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“Can we grab two iced coffees and a chocolate chip cookie, and a cinnamon roll to split?” Grayson says, walking in a minute later.
To anyone else, their little family would be intimidating. Grayson and Reagan are covered in head to toe of tattoos, considering Reagan owns the local tattoo shop, Rainy Day Tattoos. But it is how close their family is that always makes me jealous. Even when it was just Reagan and Leanne, I longed for the closeness that the two of them had. I wonder if I’ll ever have kids and a family like them. I thought I was getting closer to that with Steve, but well, here we are.
“Coming right up,” I say, bursting my own little bubble. “Go pick a table and I’ll bring it over,” I suggest; there is no line behind them so what is the harm. I want to soak in a few more minutes with them before I have to get back to work.
“Are you back to work yet?” I ask Reagan as I bring over everything.
“I am, I officially started last week but just to catch up on managerial things. This week I actually get to be tattooing again,” she says proudly.
“Stay at home daddy then?” I tease Grayson.
“Oh yes, I’m looking forward to it,” Grayson says proudly as he bounces the baby on his knee.
“You guys give me hope for the future,” I say aloud.
“Good, you’re still young, girl. You’ve got plenty of time before you settle down,” Reagan says reaching for my arm. She gives a light squeeze and a smile, and I nod before heading to help the next person at the counter.
While I help my customers, I can’t help but keep an eye on them. They laugh and chatter about, giggling when Leanne gets chocolate all over her nose and baby Emmett almost knocks over the iced coffee. They’re an imperfect family if you look close enough, but I think that’s what makes them almost perfect. I can’t help but feel a twinge of jealously while I watch them.
“Hey, Laine? It’s time to clean up,” Jen reminds me and I look at the clock, realizing it is already ten minutes past closing. So I quietly flip the sign on the door and ask the last two customers if they can make their way out. Thankfully they’re both polite tonight and don’t give me a hard time.
I meet Jen in the back and she hands me a celebratory iced coffee. We made it through the week, we have a ritual of celebrating that. It is the little things that we appreciate.
“So, how are you doing?” she asks, giving me a knowing look. She tilts her head down, looking at me over her glasses with her dark eyes.
“As good as can be expected, I guess.”
“What did your parents want today?”
“For me to call Steve.” I clench my jaw.
“WHAT?! Are they nuts or do they not know everything?” she exclaims.
“They don’t know everything.” I don’t bother telling her that he showed up here earlier, I know that would just upset her even more than knowing my parents tried making me talk to him.
“Well still, you can’t call him. I mean, it’s your life but you know what I mean.” She sighs.
“No, trust me, I won’t.” I promise her anytime I was feeling low or thought I’d want to call him, I’d call her instead. It has only been a few weeks but so far it is working out for us.
“Look, everything back here is done but you may want to sweep the front. Otherwise I think we can head home.”
“I’ll sweep the front, you head home,” I decide.
“Okay.” Jen hugs me and takes her iced coffee with her, heading out the back door of the shop.
It’s eerie when it’s closed. The sun is starting to set, and the lights are all off inside. But I feel safe here, it isn’t like anyone is going to rob a bakery. So I close up the front, sweeping and cleaning out the rest of the case since I’d forgotten to do that earlier. I dump the pot of coffee and I’m about to head out when I feel a chill run down my spine. I glance out the front windows and a shadow zooms by. I could’ve sworn I saw someone but I don’t know. There are at least ten other stores and shops on this block, it could’ve been anyone. So I push the thought out of my head and decide to head home.
CHAPTER2
CARTER
“Carter!”Reagan greets me on one of my first days at Rainy Day Tattoos.
“Reagan!” I smile back. I’m not normally so excited, but something about a new job and a fresh haircut had made me feel optimistic.
“Wow, what a bold hair change!” Addison comments. “It looks so nice,” she adds with a smile.
“Thank you, I was feeling something different.” I touch my newly cut and colored red hair.
