Calista practically ran to the door to lock it, turned the sign from open to closed, and said, “Thank God. My feet are about to fall off.”
“Mine too,” she replied. “Come on. I’ll take the money in the back. You turn off the lights. I’ll come back out and put the fudge and stuff away in a minute. I don’t want anyone else to think we’re still open.”
River carried the cash drawer into the back, and Calista joined her a moment later with a piece of fudge for herself.
“River, this is absolutely insane. You can’t keep going like this. Have you slept?”
“It’ll die down,” she said and put the drawer in the safe to deal with later. “It’s because of that picture and the whole double date thing. Once people realize that Kennedy Gannon doesn’t actually work here, they’ll stop coming in.”
“What if itdoesn’tdie down?” Calista asked.
“Why wouldn’t it?” she asked back and grabbed herself a bottle of water. “And I have to make a few batches of fudgetonight, or I won’t have anything to sell to people tomorrow. Any chance you can stay and help?”
“I can stay, but only for about an hour. I’m meeting Ashton for a late dinner.”
“Okay. That’ll help. We can probably make what I need if we multitask. I’ll need a batch of just chocolate, one chocolate peanut butter, one–”
“Hey, River!”
“What?”
“Breathe for a second. We’re talking here.”
“I don’t have time to talk, Cal. It’s after seven. We were supposed to close at six, but we had too many people in line. I will be down here for at least the next few hours, making whatever I can before I have to drop off the cash at the after-hours box at the bank. Then, I’ll try to get some sleep, if I can, and wake up super early to make more and clean up the front of the shop. I need to put up an ad for some temporary hire to get through this, and–”
“Just hold on for a second. You still have to eat. Why don’t you come to dinner with Ashton and me? When was the last time you even ate something? I got here around noon today, and you didn’t stop the whole time.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not,” Calista replied and sat on the counter that River needed to use. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. We’re just really busy, and I only have two part-time employees and you. You’ve been amazing, so thank you, but my part-timers don’t make anything. I do all the candy making. You can help with some of it, but not all of it, and I know you have your own life, Cal. You agreed to help occasionally when you loaned me the money, but you’ve had to be here every day, and it’s too much to ask of you.”
“Where’s Kennedy, River?”
“What? I don’t know.”
“She caused this mess. She should be here to help you clean it up.”
“Kennedy Gannon?Movie starKennedy Gannon?Sheis supposed to help me run my candy shop?”
“She stepped in and helped once. Why not again?”
“Because she hasn’t called me like she said she would, so she doesn’t know that this is even happening.”
“She told you she’d call you and hasn’t yet?”
“She didn’t commit to a timeframe, but yes.”
“Have you called her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You didn’t see her when she was trying to run out of here. She was scared, Cal.”
“Why?”
