Perspiration glistens on her suntanned skin, and little blond curls frizz around her face. A high ponytail swings with each of her steps, brushing her shoulders, bare except for her sports bra straps.
“Holy fucking hell,” Shawn mutters. Then he goes to sit on his stool, misses it, and barely manages to catch himself on the counter before ass-planting on the tiled floor.
Darla takes notice of my customers and narrows her eyes at the men. Thankfully, she doesn’t immediately turn around and run away. That would be the coward’s move.
Darla never gives up territory.
Instead, she saunters my way, hand stretching out for the glass of water I quickly fill for her. Shawn watches as she chugs the refreshment.
Oh, how the tables have turned, dear brother.
She sets the cup down with a thunk, runs her eyes over Shawn, then announces, “That suit makes you look like a corporate asshole.”
And he responds, “Will you marry me?”
Darla looks horrified. Admittedly, Shawn also seems shocked by the words he just uttered.
“Sorry.” He waves his hands as if that will erase the proposal. “That came out wrong. I meant to ask, will you be my date to a wedding?”
“What?” she snaps, the horror still lingering.
“A wedding. Our friends are getting married.” Shawn throws a thumb toward George. “Actually, they’ll already be married. A courthouse thing. This is the reception that everyone is invited to, and I have a plus-one. And we stopped by to give you an invite, too, Beth. From Tasha.” He slips a hand in his suit jacket and pulls out an invite that, sure enough, has my name on it.
“She invited me?”
“Yeah, and could you please come? If for no other reason than to give George someone to talk to. Seriously. You’d think that people who work for a transportation company would be willing to chat with him about planes, but no one does. He just mopes in a corner.”
“I don’t mope,” George protests. Then he faces me. “But if you came, that would be great. We could go together.” He clears his throat. “Drive together.”
“I…” Words fail me as I study the gold embossed letters. A wedding party? With people from BnB?
Sounds like a certain kind of hell.
But Shawn wants me to go. It’s not long until he finds out how shitty a sister I am. Maybe I could lessen the blow by doing him a solid.
When I glance up, I find Darla’s eyes on me.
My best friend probably reads every back-and-forth thought in my mind. And she can tell which way I’m leaning. I told her about the mind-melting kiss during our shift last night, and how I want it to happen again.
She refocuses on Shawn.
“What’s the food situation at this thing?”
My brother gapes, silent for a full count of five. I’m about to reach out and check if he still has a pulse when he revs back to life.
“Good food. Lots of it. Tasha and Annabel love trying different restaurants, so they’ll make sure there’s a delicious spread.”
She tilts her head, studying my brother. “I’m not going to be nice to your business buddies.”
“You’ll go?” His voice is breathless with disbelief.
“If you guarantee I won’t have to pay for any food. If you understand that I currently and will continue to give zero fucks about what the people at the party think about me, and you by extension. And if Beth goes.” She ticks the three points off on her fingers. “Then, yes. I’ll go.”
My brother faces me, eyes wide, obviously holding his breath.
Way to force my hand, I silently think at Darla.
But Tasha was nice to me, and it’s not like this is an official BBN event. Plus, watching Shawn on a kind-of date with Darla could be entertaining.
