The hours ticked by, and on the surface, I was busy, upbeat and helpful to everyone who I dealt with. Inside my stomach became a hard, seething knot of worry that I couldn’t shake.
“Make sure you’re drinking,” Tane pressed a sports drink into my hand, already open.
“Thanks, babe.” I downed half of it.
A while later, Aster passed me a blueberry protein bar on his way to take a break. I was opening a new box of bags of potato chips. “Snacks are important. Breaks too, but I know I can’t convince you to take one of those.”
I chuckled and saluted him with the protein bar. “You know me too well.”
We kept it all going, and then, abruptly, at around two in the afternoon, the store went quiet.
Christian slumped onto a stool and took a deep drink from a water bottle. Aster disappeared into the back. Tane came to find me, a turkey sandwich in his hand.
“Sit and eat,” he said.
“Bossy.” I took the sandwich from him and sat down on the floor in front of the chilled drinks.
Tane chuckled. “Yeah, I guess there is fine.”
“Give it a half hour, if it’s still quiet, I’ll send you and Christian home.”
Tane nodded and left me to it.
I ate the sandwich, although my stomach was all tension and I didn’t feel hungry at all. Halfway through the sandwich I got upoff the floor and went back to where Aster was sprawled over the most comfortable chair, eyes closed.
“You okay?”
Aster’s eyes opened and he sat up. “Yeah, bro, all good. Just tired, and not sure how I’m going to make it through the concert thing tonight.”
The food drive, and Tane’s planned live music... I’d all but forgotten about it. I knew it would be a good event, something wonderful, even, but at that moment it all felt too hard.
“The food drive, yeah, I think the fire station guys are coming to collect the donations around four. If you could help them out that’d be awesome, then you can head home and rest.”
Aster nodded. “Anything you need, I’m on it.”
I smiled. Christian had said much the same thing to me earlier, and although he hadn’t said it, Tane was acting the same way.
All these wonderful, sweet men were doing their best to take care of me. What had I done to deserve them? It was like I was blessed or something. Although my aching feet didn't feel particularly blessed…
Their generosity enough to make me want to cry. But I couldn’t cry, I had the rest of the shift to get through.
Half an hour later, the shop was still deserted so I sent Tane and Christian home.
“Go rest your voice.” I kissed Tane’s cheek. “You’re on MC duties this evening, after all.”
“Text if it gets busy again, okay?”
“I promise.”
With just Aster and me in the store, I started to relax. It was just family, and our family business. We sat on stools behind the checkout and watched the light rain coming down outside the window.
“You okay?” Aster said, after a while.
“Yeah,” I said, on automatic.
Aster turned to give me a look that said he knew I wasn’t being honest with him.
I sighed. “I’m worried, Tane’s present was meant to be here already, and it’s not.”
