“Don’t worry about it.”Ashley patted her shoulder.“No judgment.Maybe I’m just imagining things.”
Except that she wasn’t, but Audrey didn’t know how to say that.
She was trying to get up the courage to ask Ashley if she really thought the group would be okay if she had a crush on Mason, but before she could get herself there, the front door opened again, and it began the rush of people for the afternoon.A massive rush.Audrey wasn’t sure where they were all coming from at first, although Ashley eventually asked one of the customers what brought them in.
A video had gone viral of Rebecca in the bakery, Ashley and Audrey’s reactions, and “the hot guy” swooping in.
Whether they were there hoping for more drama, a glimpse at Mason, or because they thought Ashley was hilarious was up in the air, but the bakery was absolutely flooded by customers for the rest of the afternoon.Ashley stayed later than she’d originally planned because they were so busy.
Which totally screwed up her attempt to track what hours were going to be busy, but she wasn’t sad about the new customers.
By the time they closed up, she was almost completely out of inventory, and all of them were exhausted.
Mason texted her that night that there were no updates, and she sent him a thumbs-up before she crashed into bed.
The video had gone evenmoreviral overnight.Thursday was absolute insanity, and she sold out of stock again.Ashley joked that she would have to send Rebecca a thank-you note.
She was tired enough that she was tempted to skip game night and go home and crash again, but she didn’t want to miss out on new friends.Plus, she wanted to see how Yasmine was doing.Although she felt a little guilty because, while she absolutely cared, there was also a part of her that wanted to know for purely selfish reasons.Which made her worry that she was a bad person.
Mason and Yasminewerebroken up, though.
And Yasmine had been the one to end it.
And Audrey could almost swear that Yasmine had been encouraging her in Mason’s direction.
But she needed to besuresure.
So, game night it was.Hopefully, they wouldn’t be playing anything super complicated.
“Hey, I was wondering if you were going to be coming,” Claudia said, appearing pleased when she opened the door and saw Audrey.Today she was wearing black leggings and a grey oversized sweatshirt that went down to mid-thigh, her long hair up in a messy bun, and somehow she still managed to look intimidating.“Ashley called to say that she was too tired after the day at the bakery.”
“It was pretty crazy.I almost didn’t come, and my brain does feel kind of mushy right now,” Audrey admitted as she walked in, taking her coat off as the warm air of the house enveloped her.“I’m hoping you’ll take it easy on me tonight.”
“We can do that,” Yasmine joked, waving at Audrey from the other side of Claudia’s table.“I think it’s going to be a small group tonight, anyway.”
“I’m just going to stand here because I can see Cassidy parking,” Claudia said, waving a hand at Audrey.“Go sit down.”
Which meant sitting down at the table with Yasmine.Despite it being the end of the day, she was wearing a light-blue shirt under a pinstripe vest, half her hair pulled back in a clip.From the waist up, she looked like she would fit right in at any corporate office that happened to hire models.If Audrey had to guess what she was wearing on the bottom half, she would picture a pencil skirt, high heels, and hose with a visible seam going up the back.
As usual, just looking at her made Audrey feel downright frumpy.
“Why a small group tonight?”Audrey asked as she sat, sighing with relief.The short walk from her car to the front door had almost felt like too much.She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to get up anytime soon.Her legs were about to stage a revolt.
Yasmine shot her a sympathetic look.
“Ashley called out because she was too tired to come after today at the bakery.Jennifer is on a date with Dr.Grande.And Naomi is on her period, which means she’s not pregnant again, so she’s staying home.”Yasmine’s lips turned down.“She and Drew have been trying to have a baby, but it hasn’t been going well.She won’t mind you knowing, but don’t bring it up unless she does because she doesn’t really want to talk about it.”
Understandable.Poor Naomi.
“And Brenda’s not coming because apparently Cassidy needs a break from her,” Claudia said teasingly as Cassidy came through the door.Audrey twisted around in her seat to look at her—she looked almost as exhausted as Audrey felt.
She also looked comfortable, in sweatpants and a fuzzy sweater under the warm coat she was shrugging off as she came through the door.
“Sorry Grandma’s giving you a hard time.”
“Honestly, it’s more about being caught between her and your brother.”Cassidy shook her head.“He’s freaking out over this Mick thing, even though I’m pretty sure she’s just messing with him, and the more he freaks out, the more she doubles down.”
“What Mick thing?”Yasmine asked, sitting up and frowning.
