back?”
Good question. As the owner, would it be appropriate for me to be stocking candy? “Umm, as soon as I can. You call me if you need anything. I’m serious, April. I’ll give you the number where I’m staying and I’m going to get a cell phone.”
“Holy smokes!” she exclaimed. “You? A phone?”
“All right, that’s enough, Miss Sassypants. I’m having some family issues I need to resolve and you know I’m not someone who takes off work unless it’s important. I have a lot of time built up and—”
She lifted a hand. “You don’t have to explain it to me, boss.”
We both smiled at each other. There we were, running our own place, and that was probably the first moment it really sank in.
“I’ll drive you home and that way I can go over some of the books and look up a few things. Do you know where the money is all going now?”
“I’ll have access to the business account, and he provided a list of all the companies he receives bills from or does business with so I can contact them with the changes. His savings is going into the account and I’ll receive half of his life insurance.”
“I can help you with some of that if you need me,” she offered. “Where are you staying? You said you would give me the number but didn’t say where that was.”
“Um, that friend’s house.”
“Serious, huh? You always luck out with guys.”
I frowned as she grabbed her oversized brown purse from beneath the shelf and wrapped the ridiculously long strap across her shoulders.
“I wouldn’t say some of the losers I ended up with were a lucky streak, April. Just because I’ve had a few boyfriends doesn’t mean I’m fortunate by any means. I know you don’t talk about your personal life that much with me, but you could get any guy you wanted to. You’re smart, beautiful, and know how to handle some of these kids like a pro. What’s not to love?”
Her jeweled flip-flops clicked on the floor as she jingled the keys between her fingers. “I got that shy-girl problem. I don’t know how to talk to guys. You’ve seen me in action whenever a hot guy comes into our shop. I totally clam up and either can’t think of a thing to say, or I end up putting my foot in my mouth.” She locked the doors and a kid on a skateboard whirred by.
“You just need to relax and be yourself like you are with me. You’re over-thinking it too much, April. Just pretend the next hot guy you see is me.”
“No offense, Alexia, but I’d never have sex with him if my imagination worked
“And?”
“He cheated on me. With three other girls. I forgave him for the first two, but the third one was my best friend. All guys cheat; I guess I just didn’t know how to keep him from going through them like potato chips. One is never enough.”
“You are kidding me, right?”
Her VW felt like an oven and I cracked the window after she started up the engine.
April glared at the colored candy cane in my hand. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Can you throw your candy out? This is my sister’s car. Mine’s not running right now, so she let me borrow it.”
“Is this going to be a problem with you coming to work? I can lend you mine.”
“The cootiemobile?”
“Stop calling it that,” I grumbled. Yes, I wanted the car to burn, but I hated to be reminded of the events that earned it its new nickname. “If you need the car, it’s yours. I don’t want to worry about you taking the bus, walking, or hitchhiking.”
“Sure,” she said with a laugh. “Like I’d hitchhike wearing an apron and skintight shirt with Sweet Treats written on it.”
We both laughed as the car sputtered down the road.
“Maybe you should change it up,” she suggested. “It’s your baby now.”
Yeah, but there was something nostalgic about Charlie’s magic touch, and a part of me wanted to put on those cheesy earrings in his honor. “I’ll think about it, but keep enforcing the work gear. I want everything running the same until I determine what changes need to be implemented.”
“Yes, sir.”
April pulled up the driveway to Austin’s house and Reno was out front throwing horseshoes. The recent rain had cooled things down just a little, but not enough, apparently, since the heat had driven Reno to strip out of his shirt. I’d only seen him wearing long sleeves, but without the shirt, he looked even tougher. Like he’d been chopping wood for three hours a day.
A dark blue baseball cap and mirrored sunglasses obscured his face.
“Who’s that?” she asked in a short breath.
“Reno. Austin’s older brother. I think he’s the eldest in the family.”
“Was he in the military?”
Good question. Reno kind of gave off a military vibe. It wasn’t just the short hair, but something about the assertive way he held his shoulders back and carried himself. Maybe it was the combat boots that made him stand an inch taller than Austin, and I wondered if he had a complex about his baby brother being the leader of the pack.
I scribbled down a few numbers on a scratch piece of paper while April turned on the windshield wipers. It didn’t help, because the unpaved road had kicked up dirt all over the car.
“My sister’s going to kill me,” she said, staring at the hood. “She just took the car to the wash this morning and now I bet the tires are caked in mud.”
“Who washes their car in the morning?”
April shrugged and turned on the radio. “My OCD sister who is going to have a fit. I may need to borrow your car after all.”
“Not a problem,” I said, barely paying attention as I dropped the pen in my purse. When I looked up, Reno was facing the car, staring at us with a horseshoe in his right hand.
Then I looked at April and saw her cheeks turn blazing red. She looked at the radio again and started fidgeting with it.
I smiled. “Want to meet him?”
“No!” she almost shouted.
I took that as an invitation and pulled the keys out of the ignition and quickly got out.
“Alexia, give me those!”
I walked toward Reno and heard her feet crunching on the dirt behind me.
“Give me the keys, Lexi. I have to go!”
“Reno, isn’t it a little hot out here for horseshoes? Where’s Austin?”
“Inside.”
Panic was coming up the rear and she snatched the back of my shirt.
“I’d like you to meet my friend, April Frost,” I said with a wide smile.
I stepped to the side so he could see her hiding behind me and April froze up like a statue, staring at the ground. She wasn’t overly tan, so the blush on her creamy cheeks was noticeable, but it could have been the heat.
“April, this is Reno Cole.”
God, that name really sounded horrible together. My brain was saying it ten times fast and it ended up sounding like a drug medication. I snickered and waited for them to start talking. But Reno folded his arms and kept intimidating her with his stare. The mirrored sunglasses weren’t helping.
“Hi,” she said in a small voice, kicking a pebble around with her jeweled flip-flop masquerading as a sandal. Her fingers twined around a frayed piece of her cutoff jean shorts and it was then I noticed her Billy Joel shirt. Maybe introducing her to Reno was a bad idea; he didn’t look like that type that jammed out to soft 80s piano
