I Love You Like That by Heather Cumiskey

Author:Heather Cumiskey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2019-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

July 1985

CHAPTER 30

darien, Connecticut

HANNAH LEANED HER BU TT AGAINST THE DISPLAY CASE with her back to the mall traffic. It had been especially slow that day; she knew she wasn’t snubbing anyone. Her manager, Howie, always wanted them to stay busy refilling candy trays and making sure the bays were cleaned and straightened. He still hadn’t forgiven her for using Fantastik on the glass. Seriously, who knew there was a difference between glass versus all-purpose cleaner?

The morning droned on as she restocked shelves and adjusted the temperature in the refrigerated case. The warmer the day, the more the chocolate formed little lady-bug-sized water droplets. She eyed the torn cuticle she desperately wanted to rip off and noticed a residual of her morning’s work under her left middle finger. She sighed.

She was licking the last bit of chocolate off her nail when a deep, melodic voice interrupted her: “Excuse me?”

Hannah’s head swung around, her hair falling into her eyes. With her finger embarrassingly still in her mouth, she froze at seeing the striking boy with the deep-set eyes standing before her. He looked about the same age as her. She’d never seen him before. His pretty face unsteadied her right away. His smooth cheekbones melted into chiseled hollows as if he was sucking them in, down to his GQ chin. She forgot to breathe.

“Hi, can I help you?” she sputtered and reached for a piece of tissue paper, ready to retrieve his request. Her day had finally gotten interesting.

“Are you guys hiring?”

“Sure, let me get an application.” Hannah smiled, dropping the tissue, and walked around the bay to find the form. She passed him the paperwork, along with a pen from the register. “We’ll need your driver’s license.”

She pretended to refill the same tray of chocolate caramel turtles that she had an hour ago. Its location provided the best angle from which to study the boy further.

He wore a slightly wrinkled white button-down shirt and khaki pants with a denim jacket tucked under his arm. Preppy, but not over the top. Something about his attire told her he was filling out applications all over the mall.

Rarely did a cute boy approach the candy counter. Most of her customers were harried parents with whiny kids or teenage girls traveling in packs. She dreaded the latter more. The stuck-up ones she recognized from school pretended not to know her, even the girls she’d met through Deacon. For fun, she liked to address one by name, which seemed to make everyone in the pack uncomfortable. Wait, you’re friends with her? they’d whisper loudly, if they were especially obnoxious. On cue, the girl would shake her head vehemently and rearrange her face to convey: Like that could be possible.

Hannah saw it all: queen bees arm in arm with their fawning sidekicks, usually trailed by the weaker members of the clique. Each worked harder than the next to stay in the pack and avoid expulsion from the group. It amused her how they dressed alike in

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