The Other Side of the Street

by Nicole Thorn

  “Don’t be sorry,” I said. “That’s fucking great.”

  “It is,” Dad said when he came up for air. “After a trial run of about six weeks, Mom is gonna be one of my bosses. They wanted to start making some of the old timers higher up to avoid the embarrassing turnover they’ve had. They already have three store front managers, one of which left to work across the street.”

  “You did good, Mommy!” Dee said when she dropped down from Hammy’s back. She hurried over for a hug.

  “Congrats,” Hamilton said with a bow. “I’m sure that store doesn’t know what hit it.”

  We decided to have dinner out, including Hamilton and his dad. It would be sort of both a going away party and a congratulations one, which felt ideal for me. That meant I wouldn’t be the center of attention.

  “Does this fancy job come with a pay bump?” Bea asked Mom.

  “Oh, it certainly does. I can keep your dad supplied with his antique lamp addiction.”

  I could breathe a little easier, but the guilt would always be there. At least no one seemed horribly sad anymore. It wasn’t the end of the world, just a scary new part of my life. I’d have my whole family there with me too, and it meant the world to me to have that support. Also, I had Hammy’s family too.

  Finally, no part of me felt alone anymore.

  Epilogue

  Hamilton

  “Hurry up!” Sam shouted from the back of the truck. “We’re opening in ten minutes and there’s already a line!”

  “All right!” I shouted back, typing as fast as I could on my newish laptop. I’d gotten it about two months ago, but it had been put through the ringer on the food truck already. The first time Jay dribbled honey on it, I thought he would collapse from the stress alone.

  Speaking of whom… Jay popped up into the back of the truck, smiling to himself. “Don’t worry. The line isn’t too long yet. You can finish up.” He shoved his hands through his hair, still smiling.

  We all had the new outfits. We’d decided that black pants would be too much for the summertime, so we had on black shorts with our Busy Bees t-shirts. They had the logo of a bee surfing on a piece of jerky, with a yellow background. Sam had been right when he said that yellow attracted attention.

  I secretly thought that Jay looked so good in his outfit that everyone should weep before him.

  “I’ll finish the prep,” Jay told me, moving around the truck and getting the food ready.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  We had more supplies in the back of Jay’s new SUV, in case we ran out. The things that would be fine in the heat, like cookies and little cakes—sans the frosting. In the last four months, we had done a lot with the food truck. We’d gotten it repainted, made up a menu where almost all the product contained some of Jay’s honey in it, and Sam had given us quite the online presence. Apparently, people liked sarcasm.

  I typed one last thing on my computer, clicked the save button, and then went to send it to my professor. The second I heard the little whoosh, I slammed the lid shut, tucked the laptop safely away, and jumped to my feet to help finish prep.

  Jay grinned at me when he saw that I had joined him. “Get your paper in on time?”

  “I did,” I said, smiling at him.

  He gave me a kiss on the cheek as a reward.

  I didn’t have the time to go to school on campus, but I’d enrolled in an online school, taking classes that would help us learn how to run our business. Now that we had the food truck, it seemed like the smartest thing that I could do. I’d be done with the classes within a year and a half if I worked hard enough, and by then, our food truck would be a booming business, what with Sam doing the online stuff, Jay and I doing the cooking and business stuff.

  Outside, I heard Sam scream to a small crowd, “Are you ready?”

  They screamed back enthusiastically. A second later, the side door to the food truck flew open, revealing our first customers of the day.

  Jay and I started running around, getting orders taken care of as soon as Sam brought them to the window.

  The three of us joked around as we worked, the heat barely bothering us as we ran from one side to another.

  At the first lull, Jay took the opportunity to look at our cash drawer with a smile. “Not bad,” he said.

  I leaned against his body, also smiling. “What do you think? Should we dream big and go for a brick and mortar store?”

  Jay thought about it for a second, smiling even more. “Why not?”

  “Orders coming your way!” Sam shouted from across the street, where two people sat in their car, giving Sam their request.

  Jay leaned in and gave me a hard kiss on the mouth.

  The customers outside all cheered.

  The End