Jasper, though, was not deterred. “You do.”
Neither wanting to start an argument nor to put myself out there again, I tried to dodge my way out of that line of conversation, busying myself with my own sorting. “What I’d really love is to find one of the cards.”
“Or anything of value,” Jasper agreed as he separated out still more scroll cards. Unless they were a few select rare types, scrolls in Odyssey were penny cards, something experienced players bought in stacks to flesh out their deck. They might make the game go, but they were too common to offer much value to collectors. In the past few hours, I’d received quite the education on the types of rares and what cards actually fetched a decent price. And we’d uncovered precious few of those in this lot.
“I lost to this card in Philly.” Jasper held up a card. “But it’s a cheap common. Worthless unless it’s in the right deck. I’ll leave Arthur a buck for it, but it’s sad that that’s the best card I’ve seen in hours.”
“See? Even you’re discouraged.”
“Jasper? Giving up?” Jasper’s boss, an ex-military guy named Arthur who reminded me of some of Bruno’s buddies, came into the room. He had that same sort of intimidating attitude as the special forces types I’d met, but he did seem to have a soft spot for Jasper. “He never quits.”
“Thanks.” Jasper offered him a weary smile.
“I’m heading out soon.” Absently shuffling a stack of cards, Arthur rolled his neck. “I’m not up to all-nighters anymore.”
“You’re not that old,” Jasper teased because Arthur wasn’t Professor Tuttle’s age by any means. “I’m pretty sure there are some mountain ranges with a few years on you.”
“Ha. Can you and your boyfriend lock up when you’re done? Triple-check the alarm.”
“Okay, boss. Will do.” Jasper glanced at me, clearly expecting some objection from me at the label. But it wasn’t inaccurate. At least I hoped it wasn’t. And ever since coming out to James and Luther, I’d felt strangely at peace. I wanted to be brave, like the singers in the revue the night before. To that end, I simply nodded and told the fluttering in my stomach to behave.
“Sure thing.” I tried to project an air of trustworthiness to Arthur. “I’ll make sure he sets the alarm. Thanks for the sandwiches and coffee.”
Some hours earlier, after he’d seen the last customer out, Arthur had ordered Jasper to take a break and produced mugs of coffee and homemade sandwiches for us. I was starting to see why Jasper liked this little store so much. Arthur might be gruff, but he was kind, and the store was full of interesting displays and little treasures. It had a warmth that drew people in, and I appreciated that sort of hominess now more than ever.
Arthur pointed at my empty cup. “Glad someone appreciates my coffee.”
“Install a soda machine and I might be more impressed,” Jasper tossed back.
“Score me a stack of rares other than that Frog Court card you’ve got dibs on and I might consider it.”
The two of them were fun to watch, and I had to laugh. But I was also genuinely grateful to Arthur for letting us have this shot at one of the cards we needed. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.” He gave Jasper a few more reminders before heading out.
As the back door shut, Jasper stretched and waggled his eyebrows at me. “Alone at last.”
“Us and a giant mess.” I gestured at the sloppy piles covering the table.
“Why don’t you put your urge to clean to good use?” Jasper suggested as he handed me some empty card boxes. “I’ll sort and you stack and put away.”
I did that, falling into a nice rhythm of straightening stacks and carefully labeling the boxes as Jasper directed. “This reminds me of sorting Legos together.”
He reached out across the table and ruffled my hair. “We make a good team.”
“We do.” Our eyes met, and I was debating whether we could get away with a break for making out when my phone buzzed with a message.
“It’s my mom,” I said as I scrolled down my list of alerts.
Concern flashing across his face, Jasper pursed his mouth. “Bruno news?”
“Yeah. Not bad. But he’ll be here next weekend. Next weekend. And Mom wants to make a big dinner.”
“And you’re worried about her cooking?” He did an exaggerated nervous expression, trying to earn a laugh, but this time it didn’t work.
“Everything else. It’s not enough time.”
“It’ll work out.” He came around the table to hug me, but even his warm presence at my back wasn’t enough to make my muscles relax.
“Says you.” My retort made him step back, and I regretted it immediately, turning so I could pull him to me again. “But thanks. I’m lucky to have you, no matter how this goes.”