“Jesus,” I breathed, hand to my thumping heart. “Make a noise or something next time.”
“I called out,” she said, handing me one of the cups. “You were too distracted.”
Ugh. “Yeah, sorry.”
“You got busy in here. Looks great.”
“That’s mostly Deacon’s doing,” I said. Given the inventory machine he was.
Her eyes softened, and I needed to not fall down that rabbit hole of misery, so I gestured to the one remaining, rather large box on the table. “Just the Christmas decorations to go. And there should be another delivery today, I think. Well, I hope. We can do another final test run of the point-of-sale system to triple check we’re ready for our first day tomorrow, but it should be an early finish today.” I shrugged. “I hope.”
She gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. “You’re more than ready.”
It wasn’t lost on me that such a simple gesture as touching my arm was what upset Deacon last night. Well, one of the things...
“It should be a more relaxed day, anyway,” I said. Because I was ready. I was soooo ready for the store to be open.
I sipped my coffee and sighed at how good it was. “Did they sell out of the lemon scones already? Just wondering why you didn’t buy any.”
She snorted. “No, there was a whole cabinet of amazingness at the diner, but I thought we could close atlunchtime and have some downtime at the diner. It’ll be the last time we get to do that for a while.”
She was right, and I felt bad for not realizing that. “I’d love that.”
Some rather loud and persistent meows came from the basket. “Oh, Bright,” I said, not even having to see which of the kittens was yelling for a feed. Sure enough, he was trying to climb out. “Listen here, little mister,” I said, scooping him up.
He was so stinking cute.
“They’re growing like weeds,” Ro said, giving him a little pat. “Oh, don’t forget to ask Deacon about introducing some solid food.”
My eyes met hers and I sighed. Right, yes. I had to speak to him.
“You have to speak to him at some point,” she said gently. “He’s their vet. And the longer you leave talking and clearing the air, the harder it will be.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Do you have to work at being right all the time, or does it come naturally?”
She laughed at that. “Oh, darling. Rhetorical questions and sarcasm this early in the day wouldn’t bode well. I should have ordered you a triple-shot latte.”
Yes, yes she should have.
Being this tired before the store opened probably wouldn’t bode well either.
As if she could read my mind, she put her coffee down and pulled the box of Christmas decorations over. “Okay, so for you to have an hour lunch breakandan early night tonight, we need to get cracking. You feed the boys, and I’ll start on this.”
And so that’s what we did.
Ro hummed happily as she took everything out and began to assemble the Christmas stands, and I gave Brighthis much-demanded milk. When it was Merry’s turn to be fed, I took out my phone and, assuming Deacon would be busy at work, I decided a text would be less intrusive and he could reply when he had time.
When he was ready.
Hi, it’s Winter. I have a question about introducing solid food. Mostly for Bright. I think he’s ready but the internet has conflicting information. I wanted to ask you. When you have a moment to reply, that’d be great.
I sent it and let out a slow breath.
Then, realizing far too late, I hadn’t mentioned anything about last night or even conveyed any niceties at all.
I should have said something.
Would he think I didn’t care? Would he prefer I didn’t mention it at all? Would he rather I never mention it at all, or would he want me to acknowledge it so he could get it off his mind without having to be the one to bring it up?
