I was not expecting him to go to my house and get that when I sent the text. I can’t stop the small smile that tilts my lips upward at the thought that he so easily offered. It doesn’t surprise me. He was best friends with my Daddy. They would both do anything for anyone.
Austin
You don’t have to do that, Remi. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I can just tell him he got dirty and is getting cleaned or something. Or I can get their address and mail it to them.
Remington
I know I don’t have to. But I want to. I realize now that I should have been there for you more over the last couple of years. I’m sorry for failing on that part. But it’s no trouble. I’ll get it and stop by. You can repay me by making the strongest drink you can legally give me because this meeting is going to be a doozie today.
I don’t know how to respond to that. Last night was much needed and I definitely want to do it again. The last three years have been hard, dealing with my grief over losing my partner and Daddy. Remingtonwasthere for me. In the beginning hewould stop by the house. He stayed over a couple of nights. He’d bring take out and we’d either watch a movie or just sit in silence. As the months and years went on, I had to move and got busy with the new job and he was taking on new properties. We both started to make excuses. I knew, in the back of my mind, that he would randomly show up just to check in. I took that for granted. I never once reached out to him. He always came to me.
Austin
I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t make an effort to keep in touch. I’m sorry.
I don’t want a repeat of yesterday so I set my phone to the side, screen down, and focus on knocking out some of the reports before the end of the month. The last week of every month is the most stressful. I planned on staying late tomorrow before another lonely weekend, but now that I have something to do, I want to get it done today.
It’s close to an hour later that I hear the bell Jason hastingtingtingand I stand up, stretching my back. I grab my phone, glancing at the text Remington sent half an hour ago.
Remington
You have nothing to be sorry for. We’ll talk more this weekend. I’ll see you shortly.
None other than Remington himself is standing by the coffee counter, koala proudly in hand. He’s wearing a pair ofkhakis with brown shoes and a matching belt. His go-to button down shirt is a faded green color today. His beard is the same as last night, clean and well maintained. It's several inches, the tip hitting his chest. He looks good. In a totally presentable way for a business meeting, I mean.
I offer him a genuine smile and hold out my hand for the stuffie. “Thank you for doing that. You really didn’t have to.”
“I told you I don't mind,” Remington says. He lowers his voice, even though we aren’t within ear shot of anyone. Jason is currently busy with a customer so I know he isn’t listening even if he could. “Although, I did have to go into your room to get it.” His eyebrows raise knowingly and it takes me a second to understand what he means by that.
“Oh, yeah. I was planning on cleaning Friday. But I’ll get it done today.” I never did put away the several different pajamas I tried on before settling with the giraffe one.
“Don’t worry about it tonight,” Remington says. His expression changes, softens. I can see the worry between his eyes and the way his lips are in a thin line. “I’ll be over tomorrow and we’ll do it then, okay? We’ll give the place a good dusting too.”
My face falls at the mention of dusting. If he wants to dust, that means I’ll have to move Paul's books. They haven’t moved since I moved into the house two years ago. Yeah, I would wipe the edges of the bookshelves off and stuff, but it was just me living there. It wasn’t that bad, was it?
“Hey, it’s okay.” Remington places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently. “He was my best friend and I still have memories of us around my place. We’ll make sure to take extra care of everything and put it back how it was, okay?”
I nod, not trusting my voice. He gives me a warm smile and his expression morphs once again into something happier.I know that he’s worried about me. I don’t like when people worry about me. I’m doing okay.
“Now, I think I was promised a hot drink.”
“Just tell Jason to put it on my employee tab and order whatever you want,” I say with a smile. “I have to finish up some paperwork, but thank you for this. I’ll see you later.”
“Text me later,” Remington says before stepping away to get behind a lady waiting for her coffee. I nod and turn back to head toward the office. Tyler is working on replenishing the croissants.
“Hey, Ty. If a mom and her kid come in looking for this little koala, let me know. It was left here yesterday but I’ll have it in the office.”
“Will do,” he says. “Oh, I needed to talk to you about some time off coming up as well. I have a few appointments coming up that I couldn’t schedule outside of work hours.”
“No problem,” I say. “I’ll show you how to put those into the system tomorrow, if that’s okay? I’m trying to finish the paperwork today.”
“Sounds good. They aren’t for another month so plenty of time.”
I make sure that Amir is doing good. He’s finishing up the back stock inventory for me today. Thursdays aren’t terribly busy, outside of the group that comes in in the morning. Tomorrow will be busy, though. Fridays always are. So I really want to focus on this work today.
The next four hours go by in a flash. I have music playing softly from my phone to keep me company. The numbers on the reports start floating together at one point and I stand to walk around and make sure everything is going well. I cleanoff the tables and restock a few items before heading back in to finish. I have maybe another hour left.
Just as I’m about to sit down, the bell chimes. I love the bell, but also don’t. I turn around and walk right back out to the main floor. Jason raises his hand and points out toward the tables.
