A knock at the door made her flinch before calling out, “Come in.”
If you dare, she wanted to add. She hated to have such a poor attitude so early in the morning. Usually, she wasn’t such a grump…at least not until the end of a long day.
Francine Boudreaux opened the door wide enough to stick her head in. “Too busy to chat or do you want to vent?”
Beryl laughed. “Choice number two, for sure. Grab a seat, Francine.”
Francine was one of the first employees Beryl had met when she took over the Supernova Supermarket. The previous owner had not been a very good boss to any of the people working here, but Francine especially had been picked on. Fixing that issue was the first thing Beryl took care of.
The Ashcraft siblings had made a lot of changes for the better. Francine had been a very good employee from the start. She had been particularly helpful when Beryl and her siblings arrived. As a result, she and Francine had become quite good friends.
Her husband, Raphael Boudreaux, was a part-time galactic bounty hunter and worked belowstairs with Cam Grey in security for the Big Bang Truck Stop. Francine often joined him on his adventures across the galaxy, but was very good about giving notice when she was going to be gone for an extended time.
In fact, she’d recently returned from a month-long absence. Beryl envied the couple’s great marriage and the close, loving relationship they shared. She had hoped for the same life for herself, once upon a time. Alas, it turned out not to be in the cards for her. Despite Beryl’s busy day, she wanted to take time to catch up with her friend. Plus, she needed to tell someone who cared about Jake.
Francine parked herself in front of Beryl’s desk and said, “So, I saw Sam Brody leaving as I was coming into the parking lot. Is he still hot on your trail?”
“Yep.” Beryl rolled her eyes, then thought about Jake Jones and smiled.
“What was that? An eyerollanda smile? What has happened? Have you changed your mind and decided to date the deputy?”
She huffed. “Nope. I met someone.”
Francine grinned. “Awesome. Do tell. When did you meet this new man in your life?”
“This morning as I was trying to let Sam down easy, again. I really hope he’s figured out that I don’t want to go out with him.”
“He should have figured it out a long time ago,” Francine said. “The man’s practically a stalker. What happened today and does it have anything to do with the terrible noises coming out of the ice machine up front?”
“It’s a long story about the ice machine meltdown, but basically, Jake Jones from Dark Matter Metal & Leather stopped in just when it lost a bracket on the back corner. He’s going to make a custom one for me. That will at least take care ofsomeof the noise.”
“Awesome.” Francine grinned. “And what else is he going to do for you?”
Beryl planted her elbow on her desk and settled her chin in her cupped hand. “I don’t know yet. But I like him.”
“Excellent.”
“Sam seemed to understand that I liked Jake the moment I saw him. And I really did. I’m talking, like, wow.”
Francine perked up in her chair. “Tell me about Jake Jones. Everything! I’ve been to Dark Matter Metal & Leather, but I only saw the store manager. Frederick something?”
“I guess. Well, Jake is tall with dark blond hair, blue eyes and a sunny disposition.” Beryl shook her head. “I don’t knowwhat happened. I just knew the instant I saw him that he would be important to me. Is that crazy?”
“Of course not!” Francine said. “In fact, that is the very definition of how every fairytale romance starts out. I should know.”
Beryl rolled her eyes again. “I don’t know if I’m looking for a fairytale romance but it would be nice to have someone that I like to go out with now and again.”
“You deserve a fairytale romance, Beryl. And if you like him, I say, go for it.”
“Thanks, Francine.” Beryl leaned back in her chair and pushed out a soft sigh. “I know that I am rather gun-shy about men in general, but I honestly got a good feeling about Jake.”
Francine looked like she was about to burst. Beryl had to nip that in the bud. “I’m still not looking for anything permanent.”
“And I still think that is a shame. While I believe you deserve romance in your life in whatever form you want, my romantic little heart would love to see you get your happily ever after.”
Beryl smiled. “I appreciate that. And I will never say never to happily ever after, but for now, it’s just sort of nice to feel a spark with someone.”
“My, my—you felt aspark?” Francine asked. “You didn’t mention that.”
