“I am so fucking sorry, Rhett, if I just lost all your work. I should’ve just waited for you.”
“Here.” I pass him the cup with the H. “Diamond said it’s your usual and you should get it before it’s cold.”
He takes the cup with a chuckle and drinks before he sighs. “He’s not wrong. But here, try to find your program. Please find it.”
He leaves the desk chair, and I take his place while he flops on the full-size sofa across the room. Hunter said he wanted a quiet and comfortable space for any of us to use. Mostly me, since I’m in charge of the schedule and most of the marketing because of my university business degree, but any of us can chill out here with the sofa, a small fridge, and a decent-size bathroom with a built-in shower. Like I said, it’s more of a suite than an office.
“Tell me what happened and what you were doing.”
Hunter explains how he was trying to add an extra month and hit delete when it wasn’t what he wanted. Then the screen showed nothing.
“Okay, let me look in the back end, but I don’t think you deleted the entire thing, Hunter.”
As I’m clicking around and closing the dozen different browser windows he has opened, I sip the banana coffee absently.
“So you stopped by The Thirsty Cow on your own? Can I assume you and Diamond are okay now?”
“I think so. Oh, that reminds me.” Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the cookies and slide them across the desk. “He made a new cookie and gave me one for each of us.”
Hunter laughs fondly as he removes a cookie from the bag and returns to the sofa. “He knows who to make his guinea pigs, that’s for sure. Between Jamieson and me, we sample nearly everything he makes, and I have to say…he’s never had a miss yet. He’s very talented.”
“I’ll say. I’m drinking banana-flavoured coffee. I’d never have tried it if not for him. Coffee is…I don’t know. It’s coffee, so just let it be.”
I click around a bit more and discover Hunter had somehow duplicated my schedule outside the program I use. While nothing is lost, I’m completely baffled by how he managed this.
“Did I fuck it up?”
“It’s all recovered and good to go. Next time, just leave me a note, and I’ll add it in.”
“Right. Good plan.” He pulls a tiny notebook from his pants pocket with a small pencil and writes a note before shoving it back in his pocket. “There. I’ll buy myself some sticky notes for that.”
“Did you just write it down so you don’t forget?”
“Yeah.”
“You know you could use the notes app on your phone, so you don’t need a notebook?”
Hunter nods thoughtfully. “You know…I never thought of that.”
We both laugh, and I lean back in the chair to try Diamond’s cookie. It’s so rich and flaky and…fucking delicious. “My god, that’s good. Wonder if he’ll make more of these?”
“If you tell him you like them, he will.”
“Pfft, I’m one guy. He has to have a solid base of interested customers to make a profit.”
My grandpa owned a restaurant. I know too well how slim profit margins are in the food business. Diamond would need more than me to eat cookies.
Hunter snorts. “Have you seen the way our group devours desserts? Actually, I guess you haven’t since we haven’t had another game night since you arrived.” He raises an eyebrow. “Or spent much time with us at The Thirsty Cow.”
He’s right. I stayed away because of the awkwardness I created with Diamond. Until today, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back.
“I’ll be more social.”
Hunter studies me as I work. Since I brought up the schedule and he mentioned extending it, I do that now in case he ‘forgets’ and tries again. But something is bugging me, and if I can ask anyone without judgment, it would be Hunter.
“Uh, can I ask you something about Diamond?”
“Sure.” He finishes his coffee and tosses the cup into the trash. “What do you want to know?”
