“Huh,” she said. “I’ll come back to that thought. This one’s a bribe,” she gestured to the coffee I was enjoying. I couldn’t help grinning along with her.
“You might be totally uninterested. I don’t know your circumstances...” She was doing that fumbling thing Rick really enjoyed. Breeze exhaled through her teeth. "I really, really need a cleaner. I know the place is gross at the moment, and I’m precariously close to getting shut down. It’s only because I’m having to do everything by myself. I’ve had a few travellers do it in the past…”
“I have no cleaning experience. Unless cleaning up after myself counts,” I said, shoulders sagging.
I didn’t have any pride left about work. If she wanted to pay me to scrub toilets while my bank balance hovered near the negatives, who was I to say no?
“I can teach you. I’m more interested in personality compatibility,” she said with a shrug. “I tend to go with my gut, and while I’ve only just met you, you seem like one of the good ones.”
I smiled at the compliment, but I worried she’d want to spend less and less time with me the more she got to know me—like most people did.
“I can’t pay you.”
“Oh.” That was one way to end a job interview.
“But seeing as you’re new in town, I’m cruelly hoping you’re stuck for somewhere to stay. We’re a tourist-trade town, so accommodation can be scarce. Especially on short notice.”
Would’ve been helpful to know that before I arrived.
“I can offer you food and board. Nothing fancy.” She pointed to the ceiling, and I assumed she meant the flat above. “And unlimited flat whites.”
She beamed a triangle-shaped smile, but the way her hands twisted at her apron told another story.
My forehead knitted as I considered her offer, while Breeze retied her ponytail and served a few other people before returning.
“Tell me about the room.”
“Single bed, single room. It was mine growing up. The flat’s close quarters, but if you’re not fussy…”
So far, it sounded better than the back seat of my car.
“Food?”
Scarcity mindset, I always needed to know—even if I wasn’t hungry.
“Whatever’s in the cabinet, or the soup of the day. Cereal upstairs. Sometimes I make a frittata if I’m feeling energetic. Sometimes I stress back and it’s glutton valley here. Totally no frills.”
I studied her again, trying to decide if she was the sweetest-looking serial killer I’d ever met or someone who genuinely had a good gut instinct. Judging by the state of the café, she didn’t seem like an anal control freak like Roma. If only I knew my own instincts as well as she claimed to know hers. I had a sneaking suspicion my gut had outsourced everything to my brain, and that idiot was running on caffeine and panic.
I had nothing to lose.
“I’ll take it.” I’d never been one to hesitate before jumping on a rollercoaster.
“Really?” she stuttered, freezing mid-coffee grind. “Thank you, thank you!” She jogged around the counter and hugged me.
My body turned into a statue; touch was a language I’d never learned to speak back. I patted her back, trying to reciprocate.
“The health department’s inspection is in a month. It’d be nice to pass for once and not lose twenty years of my parents’ hard work getting shut down. No pressure.”
No pressure.
Famous last words.
CHAPTER FIVE
I exhaledas I sat on the single bed above Steamy Sips. After unpacking my meagre belongings into the divan drawers, I looked around the small space and felt the first whisper of relief since opening Trevor’s email. I’d set four goals for the day and, even though it was already dark, I only had one left to tick off. The first three had been suspiciously simple.
If finding out who left me the property was as easy as everything else had been so far, I’d be out of here within a week. The thought of returning to London was elating, but something else had settled in my belly. A quiet weight that felt a lot like sadness. I grabbed my phone.
