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My young friend scrambled up when he saw Ed and straightened his half-apron before walking over to take the deer-shifter’s order.
Speaking of spas…oh, what I wouldn't have given at that moment to be at a day spa. There wasn't much I missed about living in California, but I did miss the pampering. I supposed we could drive to the city for a girl’s day, but the restaurant required constant work. I looked at my bright red, shapely nails and had to admit, Dolly, who owned the local beauty shop, gave a mean manicure.
Mike Rogers, the owner of Grizzly Hardware, and yep, you guessed it, a bear shifter, walked in, his shoulders rounded forward, his mouth set in a grim line. He looked around for a second, spotted his target and headed straight for Ed. His dark brown hair was disheveled, and he held his meaty hands in tight fists.
Jo Jo yelped with surprise as Mike shoved him aside. I grabbed Jo Jo to stop him from getting involved then put myself between the nineteen-year-old and possible danger. My pulse sped up, and the voice I’d been hearing since my kidnapping, said,Keep calm. You will not be harmed.
Thevoicehad kept me sane, kept me strong. It had been a coping mechanism according to Sunny and her pop psychology, a way to not be alone during the darkest hours of my life. Mike looked ready for a fight, and he’d probably triggered my imaginary friend. The voice seemed to pop up during times of extreme stress, pain, or fear. Right now, stress and fear were featuring prominently in my emotions. I was sure Ed could take care of himself, but I’d seen Mike lose his cool before.
At the town council meeting, he was one of the few people who wanted to tell the Tri-Council about Sunny being human. In fact, she was the only human in town, or at least, the only non-shifter. Since she was psychic, I didn’t really know for sure if she was like a normal human. Since the baby, her gifts had been more miss than hit. Luckily, Mike had been voted down, but I didn’t trust him not to blab. Babe and our town could be in a whole lot of trouble if the powers-that-be found out Sunny wasn’t a therian. Damn it.
“You need to take this outside, Mike.” I waved my hands. “Whatever this is.”
“Ed here has recommended to the street vendors to get their hardware supplies at ACME in Lake Ozarks. He’s been telling people I’m price gouging.”
Ed didn’t bother to stand up. “You’ve marked your prices up significantly this past week, Mike.”
Mike’s full cheeks puffed up red. “What business is it of yours?”
“I’m one of the town liaisons for the Tri-Council, and I told you two days ago that if you didn’t lower your inflated prices, this would be the result.”
“I won’t have you tearing down my good name, Ed. I won’t have you damaging my business reputation.”
Ed turned his gaze up to Mike. “You’ve done that to yourself.”
Mike tried to lunge for Ed, but I got between them, barely holding him off, and thankful he hadn’t thrown a punch.
“Get out of here.” I pushed harder against him, glad that Sunny had ducked into the kitchen.This man is a coward. He will not act.The voice in my head tried to reassure me, but I didn’t want to take the chance. “Leave now before I call the sheriff.”
Mike leaned in, his finger shaking as he pointed to Ed. “I’ll see you rot for this, Ed Thompson. You haven’t heard the last from me.” He eased up, turned around, and walked out angrier than when he’d walked in.
“Holy crap.”
“I’m sorry that happened here, Chav,” Ed said.
“Me too,” I told him. Fights in Sunny’s Outlook were bad for business. Not to mention, my sanity. “Jo Jo, finish taking Ed’s order.”
You did well, sister.
Thanks, I told my imaginary friend.Everything is good now. You can get out of my head.
The dinner crowd hit hard about five-thirty. The omnivores and herbivores seemed to really like our Thursday specials of avocado and cucumber spring rolls and the roasted veggie wraps. The soup of the day was split pea, and the scent, thick and sweet, clung in the air. The soup made a great dipping sauce, too.
I'd be a happy-tired at closing time when I cashed out the drawers. Especially since the restaurant needed new drains and pipes. The old drains kept flooding, and it was a pain the ass to keep the sump pump running all the time—not to mention the extra cost on the electric bill as a result.
Yep, the Jubilee was good for business. The whole town felt a real sense of pride that the Tri-State Council had decided to hold their annual mucky-muck celebration in Peculiar.
I glanced at Sunny, who’d just delivered an order to a table of four. There were times over the past couple of years when I had debated on whether I should bring her to Peculiar from California. I’ll admit, seeing her and my younger brother Babe so happy made me simultaneously thrilled and nauseous at times, but I know I made the right call.
I really hoped she could get through the week without making waves with the visiting therians. The town might have accepted her as an official member of the community, but it didn't mean the outsiders would. For now, I hoped we could keep Sunny’s “humanness” a secret. The only way to truly tell a shifter was the see him or her shift. Sunny would need to stay hidden somewhere on the last day of the Jubilee when the full moon occurred—and every therian shifted whether they wanted to or not.
“Chavvie?” Jo Jo interrupted my train of thought. “Can I get off a little early tonight?”
“Got a hot date?”
“No.” He blushed an amazing shade of pink. “It's just…well, I'd like to get a few groceries before I go home. Maybe show off my new mad cooking skills tonight.”
His dad had been sober going on nine or ten months, but the kid was in a constant state of worry whether Brady would relapse. Sunny and Babe lived on a property close to the cabin where I'd recovered after my kidnapping. I’d taken over the tiny apartment above the restaurant. Sunny had made a good start of making it livable before she'd moved out. I’d gotten rid of all the old furniture and replaced it with a more coastal design or what Ruth liked to call modern beach rustic.
