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I smiled sweetly at the customer in front of me. “Here you go, Ms. Keen, two brown sugar scones, two blueberry muffins, and two apple tarts.”
“Thank you, Carly.” Ms. Keen, an elderly woman who ran an afternoon book club with her friends always came in on Wednesdays for the snacks. Sometimes, when the weather was nasty, they’d hold their meeting inside the shop instead of on Ms. Keen’s patio. Her condo was too small to accommodate the group. “See you next week, dear.”
I waved to her as she turned to go, and only once the little bell tied to the door handle jangled her exit, did I shift my eyes to Alesha. “New rule. You do not get to come in here and bellow like a freakin heifer at me,” I hissed, keeping my tone sharp and pointed, but soft enough to stay out of ear shot of the handful of guests that were seated inside, drinking coffees, reading the newspaper, or working on their laptops. “This is my coffee shop, my place of business, and it’s not going to be disturbed by you making these dramatic entrances every day. You’re lucky Aaron and his friend were the only ones in here this morning. If we’d been in the middle of the morning rush and you’d done something like that, you’d be on a plane to Grandma’s house right now.”
Alesha rolled her eyes. “I haven’t even been here two full days and you’re already going to ship me off? You’re just like Dad.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” The spark of sadness in her eyes as she cast her glance down at her open-toed—and still totally inappropriate for work—shoes caught me off guard.
She flicked her blue eyes back up to mine and shrugged. “He barely even said goodbye to me when he dropped me off at the airport. He and Kelli were arguing about something that morning and both of them were doing their frosty, silent hate thing. He didn’t even get out to help me with my bags…or give me a hug goodbye.”
My heart squeezed tight and I forced out all the anger and frustration I’d been clinging to since she’d arrived. “I’m sorry, Leash. I didn’t know things were so bad between them.”
She shrugged again, doing her best to downplay her obvious pain. “It’s fine. I’m glad to get some time away from them. Maybe Dad’ll knock her up and she’ll stop bitching at him.”
“Not sure that’ll solve the issue…” I muttered, raking my long hair up, my fingertips digging into my scalp. With a sigh, I released the strands and they fell back around my shoulders. “Listen, Leash, I’m happy you’re here, it’s just that I can’t have things go to shit like they did last summer. I know you know that. I’ll stop threatening to ship you off to Grandma’s retirement home as long as you promise to get it together and help out around here.”
Alesha considered me for a moment, her full lips pursed in her signature pout. After a long pause she nodded. “Okay, Carly. I’m sorry too.”
The grip of panic that was clamped around my gut since she’d arrived started to subside and I smiled over at her. “Okay. So, let’s get you an apron and get to work. I have a huge order to work on. You wanna help me get everything packaged up?”
“Whoopee. Sounds like a party,” her tone was glum, but a tiny smile played at her lips as she rounded the counter to follow me into the back.
In the kitchen, I had twelve pastry boxes laid out, each one waiting to be filled with an assortment of pastries. I’d taken the order weeks ago, one of the largest of the year so far, from a corporation that was holding their company retreat in a neighboring town.
The guy arranging everything had found my reviews online and ordered enough pastries to feed a small army. First, I got Alesha working on folding the teal boxes and lining them with ivory parchment paper. Then, we worked as an assembly line, filling and wrapping the finished boxes with matching ivory and teal ribbon.
“So…what did you think of Aaron’s new mechanic? Nick?” Alesha asked once we found our rhythm. She glanced up from tying a bow and caught me rolling my eyes. “What? He was a hottie!”
I laughed. “And about ten years older than you.”
She scoffed and went back to her work. “That doesn’t stop most guys.”
“Right. Like your friend from the plane the other day?” I scowled at the memory of her tangled up with the man who was old enough to be her father one and half times over. Alesha was a beautiful girl with an easy smile and affection for shiny, expensive things that could get her into a lot of trouble.
