Greyson Cartwright has a tea obsession. Between the beanie and the way he kept gravitating toward the fireplace and rubbing his hands together, he doesn’t like the cold. He has at least one someone he’s avoiding talking to, if I was reading the signs right once I figured out Zen was holding on to his phone for him.
Plus, there was the way his phone wouldn’t stop buzzing in Hawaii until he shut it off. I don’t think this is a new avoidance.
And more than once, I caught him watching me in the reflection of one of the windows or glancing back at the kitchen with utter misery etched on his face. Like he didn’t want to be the grouchy asshole that he was being, and like he wanted to be back in Hawaii too.
But that might’ve been me projecting.
What would today have been like if he’d understood why I had to leave the way I did in Hawaii?
I swallow and meet Laney’s gaze. “He’s getting bids to renovate Bean & Nugget entirely.”
“How entirely?”
I know I need to say it, but I can hardly bring myself to force the words out. I run my hands through Jitter’s fur to make it more palatable. “He wants to convert it into a kombucha brewery with a completely redone menu, add mead if he can get a liquor license, rename it The Hive, and keep a wall of board games for regular gamer nights.”
Jack makes a noise.
I know that noise.
That’s a noise of he’s building my idea of heaven.
Decker reaches around me and shoves him. “Shut up.”
“No, I get it.” I sigh. “It would sound interesting if he was doing it to another building.” I’d go there and destroy the triplets in a round of Settlers of Catan every once in a while if we had a gaming hangout in town. Instead, I have to do it in the privacy of one of our houses.
Boring.
“And I think he’s planning on putting beehives on the roof and I heard his assistant say something to him about finding a place that can make the fiberglass bee that he wants to mount on the building,” I add.
“Isn’t Chandler deathly afraid of bees?” Laney asks.
“Yes.”
“Does your new boss know this?”
“I don’t know. But I got the impression he doesn’t like Chandler.”
“Fuck, that’s funny,” Decker mutters. “I hate this guy. I’m not supposed to think he’s funny if he’s a dick to our family and the café. How did you pick up on all of this and I didn’t today?”
“You didn’t get the same emails I got.”
“What else do you know about him?” Laney asks me.
“Not enough. I’m working on cracking Zen, his assistant, but I don’t think they trust people easily. It’ll take me some time.”
“I’m googling,” Decker says.
“I’m googling,” Jack adds.
Decker’s on a MacBook. Jack’s on a PC laptop. Do not get them started on who computers better.
“We got you, Sabrina,” Decker says. “By the time we’re done here, we’ll know everything from his social security number to his favorite brand of socks.”
He wears socks with pandas on them.
At least, he did today, and fuck you again, Greyson Cartwright, for making me swoon over your ridiculously cute socks.
The worst part about having Duke in my everyday life now?
I get it. I totally understand why he’s mad at me, and there’s nothing I can—or will—do about it. I’ll apologize, and I’ll be a good employee so long as Bean & Nugget exists, but that’s all he gets from me.
Theo strolls back over from the bar and hands Laney a glass of red wine, then hands me a fresh coffee in an old Bean & Nugget mug, one with the original logo before Chandler started changing things, and my eyes get hot at the simple gesture of kindness.
Both that Theo would get me a coffee without me asking, and that Silver Horn keeps old Bean & Nugget mugs on hand.
“Where’s my coffee?” Decker asks.
Theo’s tall like Emma, though she’s a freckled pasty white blonde while his complexion is two shades less pasty and his hair falls on the light brown side. He’s significantly more muscular these days after bulking up for his side gig, and the man is always hot. Temperature-wise, I mean. Hence showing up here tonight in jeans and a T-shirt that shows off the ink all over his arms. No coat for Theo, even in fifteen-degree weather. He smirks and shakes his head. “First you want coffee, then you’ll want a private show. I know how this works.”