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The door opened again and Walter peeked out with a fresh cup in hand. “Fuck that guy. Here.” He practically growled but I took the offering, barely getting out a thank you before he was going back inside.
“Aw, Walter likes you,” Collin said with surprise. “He usually would have yelled at someone to clean up the mess. And he never gives away free coffee. Ever.”
“It’s my lucky day, I guess,” I muttered to myself.
Collin frowned at my attitude but I didn’t have it in me to apologize. I swear this day just kept going downhill. The fact that he didn’t question it probably meant that Micah had already given him a heads-up about the phone calls this morning.
“I’m meeting the girls for dinner, I’ve got to go,” I told him. “I’ll talk to you later.” All he got was a quick wave before I made an Ezra-style escape. Sure, dinner wasn’t for a while still but I needed time to myself. I could feel my inner bitch at full force.
The antique store seemed like the safer choice so Collin didn’t try to follow me. I needed to decompress and get my shit together before dinner. At this rate if I didn’t, I’d piss off my future coworkers before we even had a chance.
“Let me know if I can help you at all. There are baskets right here,” an older woman called out, gesturing to a stack of shopping baskets. She was sweet and I gave a quick hello before losing myself in the aisles.
The shop was two of the normal shops combined, the wall knocked out in between to combine them. Every inch of the shelves and sometimes the floor, were packed with random antiques and knickknacks. Her style seemed to be just shove it wherever it fit and I loved it.
Organized chaos at its finest.
For some reason I talked myself out of a basket, thinking I wouldn’t find anything. Yet in the first aisle I spotted an old leather-bound journal that I couldn’t help but snag. It was in pristine condition and had an old bronze lock and key.
The next aisle I found a golden retriever trinket tucked between a stack of gravy boats. It reminded me of my brother and I had every intention of putting it in his house somewhere. Or maybe give it to him as an apology for ghosting him for most of the day and likely worrying him. Not to mention he puts up with me in general and fields calls from mom.
By the time I made it back to the front it was starting to get dark outside and my arms were packed full of random treasures.
“Did you know I found this journal in an estate sale for the old governor,” she told me, giving me a mini history lesson on each item. It was impressive she could remember where she got each one. I could barely remember what I had for breakfast.
It felt rude to rush her, but if I didn’t wrap this up quickly then I was going to be late.
She finally got me checked out completely and I hurried outside. Serenity and Katya were walking down the sidewalk just as I left.
“Did you just spend two hours in there?” Katya asked, eyeing my bags. “I told you that you could get lost. Or were you just avoiding the asshole that spilled coffee all over you?”
“Who spilled coffee on you?” Serenity sounded angry for the first time since I’d met her.
“Calm down,” Katya told her with an eye roll. “It’s just Dean being a dick again.”
“Oooh,” she hummed. Apparently, that was enough of an explanation for her. Clearly, this was not Dean’s first shitty moment in town.
“I guess when your mate skips town and fucks-up your relationship with your twin, it doesn’t exactly make you a nice person,” Katya told me as she opened the door to Sol Tacos.
It was already busy but thankfully, had another booth for us. My stomach growled just seeing the waiter’s pass by with plates of food.
“We need a round of margaritas, mango for me,” Serenity said.
“I’ll take strawberry,” Katya said before they both turned to me.
“Strawberry for me.” Thank fuck they were ordering drinks. I’d never needed one more in my life.
Well, maybe during the final episode…
I couldn’t cling to my bad mood anymore with tacos and margaritas in front of me. It was easy with Serenity and Katya. We joked and talked like old friends already.
“Okay, we can’t avoid it any longer,” Serenity said, putting her hands in the air as if she were trying to praise the Lord for her food.
Katya groaned and swatted at her. “No, don’t.”
Serenity seemed undeterred and I was confused.
“Look,” she said, leveling me with a stare. “You aren’t bringing it up but we’ve seen you.My Fairytale…”
