“Morning, morning, morning!” he called as the doors opened. “It’s a beautiful day!”
“It’s still night,” I said.
“Anything past midnight is a new day,” he said, rubbing his hands together and grinning like the maniac he was. “How about you make me a coffee? Nothing hits the spot like one of your coffees, Chase.”
Like, if by spot he meant a corrosive hole burned through the lining of the stomach, then sure. I could do that. I went behind the counter and turned on the machine, and since Bobby was watching intently, I did my best to figure out what the buttons actually did. A green light normally meant it was good to go, right? I jabbed at the machine, and nobody was more shocked than me when a stream of rich black coffee poured into the cup. I just hoped he didn’t expect me to do anything with the steamed milk or we were both gonna be disappointed.
I held out the cup. “You take it black, right?”
“That’s what I like about you, Chase. You pay attention to detail.” His grin widened. “Customers like that!”
I mean, I didn’t, and so no, they didn’t. But I nodded like I agreed. And hey, if my shitty coffee and shittier customer service made him happy, that was good news for me. I took a deep breath and said, “So, I was glad you dropped in. I was wondering if I could ask you something?”
Bobby took a sip of coffee and made a pleased noise. “Shoot, kid.”
“I was hoping I could get back onto day shifts,” I said, trying to sound like it was no big deal. “Danny said Wade might want to swap with me.”
“Shoot,” Bobby said again, his expression falling. “I was in here just last week and Wade asked to stay on days, on account of his wife is expecting.” But before I even had a chance to let my disappointment show—or worse, my anger—Bobby scratched his chin. “Lemme think for just a second. Days, hmm?”
“Yeah. It’s hard to sleep with all the guys there and Gracie as well.”
“Well, I don’t think I can swing it, unfortunately,” he said with a long sigh. “I mean, not without you leaving Goose Run Gas, and I know nobody wants that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. Was he firing me? Was this what being fired felt like? I’d always expected it to feel better than this, because I legit hated customer service. But it didn’t feel good. Not at all. It felt more like having my legs kicked out from under me.
“Yeah,” Bobby said, sounding despondent. “Sorry, Chase.” He paused and took another sip of his coffee. “Seems like you’ve really got this new machine locked down.”
“Oh yeah,” I lied. Not that it mattered if I did or not.
Bobby hummed and looked between me and the coffee machine. “You know, if you really want to work days, best I can do is offer you the counter spot at Gobble de Goose.”
Great. Now I was having a stroke. Or he was. Because Bobby was making sounds that should have been words, but I had no idea what he’d just said.
He looked at me expectantly, eyebrows raised, and I figured out that he was waiting for an answer. I was tempted to say yes purely because he’d mentioned days, but like hell was I signing up for anything when I didn’t know what it was—especially where Bobby was involved. “What’s a gobble whatever the fuck?”
Bobby laughed. “Gobble de Goose! Ain’t it a great name?”
“Yeah,” I said doubtfully. “But what is it?”
“The new bakery,” he said and puffed out his chest. “I finally hired a baker to run it, so if I can get the coffee counter up and running, we should be good to open in around a week. You interested?”
Hell yeah I was, but I didn’t want to sound too eager. “I mean, I guess. As long as I’m getting paid the same.”
“Of course. Maybe even a little more, truth be told. I tell ya, this place won’t be the same without you,” Bobby said. “But you’re wasted as a barista here. It’s high time more people got to try your coffee! So, tell you what, you can finish up here this Friday, take the week off, then be at Gobble de Goose on Main Street for opening day. How does that sound?”
It took a second to process what he was saying, but it sounded like he was offering me a job. Except—a week off? Who could afford that?
As usual, my mouth was running away with me before my brain had a chance to say,Thank the nice man and then shut the fuck up, Chase. “I can’t go a week without pay.”
Bobby’s brow creased. “What? No! A paid week! Gobble de Goose ain’t quite ready to open, but I don’t want you running off and getting a job at one of those fancy coffee shops in Brodnax.” Like he really did believe I was some prize-winning barista and he’d have to fight to keep me. Or that Brodnax had any coffee places approaching fancy.
Bobby was delusional. But at the same time, a week off, a job in a brand-new bakery with no rats in the stockroom, and all day shifts?
It sounded fuckingamazing.
“I need to think about it,” I said, because I never let anyone know how much I wanted something. Like, there was no way I was turning this down because it was a dream come true, but Icouldn’tsaythat. And then I remembered the time Bobby had showed up to our birthday with money for us both. And the bike he’d given me to make sure I got to work on time. And I figured that I might be an asshole, but I didn’t have to be an idiot as well. Bobby was a good guy. Weird as fuck, but an incredibly good guy. Like, with Bobby, what you saw was what you got. It was kind of unsettling, honestly. I took a deep breath. “You know what? That sounds awesome, Bobby, thanks.”
“You’ll be great, kid,” he said. “Now, if you wanna pay me back…”
