity.
“You know you’re way too excited about this,” he teases me. I probably am. “You have got to get some friends your own age.”
My lack of friends has a lot to do with my no social media and living in a smaller town. I did all the social media stuff when I was in high school. It’s how I learned that my mom did webcam shows. That’s also how everyone else in my school found out. I was harassed daily. It was the worst from the boys. They would try and DM me and ask me to do some of the things they claimed my mom did. I didn’t know what she did on her cam shows and I wasn’t going to go look to find out. I never told her about it. I’m sure she knows that I knew, but what would have been the point? It was probably for the best that she got out of here. I might have done the same if Mr. Higgins hadn’t given me a job. I was lucky that he took a chance on me.
“You don’t like hanging out with me?” I drop back down into my chair. “Fine, we don’t have to go to Robin tonight and have burgers.”
“Let’s not take this out of context.” He holds his hands up in defeat. He is right though. I should have friends my own age. Our town is small but we live somewhat close to a big city. Most everyone knows each other but it isn’t weird to see new people around. My mind flashes to the stranger from yesterday. The one who stole my tampons. Who does that?
“Maybe I should date.”
He shakes his head no. “I told you. Men are only after one thing,” he reminds me for the millionth time.
“You’re a man,” I counter. I have no plans on dating, but if he is going to poke me, I can do a little poking of my own.
“You see me trying to date? I leave the ladies alone.” He folds his arms over his chest. Mr. Higgins has never been married and I’ve never seen him flirt with anyone, for that matter. I think he’s a monk.
My phone buzzes across the table, snagging my attention. I peek at it, not recognizing the number. I hit clear, guessing it’s someone trying to sell me something or make me take a survey.
“It keeps doing that.” Mr. Higgins nods at my phone that he bought me. I snatch it up to see that I have a few missed calls from the same number. Maybe my mom is trying to get ahold of me? She is known to change her number often.
I debate calling the number back. The phone buzzes again. This time it’s a text. I hit it. A picture of my tampons shows up. Not just the box but it’s him holding it, sitting next to an old woman. Is this the grandma he was talking about that drinks Red Bull?
“Who’s she?” Mr. Higgins asks, taking the phone out of my hand, a little too curious.
“The grandmother to a tampon thief,” I reply dryly.
“I don’t understand half of what you just said,” Higgins says, still staring at the picture. Yeah, well, I don’t understand how the tampon bandit got my phone number. Now I really do get to call him creeptastic. I don’t know why that makes me smile, but it does. Higgins finally hands me my phone back.
“You should invite them for burgers with us,” he says.