Nine
Christian
Another day at the office.Well, not office, but shop. Bianca isn't here yet. Not surprising since her commute is longer now. Based on the time Wren was in the kitchen last night, it's safe to say my sister also had a late night.
What is shocking is Charleigh standing at the front desk looking through the appointment book. She's almost never here first. I didn't see Corey's car in the parking lot, so she did it on her own. I guess she's getting ready for when Corey hands the keys to her fully.
"You know the process would be faster if we went digital, right?"
She jumps at the sound of my voice and her hand flies to her chest. "I didn't hear you come in."
I tap against my ear, where her earbuds are shoved in. "You have to remove those to listen to the world around you."
"True," she yawns. "What were you saying?"
"I said that would be faster if it was digital."
"For sure," she laughs. "It's the first thing I plan on changing when the old man retires."
"Smart." She yawns again, and I can't help but wonder why she's here when she's clearly tired. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," she nods. "Asa has more teeth coming in, so we haven't gotten a lot of sleep."
A shiver rolls through me. "Remind me not to have kids."
"I could, but it might happen someday. Maybe with our new tattoo artist." She waggles her eyebrows up and down.
"Everyone in this shop talks too much." I head to the supply closet to get cleaning wipes and the broom. The shop is clean, but it'll give me something to do. "Besides, things with us are very new. Like as of in the middle of the night, new. Kids and that far in the future aren't even on my brain."
"That's good. Enjoy your time together, and don't make big decisions until both of you are ready."
"Obviously," I snort. Who the hell makes decisions like that when a relationship has barely begun?
"Speaking of," Charleigh giggles. The door opens and Wren walks in. "Hey, I didn't expect to see you here so early."
She's not alone, though. Walker follows behind her. My eyes widen and I glance between the siblings. I sure as hell hope he's not coming in here to act like an ass. I'm too tired.
"I figured I'd explore the shop some more and get to know you better. See how you run things since you'll be the big boss before long."
"Please," I groan. "Don't tell her things like that. It'll go straight to her head."
"Shut up, Christian," Charleigh says. "It'll be good for her to see how I do things." She looks toward Wren again. "You can, of course, do things the way you like, or include a mixture of what me and Bianca do."
"Sounds good to me." Wren grins. "Maybe we can start with the layout of the appointment book."
"I don't know why you would bother," I butt in. "It's not going to be there for long. As soon as Corey retires, we're upgrading to the twenty-first century."
Walker strides toward me, and his face is blank. Shit, does he know about me and his sister? I planned on telling him, just not right this second. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I shoot a glance toward Wren. A silent question, should I? A nod from her, and my defenses ease. They aren't completely down, not yet anyway. "Sure. We can go to the break room."
He follows me to the small room, and we notice the box of donuts at the same time. "Charleigh could have told me she brought breakfast when I came in."
"Yeah, but shedidn't." The way he says the last word sends warning signals through my body. He totally knows. Will this be the end of our friendship? Or will I have to break up with Wren before we've even explored our relationship?
"True. It would have been nice, though. I'm starving." I grab a donut and take a bite. Letting the silence build until he's ready to say whatever is on his mind.
"Like it would have been nice to know you and my sister had a thing going on?" And there it is. He knows.
