Zen sets a plate of eggs on the low table next to my chair, then drops into the seat Sabrina vacated with an uttered excuse ofI’ll get Jitter to doggy daycare and be back for my shift.
They prop their feet up on the small hearth around the central stone fireplace in the dining room and give me a look that means I have some explaining to do. “I expected Sabrina Sullivan to be fabulous after her emails and what I found out about her from the town’s socials, plus there was how much your good friend Charlie—”
“Chandler.”
“—Your good friend Douche Canoe clearly didn’t like her based on how he treated her in that video, but I had no idea she’d bethatfabulous. How awesome is that dog? Oh, and by the way, the next time yousleepwith an employee, maybe a heads-up beyondwe made passing acquaintance in Hawaiiwould be appropriate? This changes everything.”
“I highly suggest you don’t repeat a word of that out loud ever again.”
“Uncle Grey. You haven’t datedanyonesince Felicia-who-makes-me-wish-I-could-have-amnesia. A one-night stand is something to celebrate, even if it’s with Chazarella’s cousin. And you didn’t even tell me.”
I lift the tea and hold the warm mug in my hands, grateful for the heat. It’s chilly here. Zen insists it’s almost seventy degrees in the building, but I’m still cold. Fingers. Toes. My nose too, so I take an extra moment to sniff the fragrant Earl Grey scent in all of its steaming glory before taking another sip. “I was a target.”
Was I?
Did she know who I was?
I don’t know. I have no idea what Chandler told her or what she found out on her own by listening in to everything around her.
But I know I’ve been stabbed in the back enough times in my life that it’s safer to assume she targeted me.
Even if logic tells me that if I’d been a target, she wouldn’t have ghosted me the way she did. Unless she was counting on me to be so thrilled to see her again that I’d forget how much I worried over how she left.
But that seemed like genuine shock to find me here this morning. Was it genuine, or did she have a lot of time to practice?
Trying to think like a vengeance mastermind makes my head hurt. And considering how much I love a good puzzle, that’s saying something.
Zen makes a low, displeased noise. “Word of advice from someone who’s been misjudged because of assumptions their whole life—don’t treat her like Charisma two-point-oh.”
“Chandler,” I correct instead of letting myself feel the guilt that comes with Zen’s reminder. If Sabrina had been anyone other than Chandler Sullivan’s cousin and my new employee, I would’ve been thrilled to see her this morning.
“Do we like him enough to call him by his real name? You squeezed a china tea cup so hard you crushed it with your bare hand when you got his first email asking for money.”
“Would you prefer I call you Zsa Zsa?” I toss back.
“Uncle Grey. I would behonoredthat you’d think I was that fabulous.”
I blow a slow breath out my nose, sending steam flowing around my nostrils since my tea mug is still so close. “Sabrina Sullivan told me herself that she’s a gossip, and she’s also a liar. Don’t tell her anything you don’t want repeated.”
“She’s a liar?”
“She told me she worked in a beauty salon in Jawbone, Virginia, and that she was a horrible person for screwing up her best friend’s tropical vacation by not telling her she was sleeping with a kitten murderer.”
Zen screws up their face, and then bursts out laughing.
“So glad you’re amused,” I say dryly. “You realize it’s a lot easier to fire you than it is to fire her?”
“Look, Uncle Grey, I’m not saying she’ll be my best friend, but you can’t blame a girl for fudging details when she’s prominently featured in the internet’s most viral video since Baby Shark. You look at how this location’s running, especially compared to the two other locations Chipmunk bought, and it’s clear she’s a good manager. Someone who’s this integrated into a community will make or break a business. If I were you, I’d give her the benefit of the doubt and make sure she wants to keep working here after the renovation and relaunch. Or at least make sure she doesn’t sabotage us.”
“You just like her dog.”
“Don’t be an ass. If that dog had belonged to anyone else, you’d be sharing your eggs with it right now.”
They’re not wrong. And that’s annoying too.
Perfect woman in Hawaii.
Fluffy, furry, drooly doggy here.
