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A text message asking Remi James to come in early for her shift to chat about a few changes popped up on her cell from her boss, Gabriella, at exactly 9:09 a.m. Already a numerology omen. Not that Remi believed in that kind of stuff. But her roommate, Ben, did, and some of his insufferable optimism had rubbed off on her these last seven years.
Gabriella ended the text with a smiley face. Gabriella didn’tdosmiley faces.
Remi tapped her feet into the pea-green-and-brown cracked linoleum floor in her and Ben’s tiny kitchen and refrained from jumping up and down. A micro-squeal slipped from her lips, and she snapped her mouth shut.
Ben glanced up and cocked a perfectly groomed eyebrow.
“What?” She tossed up a hand. “What are you looking at?”Okay, fine. Maybe she was being a little suspicious. She didn’t do smiles either—unless the potential of a tip from one of her bar patrons existed, of course.
But today, just like Gabriella’s text, she was smiling.
He cleared his throat with a not-so-subtleeh-hem. “Did you just almost dance?”
“No.” She shoved her phone in her pajamas pocket and poured herself a cup of coffee.
He crossed his golden-brown arms, and flashed a dimpled grin. “Nope. I distinctly saw foot shimmy action. Spill it, Remington. Or I’m gonna call the hospital and have you involuntarily admitted for a full MRI.”
She rolled her eyes. “Less than six months of being a nurse and you drop words like ‘MRI’ on the daily. It’s annoying.”
“You know, that’s a super common word.”
She picked up a frayed-edged pillow from the couch and threw it at him. “Nobody likes you.”
He shoved the pillow behind his head. “That’s not what I heard in the bedroom with my last girlfriend. And boyfriend.”
“Gross.” The last thing she wanted to think about was the type of sex her roommate—who was like her brother—had with anyone. The paper-thin walls in their two-bedroom apartment were enough to make her frequently want to gouge out her ear canals with a rusty butterfly switchblade.
As he rose from the flamingo-pink couch they found next to the dumpster when they first moved in seven years ago, the single remaining spring squeaked. He grabbed his rainbow sasquatch mug from the coffee table and joined her in the kitchen. “You find another loan officer?”
She shook her head and swiped a dark, curly chunk of hair that fell in front of her eyes. Pretty sure she had gone through every home loan officer in all of Seattle and dipped into a fair chunk of Western Washington. She had half a mind to cross the border into Vancouver to see if a Canadian banker would take pity. After a year of living off ramen noodles, mac ’n’ cheese, and bananas, armed with more savings than she ever dreamed possible, she visited a home loan officer. And then another, and another. After begging, pleading, and even dropping a swear word or two—which did not help her cause—they all came back with the bottom line: she needed more savings, or a salaried position.
And today she’d get one of them. Becausetoday was the day.
She blew into the mug and sipped. “Gabriella wants me to come in early for my shift.”
“So?”
“So?So?” she asked. “She never asks that. She doesn’t want to pay extra hourly wages for us to come in early.”
He twisted his mouth as he rinsed his cup.
Although Ben had never worked at his aunt Gabriella’s bar, Remi knew he understood Gabriella was as frugal as they came. “I’m getting the promotion.” She grabbed the towel hanging from the stove and dried his dishes. “I feel it down to my burgundy, chipped toenail polish. It’s comin’, grasshopper.”
He reached for a box of cereal and dug out a handful of dry corn flakes. “Did she say that?”
“I already told you what she said.”
He leaned against the sink. “Well, you’ve kissed Gabriella’s ass enough over the years that your lips are probably numb.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Let’s call it ass dusting. I have some pride left.”
“I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and have them crushed,” he said between crunches. “Maybe she needs to talk to you about health codes or wants help with the menu or something.”
Remi loved Ben, of course. He was as close to a family member as she had. But right now, Remi neededinsufferably optimistic Ben, notpractical nature Benwho made her want to drop-kick him in the liver. “Do not kill my buzz. Please don’t do this.”
He popped another handful of cereal in his mouth and returned the box to the cabinet. “It’s just sometimes you read into things?—”
“Ben. Stop.”
