Janice came bustling in, just behind Marge Callahan, stomping their shoes on the mat. “Morning, girls! Morning,Easton,” Janice sang. “Are you here to supervise or just eat pastries again?”
“Can’t a man do both?” East replied dryly, taking a giant bite of his cinnamon roll, making the older woman laugh.
They went straight for the case, cooing over the cake slices while Mia launched into her best sales pitch. Some were pretty straightforward, but we had some specialties. “This one here is after a Fraisier cake, and that one is a pear frangipane.” She pointed out dutifully while the women cooed. “We have our Bletchley Lemon Drizzle slices today too.”
East leaned closer to me, voice dropping. “Wade told me he’s got more info coming in about Milton’s filings. He didn’t say much, but he said he’d tell us tonight.”
My stomach sank, but I nodded. “Okay.”
Sage’s eyes flicked toward me, catching that tone immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I’ll tell you later.”
The last thing I wanted was for Janice and Marge to hear any gossip about what was going on with Derek and the bio-dad. They wouldn’t mean anything by it, but I’d like the whole thing to just fade away into resolution-land.
Marge looked up from the counter. “Oh! Before I forget — what’s the new book for next month, Lila? We’re all dying to know.”
I smiled, tucking a curl behind my ear. “No hints. You know that. But I’m looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting so we can all finish up our current book. I hope you’re enjoying it.”
“Oh yes. It’s been super interesting. I’ve already finished it. Got to the point of no return,” Janice said smugly. It wasn’t a big surprise that she’d finished early. Janice was a quick reader anyway.
“Nice job, Janice. No spoilers.” It was East who reminded her, but Marge gave him a grateful look. I knew for a fact that East had already finished listening to it. “I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had a chance to finish it yet,” he fibbed.
“Better hop to it, Holt. Your girl waits for nobody,” Janice chuckled as she accepted her slice of cake from Mia before she and Marge headed to their table.
Sage gave a little laugh. “She’s not wrong. You are an impatient thing.”
“That is true,” East whispered as I went by. I could practically feel the blush creeping over my cheeks, and I stepped back behind the counter to find something to keep busy with.
“I really loved the selection this month, and your costume was to die for. The victory rolls and the tea dress,” Mia sighed dramatically. “I especially loved the whole drama bit you did with that thrifted adding machine. Can’t believe you managed to dig that up.”
Sage nodded. “That was super cool. You did look gorg.”
It had been a lot of fun creating the drama and lighting. It was almost like putting on a small theater show to reveal the books each month. I had East help me set up the last one, and he was the one who found the old adding machine that I hunched over and “typed” on, making it look almostlike an Enigma machine that I used to silently pull out pre-printed messages for each person, showing the book title.
East leaned back in his chair, his eyes gentle as he watched me banter with them. It felt like life was settling into place again. Of course, I had to think about Wade talking to me later. There was still the other shoe that felt like it was about to drop. I knew another blow was coming. East had asked if I wanted to talk to Milton, and my gut reaction was ‘no’. I wanted nothing to do with him except for Wade to figure out why he was here. He was nothing to me. Resolution was what I needed.
47
Easton
I’d reluctantly left Chapter & Crumb behind after polishing off my cinnamon roll and stealing a few kisses between the book stacks. I’d left Penn over at the Willet’s place, ripping out tile for the last hour, and promised I’d return before the dumpster was delivered. My favorite spot was right next to Lila, but my business didn’t run itself, and she hated the hovering anyway.
“Yo.” Penn gave me a nod as I came in the slider of the Willet property. They’d gone off on a mini-vacation now that we were in tear-out mode, which was always for the best.
Penn had gone to town in the last hour and was covered in a fine sheen of sweat and construction dust. He knew how to work hard, that was for sure.
“Dumpster was just behind me.” I could actually hearthe telltale scrape right now. I’d spoken with the driver when I went by, so I knew it was going down just where I wanted. “I’ll start hauling this shit out.”
“Sounds good, boss. We’ll get ‘er done.” He swung the mallet again, refocusing on the tile.
It did sound good. Pulling on my gloves, I began hauling out debris and settled into the monotony of the job. Even this kind of work brought me satisfaction because of the sense of accomplishment with each handful of trash I cleared away, the clang as it dropped into the dumpster, and the muscles I engaged as I bent and moved. Physical labor was a joy for me. It meant my body was operating at its full potential. Like a machine, I was running smoothly. After about twenty minutes, Penn helped clear the pile, and we swept up, leaning on the broom and looking over the kitchen.
The tile, counters, and appliances were gone, and next the cabinetry had to be yanked out. Those we’d have to be a little more careful with. No splash and dash on those.
“Habitat for Humanity, yeah?” Penn asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. They’re good cabinets.” I wouldn’t have replaced them myself, but I was just here to do what the customer wanted, not to question their choices. When I asked if they wanted to keep them, they said no.
