Er, for the most part.
I stormed through the front doors of Craft with the hot summer sunshine chasing me. June could still be mild on occasion, but this week the weather had been blazing. And after my very intense Muay Thai grappling workout in a gym that was cooled by giant fans and no internal air conditioning, I’d struggled to lower my body temp. I’d dressed in a loose, boho mini dress with straps that tied over my shoulders and worn my hair pinned back from my face, but I was still red-cheeked and damp.
“Hey,” Will said mildly from behind the bar.
I looked up at him, but my brain was trying to figure out what to do about my apartment and if Adleigh was really going to go to coffee with our dad and would Shane get some of his basketball buddies to help move my stuff too.
Was I going to have to move away from this neighborhood? Damn, was I going to have to find a new gym? A new Pilates studio?
Oh my God, my life was going to get so complicated now. And I had just started to feel comfortable here. I mean, I really loved this section of town. But everything was so damn expensive these days.
Maybe I could get a second job. I was up most of the day anyway. Maybe just something part-time. And then I could stay in my apartment—
“Ada?” Will’s voice was sterner this time, worried.
I blinked out of my internal spiraling and tried to smile. He flinched, so I wasn’t sure if I pulled it off. “Sorry,” I murmured. “I’ve had a weird day.”
His brows drew down in immediate concern. “Are you okay?”
Wrestling my face into submission, I nodded placidly. “Yes, fine. Why?”
“You look a little—”
“I’m fine,” I said before he could say what I looked like. That was the last thing I needed to hear. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got caught up—”
He waved me off. “Do you even have a set schedule? I assume you’re here whenever you need to be here. We trust you, Ada. You don’t have to explain.”
Will’s gentle concern was as much of a trigger for my haywire emotions as Adleigh’s announcement to abandon me and meet up with our dad. I didn’t want to think of myself as hard-hearted or cold, but damn, why was it that Will genuinely caring about me messed me up so badly? Why did his kindness feel as dangerous as anything else I’d faced today?
There were sirens in my head. A whole system of internal alarms had been tripped, and I wasn’t sure how to reset them. Suddenly, I wanted to go into full lockdown mode. Push everyone away. As far as they could go. Find a bunker somewhere and throw myself in it. But I had work. And responsibilities. And now I needed to figure out if I could afford my apartment or not.
“Thanks.”
Will looked even more worried. “Ada, listen, if you ever need to talk to someone—”
“Please stop,” I groaned. Best to deflect with sarcasm. “I’m good, Will. I’m just frazzled. And I hate feeling frazzled. So please keep your emotional interventions to yourself, yeah?”
He snorted. “Okay, yeah. Sorry. I’m not used to caring about people. Lola is fucking with my whole personality. Whatever. Er, sorry.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “I’m happy you’re happy. But tell Lola to give you your balls back please.”
He threw a green olive at me. I ducked out of the way and did not retrieve it. He could track it down himself.
“Ally’s waiting for you in the office.”
Oh shit.“Oh shit! I forgot about her.”
Hurrying to the kitchen, I tried to ignore the onslaught of stress that bounced right back. This was why I was mad I was late. Not because of Will, but because I’d asked Ally to meet me so we could finish her training. I’d dropped the ball. And I hated failing—even if it was minimal.
The kitchen buzzed with tension as I stepped through the swinging door. Case and Joey had their backs to each other using their giant knives for prep work in a violent sort of way that made me think of heads beneath guillotines.
“Hey, guys,” I greeted over the loud blare of music. Case used to keep his speaker at a pleasant volume. But there was a disagreement early on when Joey first started working here about the style of music and someone always interrupting his favorite song. And now, when we weren’t officially open, the rest of us had to put up with full blast.
Eliza had stepped in and tried to mediate from her human resources boss standpoint, but I was pretty sure it had ended in Case flipping a table and threatening to walk out. So the rest of us put up with the music.
Even if I wanted to pick up his Bluetooth speaker and chuck it into the alley.
Ally was chatting Eliza’s face off when I stepped into the office. Eliza was doing her best to pay attention, but I was pretty sure the glazed-over look to her expression meant she might have fallen asleep with her eyes open.
