"Marigold," a waitress said as she poked her head into my office. "That guy from a few weeks ago is asking to talk to the manager again, and I assume he means you."

I smiled. Chris. "Let him know that I'll be out in a minute. Thanks, Lily."

"Well, can you ask him to stop doing this and just text you like a normal person? I'm tired of walking back here all the time."

It had only happened twice, but I nodded anyway. "I'll ask him."

She nodded in acknowledgement and shut the door on her way out.

I wasn't sure what my job title was, but the term manager seemed like an easy way to get the point across, so I'd let him call me that for the time being.

I closed out of Google Maps on my computer before I headed out to see what Chris wanted.

"I'm assuming that your offer of this being on the house still stands, right?" he asked as soon as I got to his table. I assumed he would have brought at least someone else with him to take advantage of that offer, but he sat across from an empty seat.

"Oh, definitely. I figured you would bring—" I began, but Chris interrupted me before I could finish.

"You want to join me?"

I smiled. "I'd love to, but I'm supposed to be working."

I had already gotten into trouble for doing other things during my work hours, and for what? All I got was hurt.

"Really? You can't take a break right now?" he asked.

"Well—"

"If you're going to get in trouble, you don't have to, but I figured I should probably get the best deal I can out of this," he continued.

I hesitated before responding. "If you want to bring your dad next time, I can probably make that work for you."

"He doesn't really do well in places like this. He forgets where he is and who everyone is, so it's more of a hassle for both of us, really."

I bit my cheek. Well, now I just sounded like a bitch. "Well, since I just offended you, I should probably just go along with what you're saying in the name of customer service, right?"

"You didn't—oh. Yes, I demand that you sit down with me." He laughed to himself. "The customer is always right."

I definitely wouldn't have gone that far, since most customers were wrong and stupid when they were upset about something, but I let it slide just this once and took a seat across from him so I could see the entrance to the winery. It was probably a bad look in front of everyone I worked with, but what could they do about it? Tell George?

I tried not to smile to myself. Well, I would just quit, then.

"So how is everything? How do you like the dealership?" I asked.

"Well, it's an actual job, so that's a box that I desperately needed to check," he said. "I like it so far, though. People need cars, and someone has to sell them on what they really want." He put the last part in air quotes.

"So you sold me on a bunch of stuff I didn't really need? You weren't just doing me a favor out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Just because your last car didn't have them, that doesn't mean that you don't need air bags, Marigold," he said, and I smiled.

It was nice to feel like he actually wanted to talk to me instead of holding him hostage. Maybe I had spent too much time with people who didn't care what I had to say and didn't think I was worth the energy of a conversation, but it was a nice change. I never really noticed it up until now.

"And how are things around here?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Well, my little craft table keeps selling out, and if I'm being honest, that's pretty much all I care about anymore."

He laughed. "Don't say the quiet part out loud."

"It's true, though." I smiled. But he was probably right that I shouldn't have said that while at work. Whoops. "No, but everything here is good. I haven't had to fire anyone in a while, which makes my job a lot easier."

"But you're still pursuing that craft shop?"

I nodded. "I know I said I was done, and maybe it's stupid and idealistic of me, but I can't imagine taking my life in any other direction, really. I'll probably actually start taking it more seriously and take some business classes, but I know that this is the path for me."

He nodded. "I'm glad that's what you chose to do. It seemed very unlike you to drop that dream to be practical or whatever."

"But you just got a new job at a car dealership for the same reason."

"Yeah, but there's a huge difference. I was aimless. You're not."

I looked down at the table instead of making eye contact. Putting himself on the back burner while he took care of others before himself wasn't aimless. It was just that life handed everyone a different situation.

But before I could tell him that, he switched the conversation back to crochet. "So if I remember right, you have a craft show thingy coming up soon?"

I smiled. He bothered to remember that? "Yeah. It's in Columbus, and I was actually just trying to figure out where I should park before you so rudely asked to speak to the manager."

"Well, that doesn't sound like you were working," he said, and before I could tell him that it was difficult to read spreadsheets for hours on end, he laughed. "I'm just kidding. Work is work, even if it's not what they're supposedly paying you for."

That was one way to think about it, but I was definitely committing some light wage theft. But who hadn't? Executives invented a whole career out of that.

I nodded anyway. "You get it."

I looked over at the empty piano, and although I hadn't gotten a formal resignation from Mason yet, I hadn't seen him around ever since our last discussion. It was probably for the best, too. It wasn't like anything meant anything to him anyway.

"Well, I hope you sell everything while you're there. If that crowd is anything like us here, they'll love what you make," Chris said.

"Thank you," I said as I waved over Lily to come get my wine order. If I was going to say screw it to my job, I was going to full send it.

I smiled to myself. You go, anti-work queen.

My eyes went back to the door to make sure George hadn't just walked in, and when no one was there, I turned my attention back to Chris.

What else could we talk about?

"So how is your dad doing?" I asked.

"He has bad days and better days, but he usually knows who I am, so that's always reassuring. I don't know what I'll do if he ever gets to the point that he forgets me, though," Chris replied.

I shook my head. "I can't even imagine."

Chris was hard to forget, clearly, and my parents sure as hell remembered me, even if I never did make them proud of the person I became. But at this point in my life, I was in too deep to change course and become the child they always wanted.

Jesus, Marigold. Chris just told you something super personal, and you made it all about you in your head. No wonder people didn't like to talk to you.

"But for what it's worth, I think it's incredibly strong of you to stick with him, even if it hurts," I said.

"He can't control it, and he needs someone to help him get through his days. I figured it's better if it's me than some stranger that he may never remember," he said, then he shook his head. "But he's doing pretty okay right now. Thanks for asking."

He certainly didn't want to talk about that any more, so I wasn't going to pry. I probably wouldn't have wanted to think about that all the time either.

Even though I didn't care if I got caught, when I looked up to check for George at the entrance just one last time, there were two very familiar people standing there. My eyes widened and my heart raced in my chest.

"Oh my god," I said to myself.

"What? Is everything okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "I am so sorry," I mumbled. Whether he understood me or not was his own problem.

"Sorry?"

"I don't know what's about to happen, and if you're caught in the middle of it, it's not—" I trailed off. I wasn't going to let him get caught up in whatever conversation I was about to have. It didn't matter to him at all.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"My parents are here."

--------------------------------------------

Hi there! Thank you so much for reading! As always, I really appreciate your support as we get closer and closer to the end of this book!

So for this chapter's question, where do you see yourself in ten years?

If you would have asked me this ten years ago, I probably would have said "dead under mysterious circumstances" (I was a constant delight in my teenage years), but now I would probably say that in ten years, I see myself working for the state environmental protection agency. We'll see where life takes me, though.