“Don’t start,” I said.
“I know, I know. No dating. No friends.” She waved her hand again. “But you should know that you’d have options if you wanted them.”
My mind immediately went to Piper.
I shook it off before anyone could notice.
I told Jackie her total before she gave me a polite smile and went to talk more with Kelsey.
By the time she’d done that, Piper had packed up and left.
Jackie was gone soon after, leaving just Kelsey and me.
“You know,” Kelsey said, “you should do something fun on your day off.”
“I don’t take days off.”
“You could. I think I could manage the shop for one day.”
She could. Despite how much she’d struggled to work for her mother, she did fine here. She’d taken orders multiple times and knew every item on the menu.
Still, I brushed it off.
“I wantto be here.”
“You’re probably breaking labor laws or something. You need a break.”
“Tammy works just as much as I do.”
Kelsey’s eyes narrowed. “Low blow, bringing my mom into this.”
“But she does. And I like being here.”
She crossed her arms. “Don’t you have some kind of life?”
“Yes. Here.”
She only stared at me before letting out a low groan. “I don’t get you.”
I only shrugged. That was by design.
And it meant everything was working just as it should be.
I’d just locked the door when I heard a woman’s voice yell out.
My first thought was that someone was getting robbed, which was absolutely ridiculous since there was no crime in Strawberry Springs.
Still, I was the only one outside.
I hurried behind the shop, only to see blonde hair and a trash bag.
“What thefuck? It just ran out!”
It took me one second to realize who it was.
“Uh, Piper?”
She yelped again and turned to me with wide eyes. The trash bag was still in her hand, and she wielded it like a weapon.
