Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Handsome Teague, laughing and making others laugh.
Charming Teague, bettering everyone’s boring days.
Delightful Teague, whose eyes lift just in time to catch Liam’s, and even from across the store, Liam feels the influence of the boy who’s taken captive the hearts of every last person in Fairview.
Except Liam’s.
“Heck, even Teague himself told me on his way out yesterday that he had so much fun with you, learning how we run things around here.” Mr. Michelson chuckles and pats Liam too hard on the shoulder. “What do you say? Can you be my unofficial training manager for a while longer?”
6
The Trainer
It isn’t just that next day that Liam is forced to continue training Teague.
It’s the whole next week.
And then the week after that.
Just how much training does one person need before he can finally manage things on his own?
Apparently with a guy as helpless and annoying as Teague, it could take a whole month.
That’s not the worst part. Liam is learning way more than he ever planned to about Teague Jenson. For one, the guy is a sleep-freak, power-napping rag doll on his breaks. He can fall asleep in any position, anywhere, in any configuration of limbs, neck, and furniture. Liam once found the guy asleep during his break on a stack of cans, with his head bobbed to the side against the back of a rusty metal rack, tongue half-hanging out, one foot propped up on an overturned mop bucket.
It can almost be classified as a talent.
Another maddening fact about Teague is that he remembers next to nothing of what Liam teaches him. “Is this where this goes?” he asks yet again, hurrying up to Liam’s side one day with an armful of bananas.
And then: “Where do we keep the bottles of that weird cleaning stuff?” he asks another day, coming up to Liam with an eyebrow lifted and his lips pouting. “Not the usual green stuff, but the other-other green stuff?”
And another day: “I know you showed me already, but can you show me again how to change out the ink in that one thing?”
It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s receipt printer ink, office ink, or the ink out of a damned octopus’s asshole. Teague will have a question about it, and Liam will be the first person he runs up to, pestering him for an answer.
There is another thing Liam learns about Teague, too.
Liam is in the frozen aisle refilling an empty shelf of ice cream one day when he hears a child crying out two aisles over. He sent Teague to the backroom to get something, so he’s alone as he listens to the loud, whiny wailing. He sighs to himself, figuring it’s another one of those situations involving mommy not allowing a little someone to have the box of Little Debbie treats they want. Liam closes the freezer door and comes around the corner of the aisle to investigate.
What he finds is Teague crouched down next to the child.
“You lost, little guy?” he asks. The child, all snot and sniffles and puffy eyes, nods. “You here with Mommy?” The child nods again. “Mmm, y’know what? I bet she’s in the candy aisle picking you out something sweet. Should we check?” The child’s answer is wiping the entire length of his arm across his wet, dripping nose. Teague seems entirely unfazed as he accepts that for a yes, then takes the kid’s hand (snot and all) and walks off. “Mommy …?” Teague calls out. “Mommy, are you there? Hey, little buddy, want to help me out? We’ll find her quicker if you help me. Try calling out ‘mommy’ in your funniest voice. Can you do that? Do you know what a duck sounds like? Mommy-mommy, quack-quack!” Inexplicably, the little boy laughs through his tears as the two of them turn the corner.
Liam watched the whole exchange from the other end of the aisle, utterly mystified.
And oddly touched.
He’s never seen this side of Teague before.
“Ugh, remember who he is,” mutters Liam to himself. Of course Teague is on a mission to find the mother; he’s probably just hoping the woman is a total babe. And if she’s not, then he’ll enjoy the meager consolation prize of being proclaimed a hero for the day. Everyone will be talking about it. That sounds exactly in line with what should be expected from an egomaniac like Teague.
But Liam can’t help wondering if he’s got the whole thing wrong.
Does he really know Teague at all?
It’s a Saturday afternoon just an hour before his shift is over when Liam is approached once again by a confused-faced Teague. “I just don’t get it,” he complains as he turns the jar over and over, showing Liam. “What in the heck does this weird expiration date mean? Last time I checked, there aren’t fifteen months in a year.”