Some kid came in at eight asking for her. She was there alone and looked at him suspiciously. His dark chocolate eyes were the same as his skin with matching hair and wearing a dirty brown winter jacket with a runny nose.
He asked again impatiently, "Can I speak to Nicole?"
"I'm Nicole," she acknowledged.
It was his turn to look at her suspiciously. "You don't look like a Nicole."
"And who do I look like?"
He shrugged. "I thought you'd be white."
"Why?"
"Because some white guy two blocks over paid me five bucks to deliver a little piece of paper."
"What paper?" she asked suppressing her excitement knowing fully well who the "white guy" was.
He dug deep in his jacket pocket pulling out old candy wrappers, crumbs, broken cookies, and finally a neatly folded piece of lavender paper. "Are you sure you're Nicole?" he asked again.
Exasperated, she insisted. "Yes."
"Prove it."
"He's got gorgeous green eyes."
"What's gorgeous mean?"
Nicole rolled her eyes heavenwards. "They're real pretty green."
He smiled and put the paper in the money slot.
Can you get off an hour early and meet me out back? Please respond below and return with kid. Reward for a positive response to kid. Ethan His writing was very neat and she almost wanted to treasure the enriched paper. It didn't feel cheap and it smelled like him. Reluctantly she had to write on it, "YES."
Looking at the boy who patiently waited, she said, "Am I suppose to tell you something?"
He nodded. "He said you're supposed to say yes or no."
She smiled. "I told him yes."
He beamed and ran outside. In a moment he was back hiding something behind his back. "Close your eyes," he ordered, "And push out the big tray."
She obeyed until he told her to open it gasping at the beautiful white rose in a floral box with baby's breath. There was a card attached with is writing on it. She opened the laundry slot hurriedly and pulled the card off reading it. "THANK YOU."
Warily she looked at the boy. "What if I had said no?"
"He said if you said no to just leave and take this to my Momma."
"What's your name?"
"David."
"How far is two blocks over?' "Down near the school over there. He's been working on two houses at the same time. He said he bought them. One house he tore down and he's building this thick wooden big fence around the both of them."