Getting To Know You

Chapter One

"Hey, Oli! You've got a delivery!" I rush out from behind one of the shelves I was stocking, wiping my hands on my apron. While I approach, I see the shop owner, Tony, chatting with a man I've never seen before. I smile and pop up between the boys, calling the conversation to end and both sets of eyes to land on me.

"Yeah, Tony? What can I do for you?" Looking between both men, my eyes settle on Tony as I wait for direction. Tony was a great man who had given me this job at the age of 14 and I've been here ever since. His gray hair stood stark against his dark skin that was spattered with spots of a different shade. His wrinkles were slight but when he spoke there was such animation in his honey colored eyes.

"Oli, this is Denver, he is a new resident in town. As you can see here, he is going to have a bit of difficulty getting his groceries back home. I told him we offer delivery, that you would be more than happy to help." At first I was confused, difficulty? I look the man up and down again and settle on his left arm, hanging in a sling that was obviously missed. I raise my hand in a soft wave, smiling as I look back to Tony. "He only lives a few blocks down, shouldn't take too long to zip over there and show him some Hendra hospitality!"

He pats me on the shoulder, signally for me to get a move on. I started to grab the two bags from the counter, leaving him one to grab himself. After I walk around the counter, Denver picks up his bag and walks to the door. "Well it's nice to meet you, Denver, my name is Olivia. Welcome to Hendra!" I laugh as I push the door open with my back, watching him as he follows me and the bell rings above the door. Denver nods, a soft smile on his face as he watches me, leading a few steps ahead as we go down the main town road. "So what brings you here? We don't have many new comers around here." The town of Hendra was small, I'm not even sure it was big enough to be counted as a town. I simply called us a blip, that's all we were on a map. A blip, a pit stop. A gas station, general store and an ice cream stand was all that made up the main road to accompany maybe 125 residents. "What happened to your arm? Did you get into a fight? Should I see the other guy?" I laugh, watching Denver as his face stays stagnant and I thought, just maybe he did fight someone. And a knuckle sandwich isn't off the menu with the way I've been rambling!

It seems as though he heard me visibly gulp and noticed the slower steps I took as he started to laugh, stopping in his track. "Wow, I don't think I've ever heard so many words come out of such a small little mouth." He held the bag of groceries tightly to his chest as he let out another booming laugh.

I huff, "You haven't heard anything yet! I'm a talker! So you better get what you have to say in fast!" I stamped my foot and started walking forward, signaling we put the pedal down.

Surprisingly, my mouth stayed shut long enough to hear him start to walk after me, catching up in no time due to my much shorter legs. "Well! That's a threat I'm ready for!" He let out another chuckle, turning left onto a side road. "My father, he used to live here and would always talk about what an amazing town it is. A sense of community this place had- he loved it." I could see out of the corner of my eye, Denver shrugged, his eyes shifting to the sky as he thought, "I guess I just wanted to see what all the hubbub was about." With a soft laugh, Denver looked down to me, "As for my arm, I was climbing a tree. Like the true ape man I am, I immediately fell out of it as soon as I got up there. Doctor said it broke in three places!" He flashed a big smile and open up his arm with the bag of groceries, "What can I say? I'm talented. Thankfully, I only have a month left of this torture."

I roll my eyes, looking at him as he walks backwards in front of me. "I guess I won't invite you to my tree house then, I wouldn't want you to hurt your other arm!" I stick my tongue out and stop, turning to my right as this is the last house on the road. "Is this it? I haven't heard of anyone living here in like 17 years. Is it even habitable?" My face scrunches up as I look at Denver, then down at my feet as I walk up the warped steps of the porch.

"Barely," Denver hops ahead of me then outstretches his broken arm to open the door. After two failed attempts, I decided to intervene. "This is my dad's place. I told him I'd come up here and fix it up. Make it nice again! Turns out I'm a good bit over my head." He shrugs, holding the door open as I slip in and carefully walk down the hall. I look into each room until I find the kitchen, turning into the room and laying the bags on the counter. I rush over to help Denver land the bag down without it tipping over. "I'm still excited to give it a shot though."

"You may be over your head. I'd have no idea where to even start!" I laugh, focusing on the groceries and putting them away. I sneak glances at Denver as he tries to grab things out of the bag, though it's just easier for me to do it. "I mean new floors, the debris, new appliances! I can't even believe the fridge works? New pipes probably! A whole lot!" I shake my head, folding up the three bags and placing them on the counter. "There you go, Denver, you're all set. If you need anything more, just give us a call. Can't wait to see you around!" I flash him a big smile, tapping him on the arm as I move past him.

"Thank you again, Olive." His voice was different this time, just so. It seemed to resonate with me as I walked back to the store. I stopped at my house, as it was down the same road as Denver. I let my dog out for a moment and grabbed a cracker snack to nibble on. He was nice, that man, and cute? That is enough to make me think about him for the rest of the day. After I let Popcorn back into the house, I looked at the clock and realized I had to hustle back to work.

The bell chimes loudly, indicating my late return and there is no way to sneak around it. "Now, Oli! Every time I send you out, you can't go running around town doing other errands!" I stand by the door, waiting for him to come out of his office. "It's just me manning the store when you're out, what if I needed help?" I put out my bottom lip and tried not to smile. "Could you get better at pretending to be sorry?" Tony laughs, cupping his hand on my shoulder and smiles, causing me to laugh as well. "Now, now, you being in trouble aside- he was a cute one, wasn't he?" I've never had so much blood rush into my cheeks as I rolled my eyes. I was caught.