“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, darlin’,” I say, looking at her over my mug.
She sips her coffee and her expression turns blissful. “God, I love the clubhouse coffee. Why does it taste better here?”
“‘Cause you didn’t have to brew it yourself.” I jab a fork towards her plate. “Eat more. You’re gonna be runnin’ damage control on Angie and Rob this morning.”
“You make them sound like liabilities,” Natalie says with a laugh.
“Nah. They’re okay, but they ask so many damn questions,” I mutter.
As if summoned, Natalie’s phone buzzes. She glances down at the text message. “Speak of the devil. Angie’s at Pleasant Hills Pharmacy. Doesn’t know whether to mark the temperature log in Celsius or Fahrenheit.”
I chuckle, digging into my pancakes. “Tell her we’re not drug smugglers. Fahrenheit will do just fine.”
Natalie snorts a laugh and texts back. She’s efficient, direct, and calm, which is exactly the kind of support our new hires need. I knew they’d be solid. Still, I’m matching up where they are in their routes to make sure they’re not lagging behind.
Another call comes in. It’s from Rob this time. Natalie puts it on speaker. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’ve got a customer refusing delivery. He says he never ordered these meds.”
“Get his ID,” I say. “Read the script label back to him.”
Rob fumbles for a second, then we hear another voice say, “Oh shit. My wife ordered this. My bad, sorry.”
“Keep it movin’,” I say, sternly. “We’ve got a schedule to keep.”
By the time we finish, we’re both smiling and in a good mood. It’s the latest start we’ve had in a while. We’ve got Rob and Angie doing the early deliveries. That way if anything kicks off, we can jump in and help them and not mess up the later deliveries.
“Damn, I forgot what it felt like to relax for a minute,” Natalie murmurs, brushing her foot against mine under the table.
“I like this,” I admit. “We’re having a nice time and coaching the rookies before our second cup of coffee.”
“Yeah, I agree that spending time with you is nice. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think that our new hires would show up for their first day, much less stick it out for two weeks and execute all their pharmacy pickups without needing help.”
“The pharmacy pickups are the easy part. It’s dealing with customers that’s a challenge.”
“Still, they’re both doing okay,” Natalie says.
“Morning,” a deep voice says from behind us.
Dutch and Tank appear at the edge of our table with the confidence of men who know they’ll be welcome at any table they decide to visit here at the clubhouse. Their eyes bounce from my face to the property cut Natalie’s wearing.
Dutch jerks his chin towards her with a sly grin. “Damn, she looks good in your cut, Bear. Rick’s gonna lose his mind when he gets out of the hospital.”
Tank lets out a low chuckle. “Hope he doesn’t rip out his IV trying to come for you.”
I start to open my mouth to tell them to remember whose table they’re standing at, but Natalie straightens them out before I can get the first word out.
“You’ve got it backwards,” she says, lifting her chin. “It was me who claimed him. If my brother comes after anyone it’ll be me for stealing his best friend away.”
For half a second, they are frozen in place, staring at her. Then Dutch and Tank explode into laughter and keep moving, tossing me glances over their shoulders meant to communicate I’m a lucky man.
I drag my gaze back to her and mutter under my breath, “Shit. That was fuckin’ bold. What are you gonna do if Rick really does come for you?”
She doesn’t even pretend to look repentant. She takes a slow sip of her coffee, eyes bright with mischief. “Plan A is to hide behind you, and plan B is just to run faster than him. Considering his injuries I think I have a head start.”
I snort a laugh, because she’s clearly joking.
“Seriously though, I hope he doesn’t throw me out over this. Or fire me.”
