“Oh, fun, just some girl time, then,” she says with a laugh.
She really is a giggle sprite.
“And your wife? Is she coming to paint?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Jamie works a nine-to-five. She bought the craft shop for me as a hobby because I was getting stir-crazy.”
Justboughther a whole-ass shop because she was bored. Bonkers.
“Are you ready?” she asks with way too much enthusiasm.
“Yep, let’s get it,” I say, nodding toward the cafe.
“Yay!” she squeals and grabs a bucket from the back of her car.
This woman really is just the embodiment of hearts and stars.
Her eyes round when she gets closer. “You already cleaned up so well.”
“Kinda have to if we want to paint,” I say.
“I thought I was going to be in for a real long haul,” she says, her lower lip pouting. “I even brought all my cleaning supplies.”
I shake my head with a snort. “You’re crazy.”
She grins. “Yeah, I know.”
I set out the paint and open my notebook on the counter. Lacey leans in, her face lighting up with excitement.
She turns to me with a huge grin. “This is going to beso amazing!”
I huff. “I hope so.”
“Iknowso,” she says, and her eagerness washes away the last of my doubt.
I put on some tunes for work. We surprisingly agree on a playlist titled “Dark Obsession” and of course the subtitle reads, “For all the SmutSluts out there.” We talk about the books we’ve read while we tape the whole place up and lay drop cloths. She’s into romantasy too, but leans more on the sapphic side, for obvious reasons.
By the time we’ve exchanged our favorite recommendations, we’re starting in on the ceiling. The black base goes on easily, so we start on the walls. There’s wood paneling behind the service station that we paint a simple cream color. White would show off coffee stains like mad, but more black would turn this place into a cave—
Or a sexy volcanic bar.
I shake the thought away before I make a horrible painting error that will call attention to my wandering mind. We use a soft blue to accent the wall with the big windows, and cream for the other two. I decide to do the bar trim in cream while keeping the half wall that same blue color to sort of mirror the window wall.
It’s well past noon when we break for lunch.
“I’m ravenous,” Lacey says as she cleans off her paint rollers.
And I have nothing to eat except sweet potatoes and boiled eggs, and no money to go out. School lunches are one thing, but takeout will be too much.
“Hey, you okay?” Lacey asks.
I shrug. “Yeah, sorry. I just didn’t know you were coming so I don’t really have anything for company to eat.”
She raises a manicured eyebrow. “You guys are eating, right?”
“Of course, it’s just…congee, cruller, sweet potatoes, and eggs.”
She smiles. “I know what two of those are, but I’d be more than happy to try something new—if you wanted to share your food! I’m so sorry for just inviting myself to eat here.”
