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So true.
Following her friend to the kitchen, Andy poured the milk while Kory unloaded the baked goods. They ate quietly at the table while Petals gnawed on a nut in her cage.
“I’m a good listener,” Kory said after a few seconds of silent chewing, “if you wanna talk about it.”
“I don’t.”
Andy said this, but inexplicably, not more than two bites later, the whole story started pouring out of her. Everything from the moment Aldon had told her he was interviewing for the store manager spot to the moment Andy had decided she no longer wanted it.
With every recounted event, Kory’s expression grew stormier and stormier, and the cookie in her hand disappeared faster and faster. Until finally, no longer able to hold her tongue, she set her empty milk mug down and busted out with, “That dick!”
“Which one?”
“Both of them!” Kory cried.
Andy pinched another nut from her cookie and slipped it into Petals’s food tray as Kory continued to fume.
“But that Aldon is a major douche! He was totally trying to mess with your head before your interview.”
“It worked.”
“Screw that, Andy! You can’t let him get away with this. You’ve always wanted to run that store. Now Dave’s just gonna hand it over to Aldon.”
Andy shrugged. “Probably.”
Kory’s mouth dropped open. “But doesn’t that make you furious? Don’t you still want the store manager position?”
“Yes, I’m mad, and yes, I want it, but not if I’m only getting it because of my dad. I want to do it on my own.”
“You have been doing it on your own!”
“Have I?” Andy sighed. “Maybe. But I don’t think I’ll ever truly know working for a company owned by my father.”
“But you love ManCave,” Kory pressed.
“I loved some things about it. But, to be honest, the pay could’ve been better. And, to berealhonest” — Andy’s voice dropped to a mumble — “I’ve always thought the whole ‘ManCave’ thing is kind of dumb.”
Kory waggled her brows lecherously. “You said it, little lady. I didn’t.”
Andy giggled at Kory’s impersonation of her former boss.
“Seriously though, Andy. What they said about you in that office was so wrong. It was sexist, ableist, and all kinds of messed up. You need to call your dad and tell him what happened.”
“No way. I’m not bothering him less than a week into his honeymoon with work stuff.”
“But this is work stuff he’ll want to know about—”
“I’m not calling him,” Andy said sharply. “At least, not yet. I need to find a job first. If my parents find out I’m unemployed, they’ll just worry, and then they’ll argue, and I don’t want them fighting about me again—” Andy stopped mid-rant. Swallowing, she glanced away. “Anyway, Iwilltell them. Just not now.”
Kory was quiet a beat. Then she chased an acquiescent nod with a dark chuckle. “Fine. Things will probably work out better this way. Aldon and Dave will get their promotions, they’ll both think they’re the man, then,bam, when they least expect it, your dad will drop the ban-hammer on them.”
Andy snorted at the blood-thirsty glint in Kory’s sparkling green eyes. “That’s the plan, huh?”
“Yep. But first things first. You need a j-o-b.”
“Yeah,” Andy said with a morose chomp of her cookie, “I better start looking.”
Another measure of silence elapsed before Kory’s face lit up. “No, wait, I’ve got it! There’s this surf shop a few blocks down from Rockabilly’s. The manager there is the nicest chick. She stops by the diner pretty often because she’s hella preggers, and apparently, the baby’s got her craving our piña colada milkshakes twenty-four seven.”
