Page 31 of Happily Ever Maybe

I laughed, sitting down at my seat.

“Have a thing for tattoo artists?”

She waved a hand in front of her face. “Don’t you know it. Idon’t know, it’s just the ink.”

“Plenty of men have ink without being tattoo artists.”

“I’m pretty sure all the guys who work here do. It helpsthat they’re the tattoo artists’ cousins.”

“That is true. Gus has ink, too.”

Kate winked at me. “None showing, So, how do you know that?”

“I’m not answering any questions, missy.”

Kate laughed. “If that was too forward, let me know.However, he’s hot.”

“Who’s hot?” Daisy asked as she walked through the frontdoor.

“No one,” I said quickly as Kate blurted, “Gus.”

“Oh. He’s okay.”

“Okay, those are fighting words,” I said with a laugh.

“And if I said he was hot, would you fight me for him?”

“I will never fight another woman over a man. That justseems like a waste of resources.”

“It is a waste of resources. We could take over the world ifwe weren’t waiting for guys to notice us.”

“Excuse me, guys notice you.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure they do. And then theyrealize I own a business and don’t want to sleep with them so they can protectthe little lady, and can probably kick their asses, too. Then theysuddenly have egos they can’t contain.” She rolled her eyes. “And then theystart discussing the size of their egos and how theirs are bigger than the guysI work with, even though ninety percent of the men I work with are related tome.”

“I have a feeling that ego in this case means penis,” Katesaid, not so quietly.

I nodded sagely. “You know what, I do believe you crackedher code.”

“Seriously, though. They get so worried that I’m workingwith guys who could break them with their pinkies that they forget I’m not onlyrelated to those guys—minus Gus, of course, and any of the contract workers—butthat I could also probably break them with my pinky. Not that I would.I don’t actually like violence. Anyway, dating ishard, and I hate it. And I’m never doing it again.”

“You should do it again. You just need to find a guy whounderstands.”

Daisy looked like she was about to say something, then shookher head.

“I don’t know. Anyway, let’s go over the checklist,” shesaid, and I stood up, my stomach roiling again.

“Let’s do it.”

Kate looked worried for a moment but didn’t ask questions. Iwas glad for that. We went to the back office—thesecure one, where nobody could listen in. I was grateful for that because Iwasn’t sure what was about to happen.

“Are the guys going to be here?”

“No, it’s just you and me.” Daisy smiled. “We’re friends.Yes, I’m your boss, and yes, my cousins own the company with me, but we’re notfiring you. I promise. We’re just going to go over what you want to do becauseour job can be dangerous. I want you to be able to work and not feel that youneed to put yourself in any situations that will be too much. I’m not going totell you what too much is because that is up to you. I promise.”

For some reason, tears stung my eyes. I wiped my face.

“I know that. I knew that. I don’t know, I was just reallyworried about sitting in here in front of a bunch of men, men who happen to bemy friends, but I didn’t want to have to explain my body to them.”