“Michaela, are you good up here?” River asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“We’ll be in the back, then. I’m a little behind on my bags now, so I’m going to make Cal help me. Yell if you need me.”
Calista laughed, followed River into the back, and said, “Well, that was fun. You sure you don’t want to buy me out already? We just had, like, a thousand customers in an hour or something.”
“I don’t think it was a thousand. And no, I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it. Now, I need to replace everything we just sold. Would you mind filling these bags as I make this candy? Then, I need to go out there and see what needs to be refilled.”
“Michaela can’t do that?”
“She will with whatever we have under the counter, but there was a pretty big taffy run, and I doubt we have enough under the counters to replace it all.”
“Okay, I’ll get the bags.”
“Thanks,” River replied.
They went about filling the bags with the candy River had made earlier and wrapped them up so that they could be placed out front, when River noticed Calista staring at her.
“What?”
“What’s going on with you? You seem like you’re really tightly wound right now; like your shoulders are at your ears.”
“What?”
She laughed and tried to relax her shoulders.
“See?”
Calista pointed at her.
“So? I’m working. I’m tense.”
“Tense, huh?”
“Yeah, this is tension. You should know what that’s like. You’re a writer, and you’re trying to have a kid.”
“Nope. Back to you. What’s going on?”
Calista sat in River’s chair.
“Nothing is going on, Cal. I’m behind and trying to get caught up.”
“I hate asking this because I don’t think that getting laid is always the solution for stress and tension. It helps sometimes, obviously, but I’m mainly asking because I know it’s been a while for you and Lacey, so I’m wondering if she has something to do with this.”
“Are you asking me when I last had sex with my girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Because you and I always talk about our sex lives?”
“We don’t, and that’s fine with me. I don’t need details, River. I’m just wondering what is going on with my friend. Your relationship is basically the only thing you’ve got going outside of the business, and your business is doing well, so I know it’s notthat.”
“Lacey and I haven’t done that in a while.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. We’re tired all the time. We have a million things going on. When did you last have sex with your wife there, Cal?”
