Second Hand: A Tucker Springs Novel 2

Swedish Fish and gum drops.”
His enthusiasm for the area was catching, and it made me feel foolish for living here so long and not knowing any of the history. “How long have you lived here?”
“My whole life.” He pointed to a bright green door ahead. “Here’s the yogurt place. It’s kind of new. Hope they don’t go out of business.”
It was unlike any ice cream store I’d ever been in. They had an entire wall of soft-serve machines, all different flavors, and each one could be swirled with the one next to it. There was an assembly line, almost like a salad bar, but with every type of topping imaginable.
“I like it here,” El said. “Other places, seems like I get a lot of ice cream, but then they charge you out the nose for each topping. Here it’s by the ounce, so I can get as many toppings as I want.”
He was taking full advantage of that, too. The cup in his hand was only half full of chocolate ice cream. He’d topped it with two kinds of chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, brownie chunks, and hot fudge. Just looking at it made my throat ache for a glass of water.
“How can you possibly eat that much chocolate at once?” I asked as we left the store.
“Easy. Especially with a coffee chaser. That’s our next stop.” He leaned over to peer down into my cup. “How many kinds of ice cream you got in there?”
“Three. Coconut Cream, Pistachio Nut, and Raspberry Cheesecake.”
He stopped in his tracks, staring at me in apparent horror. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“No. I put sunflower seeds on top. And Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. And some of that gooey marshmallow topping.”
“That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s good.”
“It’s an abomination, my friend. An insult to frozen yogurt everywhere.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.” I held a spoonful out for him.
He stood for a second, staring at me, maybe trying to decide if I was pulling his leg. Finally, he stepped closer. He touched my wrist with his fingers, as if to make sure I wasn’t going to pull away, then leaned forward and let me put the spoon in his mouth.
For some reason I couldn’t explain, I expected him to close his eyes, but he didn’t. He kept them open, his gaze locked on my face as he took the spoonful of frozen yogurt into his mouth. It made me remember the kiss, the way he’d stood close to me afterward, his gaze full of strange messages that had made me think, for half a second, that he’d meant it to be real.
Right now, I realized I wanted it to be real.
El pulled back from the spoon, but he still held my wrist loosely in his hand. He worked the ice cream in his mouth, watching me carefully as he did for some reason I couldn’t fathom. He smiled a bit, and finally, he swallowed.
“See?” I said, my voice shaking. “It’s good.”
“Not bad at all.” His grip became almost a caress, moving down my arm to my elbow.
I blushed, suddenly awkward. And panicked.
“Come on,” I said, pulling my arm free. “Let’s go get your coffee chaser.”

    As he and Paul strolled back down the pedestrian mall with their coffees, El acknowledged he had a crush on Strawberry Shortcake. He’d been dancing around it, yes. Obviously that hadn’t worked, pretending he wasn’t forming a ridiculous attachment. Though he wasn’t sure being conscious about it would get him very far, either.
    Part of him was obsessed with trying to get Paul to realize he was the object of El’s attraction, either so he would blow El off or be offended and horrified, therefore letting El get this nonsense out of his system. But a lot of that desire was also simply wicked curiosity, El wondering if his hand had to be down Paul’s pants before he would figure it out. Of course, that made El wonder if he could get his hand down Paul’s pants, which was a very dangerous line of thought.

chapter 14
    T
    he object of El’s affection continued to come in every day the rest of the week with oddball things to sell. Having apparently cleaned out his appliances, he moved on to back massagers and in-home gardening systems and all manner of QVC specials El was never in a lifetime going to unload.
    These purchases didn’t go unnoticed by Rosa when she came in on Friday afternoon.
“Are you hard up or something? Why are you taking in so much junk?” She lifted the lid of the George Foreman grill and let it fall back down in distaste. “Some little old lady pull on your heartstrings?”
El made a mental