“Seriously, Beck. Step away from the screen,” Sunny said.
“Don’t listen to her,” Bethany called. “We’re dying back here!”
“I can see that,” I said, keying in the order.
Sunny delivered another pair of drinks to the pick-up counter. “What’s so important that you had to come running over here and put yourself to work, Beck?”
“Just a second.” I scanned the menu on the wall behind me and the items on display in the bakery case while fumbling through the sales screen. “Can you substitute mango juice for orange in the Rise and Shine?”
“Yessssss,” Beth yelled over the roar of her juicer. “Just add it in the special instructions section.”
“Okay. Got it.” I blew through two more orders before saying to Sunny, “We have a serious problem.”
“Oh my god,” she groaned as she shook the hell out of an iced latte. “If you’re here to tell me that last night wasanothermistake, I’m going to—”
“Not about that. Not for a fucking minute.” I swiped a credit card and swiveled the screen for the customer. “Ranger told me the town council is voting on a motion to change the approved hours of operation for food and beverage venues to ten o’clock because some fools a few towns south had to call in the Coast Guard.”
“I heard they had to turn the fire hoses on them,” the customer in front of me said. She brushed some lint off her dry-fit shirt. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”
“Slow down,” Sunny said. “They’re doingwhat? When?”
“Shaving an hour off our hours of operation, and tonight,” I said.
“I haven’t shaved in three years and I’m a happier person for it,” the next woman in line said. She lifted her arm and motioned to the tuft of hair there. She wagged a finger at me. “It’s the patriarchy, you know, telling women they have to waste time and money to conform to these unreal standards.”
“Let me be the first to apologize for my brethren,” I said.
“Probably the last,” she scoffed.
“They can’t do that,” Sunny said. “It took this town four years to decide on which type of grass to put down on the soccer fields at Sheepshead Farm. They won’t change something like this in one day.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Beth pull a huge cucumber from the cooler beneath the counter. It was easily the length of my forearm. With one quick motion, she snapped it in half and then halved those pieces with her bare hands. Our eyes met and she laughed at the surprise she must’ve read on my face.
“They say I’m sweet but a little psycho,” she yelled over the jet engine roar of juicers, coffee grinders, milk frothers, and all these damn people.
“Good to know,” I replied.
“Did you hear me?” Sunny asked. “They’re not making any laws tonight. I really don’t think so.”
“While I imagine you’re right about that, I don’t enjoy gambling when I don’t have a good sense of the odds. We need to go to this town council meeting.” I grabbed two cookies from the bakery tray and bagged them for the customer still figuring out her drink order. “Is this the last of the double chocolate olive oil cookies? Are there more somewhere?”
“If I bring you a tray, can you make them look pretty in the case?” Muffy asked.
“Pretty isn’t your priority right now,” I replied, blinking at the line which was now longer than when I started. Agent Price was queued up just inside the door. I could never shake that shadow. “But yes, I can handle that. If I can put oysters on display and make them look good, cookies will be a breeze.”
“Because everyone knows oysters look like slurpy vaginas?” Muffy asked.
I bit the inside of my cheek to swallow a smile as I met the challenge in her eyes. There were a lot of wrong answers in front of me. There wasn’t much I could say without expecting to be bonked on the head with some tongs. “Because your cookies look amazing. Obviously.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Good catch, bossman.”
“I’m supposed to close tonight,” Sunny said, seemingly immune to the casually hostile side conversation I was having with her partner.
“I can close for you, babe,” Beth said.
“Thank you, honeybun. Toss me an oat milk?”
I watched as Beth threw an underhand pitch of a gallon of oat milk down the prep area and Sunny caught it one-handed. And I thought shucking required coordination.
