She smiled, and true to her word, it only took two minutes to pull up outside the house where Griffin was waiting on the front porch. She wanted nothing more than to jump from the car and race to him, planting a wet kiss on his delectable lips. Instead, she winked when Russ’ back was turned and grinned. Griffin offered a smiling chin lift, and she laughed as she drove away.
She ran by the grocery store on the way home, and when she was putting the bags into her car, she realized Russ had left his backpack. She was so close to home, not to mention exhausted, she dreaded driving back to where he was working with Griffin. Pondering her options, she pulled out her phone and called. “Griffin?”
“Hey, is everything okay? Surely, you’re not calling to check up on Russ. But if you were, there are no problems at all.”
Laughing, she said, “Glad to hear it. But no, I’m not checking up on him. He left his backpack in the back of my car. It’s no problem to bring it, but I’ve just been to the grocery and wanted to drop my cold and frozen items off first. I didn’t know how long he was going to work today, so can you ask him if he needs it now?”
She could hear Griffin talking in the background before he got back on and said, “Russ says he doesn’t need it tonight. You could just bring it to school tomorrow.”
“He doesn’t need it? He didn’t have any homework?” She waited while she heard Griffin talking again.
“Ms. McBride? This is Russ. I’m sorry I left my backpack in your car, but no, I don’t need it. I’ve got a couple of assignments that I’ll be doing on the computer, but I don’t need my backpack tonight so there’s no reason for you to drive it all the way over here. If it’s okay, I’ll just stop by your classroom tomorrow morning.”
“That’ll be perfect. I’m glad everything’s going okay, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” She waited until Griffin came back on.
“Griffin, I’m getting ready to get my groceries in and fix dinner. It’s just going to be something simple, but you’re more than welcome to come over when you get home if you’re hungry.”
“Thanks! It sounds perfect.” Lowering his voice, he added, “But this still doesn’t count as a date. That’ll come this weekend when I take you out.”
“Well, don’t forget I’ve got the fundraising fair on Saturday. I’ll probably be dead on my feet, but I promise I’ll put on something cute for our date.”
“Can’t wait for that, but until then, I’ll see you as soon as I get home.”
Disconnecting, she shoved her phone into her purse and smiled. Leaving Russ’ backpack in her car, she grabbed her grocery bags and made her way inside, looking forward to having someone to share her dinner with. Now, if we can just get a real date over with so he’ll feel like we’re doing things the right way, I’ll have a lot more to share with him!
20
“Are you sure you don’t want to take my truck?”
Caitlyn closed the trunk lid to her car and looked over her shoulder toward Griffin as he walked over with another box in his hand. “That’s okay. You’ve got the last box and it can go into the passenger seat since every other inch of my car is filled.”
She’d volunteered the previous evening to help Terri and Bjorn package the items to sell in the school fundraiser, but they’d insisted they needed to do it themselves to make sure the packages were packed and labeled correctly. Terri had had the brilliant idea to post about the fundraiser on social media and even allowed customers to preorder the candles, potpourri, or tea that they wanted. Caitlyn had been surprised at how many people had done so.
Terri and Bjorn hustled out of the house, calling to Griffin. “Can I see the last box you carried out?” Bjorn said as Terri shuffled pieces of paper in her hand.
Griffin pulled out the box that he’d just set in the passenger seat and held it for Terri to compare it to her list. Beaming up at him, Bjorn nodded. “Excellent, excellent!”
Walking over, Terri handed Caitlyn a check. Looking down at it, her mouth dropped open. “Terri, are you sure this is half of your preorders?”
“It’s not only half of what was already preordered and prepaid, but this fundraising event saves us postage, so I’m including that as well.” She smiled and squeezed Caitlyn’s hand. “Bjorn and I want to help all we can. The items that already have a name on them, you can just hand them to the customer when they come and mark them off the list. Everything else has prices for you to sell. Just keep a running tally and give half to the fundraiser and then the other half to us.”
“Are you sure you two don’t want to come with me? You could greet your customers and talk about your products to anyone who comes along.”
Terri and Bjorn shared a look before they both shook their heads. Leaning closer, Terri said, “Bjorn read his horoscope this morning and it says his stars are out of alignment. He really should stay home today.”
Sucking in her lips to keep from grinning, she nodded as she hugged Terri before moving over to Bjorn, hugging him as well. “Okay, then it looks like I’m ready.” Turning to Griffin, she said, “I’ll see you later?”
He wrapped his arms around her, and with her back against her car, he pressed against her front and kissed her. “Absolutely. As soon as I finish up the house near the school, I’ll come over.” He glanced over her shoulder and down into her car, his brow furrowing. “Are you sure you have help getting set up? I don’t want you to have to do everything by yourself.”
“Don’t worry, there will be lots of people to assist. Russ said he’d help and then head over to the house where you are.” Seeming to have satisfied him, she lifted on her toes and kissed him lightly, cognizant of Margaretha, Terri, and Bjorn standing on the sidewalk. He had different ideas with his arms banded around her and he pulled her flush against his front, kissing her deeply. As he lifted his head, she hated that there were hours before she could drag him inside. Giggling from behind her had her glance toward the sidewalk. Terri was jumping up and down clapping, Bjorn was nodding his approval, and Margaretha had a peaceful expression on her face as she winked toward the couple.
Laughing, she climbed into her car and headed to the school. An hour later, she was already exhausted and grateful for Russ’ assistance. He’d brought a handcart, and between the two of them, they managed to get all the boxes over to her assigned place. The parents’ athletic group had tents for them to use, and she and Russ wrestled with the large tent until they finally got it completely opened. Next came the portable tables that were available, and she’d had the foresight to reserve two of them.
Once their tent was in place and the tables set up, they began placing the T&B items out for sale. By then, Russ needed to get over to the house where Griffin was, so she thanked him and sent him on his way.
Looking out over the football field, she loved seeing the colorful tents all along the track, adding to the fair atmosphere. Turning back to her tables, she looked at the boxes and sighed. With less than an hour until the public could arrive, she still had a lot of work to do.
Barbara and Renée wandered over, offering to help since they brought baked items for the large bake sale tent but didn’t have a tent to run themselves.