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“Well, I can’t exactly make it better if I’m not allowed in her bakery anymore,” I mumble under my breath.
“Damn, now all I can think about are her muffins,” Charlie says after a moment, and I roll out from under the car I’m working on and try giving her my most endearing look. “What do you want me to get for you?”
“Oh, thank God! If she has any puppy chow, I want all of it. Same with her croissants, and one of each of everything else she has on display. Then, a medium latte with an extra shot,” I tell her, silently forgiving Charlie for every time she hurt me.
“Woah! That’s a wholelattestuff!” Charlie cracks back, laughing at her truly horrible joke as I frown and pull my wallet out of my pocket. “Come on! That was funny!”
“It was almost as painful as the first time you made coffee and nearly killed me,” I tell her, before catching the look on her face. I throw her a wink to soften my words, but I firmly believe that laughing at people’s puns only encourages them. “Here, this should be plenty for mine and yours. Tip her. Just not an obnoxious amount because I don’t want her to think I’m trying to buy my way into her good graces.”
With that, I keep working when she goes to make the run. It’s nearly lunchtime when Connal pulls up with their daughter and realizing she’d been gone nearly an hour, the two of us are scratching our heads, wondering where Charlie could have gotten to.
“Can you keep an eye on Gemma, while…” Connal starts, before squinting his eyes, like he just remembered who he’s speaking to. “Never mind, I’ll give Charlie a few more minutes.”
Just as we turn to head inside, Charlie pulls up and my stomach twists into a knot when I see thecat who ate the canarysmile on her face.
“You owe me. Big,” she calls out, as I head toward her SUV. Since she’s popped the back hatch open, I walk straight there to start unloading the purchases and my stomach rumbles at the scent that rolls out.
“The box on top is mine,” she tells me, coming around with three coffees in a little carrier. She doesn’t offer to help me carry the boxes, but reaches up to close the hatch and follows me inside. “Molly just knew that I was there on your behalf, especially because the order included all of that puppy chow that you love. And shealmostturned it down, except then that awful lady who just opened the combined yoga studio and holistic store, showed up.”
I shake my head, having no idea who or what she’s talking about.
“Well, she came in and interrupted my order to pick up some gluten free bread that she had ordered. I, graciously, told the woman that I would wait, since I wasn’t in a hurry, but I could tell Molly was mortified. So, she gets the two loaves of bread from her case and the woman doesn’t even thank either of us. She had opened the door, but next thing I know she’s right back next to me and pretending I don’t exist,again.”
“Do I need to kill someone?” Connal asks with a smirk on his face, entering the break room in time to hear the end of that. I reach for my coffee and eye the boxes, trying to figure out where to start.
“Possibly,” Charlie replies as though she’s thinking about it, before taking Gemma from him and indicating his coffee. “The shrew then wants to confirm that the bread is vegan. Molly’s like, no, you ordered gluten-free, which has eggs in it. The bitch loses her shit and wants her money back; she had paid for it in advance since gluten-free bread is considered a special order.
“Well, Molly has a very clear policy of no refunds on special orders, and now the customer’s yelling about it being Molly’s fault and that everyone knows that gluten-free and vegan are, quote,virtually synonymous.”
“Christ, is Molly okay?” I ask, wondering if the woman is leasing space from Flint.
“The sheriff walked in right about then, and asked if there was a problem,” Charlie says, trying to take sips of her coffee and bounce her daughter at the same time. “The woman looks from him to me, like she just realized I was there, then leans across the counter to Molly and whispers, ‘Just wait until you see my Yelp review!’. She left the bread on the counter and rode off on her broom.”
“Hmm, I’m surprised she didn’t try to have Molly arrested for it,” Connal snorts and Gemma makes a gurgling sound that her parents seem to think is a laugh.
Just then, I have an idea and open my phone, first searching for the store in question before I continue.
“So anyway, Royce, hello! This is the part you owe me for,” Charlie says, clicking her tongue to make sure she has my attention. “After Michaels left, we were talking some more and I have convinced her to allow you back into the bakery. The condition being that you aren’t allowed to hit on her or ask her out. Ever again.”
“Huh,” I grunt, not really paying attention as I concentrate on the app in front of me.
“What do mean, huh? What are you doing?” she asks, but I wait until I finish and look up, smiling at them.
“I just ordered lunch to be delivered to the yoga lady,” I tell them, very proud of myself.
The two of them exchange a glance, and while Charlie looks confused, Connal is grinning ear to ear. He does have better insight to the inner workings of my mind, after all.
“A half dozen sliders, with bacon and cheese,” comes my reply to the question Charlie has yet to ask. “I over-tipped the driver in advance.”
She laughs, throwing her head back, and this time, Gemma legitimately laughs with her mom. “That’s so evil.”
“Fucking twisted, man,” Connal agrees, fist bumping me.
“But really, you can go back to Molly’s on your own now,” Charlie says, turning me back to the original topic.
“No, I can’t. ‘Cause I’m sure as hell gonna hit on her, and I’m sure as fuck gonna ask her out, whenever I do see her. You tell her that.” With that bit of news, I turn to rummage through the baked goods she got for me, and getting some baggies from a drawer, I sort out the items I won’t get to for a day or so.
Connal and Charlie are still staring at me when I finish up and head back to the bay to figure out which vehicle is up next.
