Page 66 of Best Kind of Trouble
Kissing this man again could cost me my best friend. It could also cost me Liam himself, my main ally in running this business. I’d never be able to respect myself if I let another romantic mistake ruin my life.
So I straighten my spine, tell myself again that it’s for the best, and add another rule beneath his:
Definitely don’t kiss your employee. You might have to hire an HR rep.
While I’m writing, a knock lands on the front door, and I nearly drop the pencil. I’m trembling slightly, I realize.
It’s the thought of seeing him again.
But it’s not Liam at the door, it’s Dottie Hendrickson, plusConstance and Ann from her Wise Elders group. They were both part of the sage smudging of the shop a few days back.
“My dear girl,” Dottie croons when I open the door, my hands still clumsy. “Good morning. We feel so blessed to be here.”
I hug her as the other two women pass us and sweep into the tasting room. Constance has a crocheting project protruding out of her bag.
“Thank you so much for offering to help out,” I tell them.
Constance gives my hand a hardy shake. “I’ll do just about anything for entertainment. Since I retired, I’ve been a movie extra, a matchmaker, a crafter, you name it.” She laughs, then steps aside to make way for Ann, who ignores my hand and goes in for a tight hug.
“Oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she says. “You smell good too. Bless you.”
I pull back. “Now, Dottie told me you two wanted to volunteer your time, but I insist on pay?—”
“Oh no, baby girl,” Ann says, already shaking her head. “We already discussed this. We’ll only take payment in scratcher tickets. No other compensation will be accepted.”
“Scratcher tickets?”
“Ann thinks she’s going to win the lottery,” Constance says with a snort, adjusting the bag on her shoulder, “and Dottie’s been feeding her delusion.”
“She had a lucid dream about it,” Dottie says emphatically. “She even saw the type of ticket. Big Boy Bucks. They’re real tickets, Constance. Mark my words, it was a premonition.”
Constance clucks her tongue. “She probably knows the name of every scratcher brand in this country. Besides, I had a lucid dream about going to bed with that celebrity bad boy with all the abs, and that’s not going to happen either.” She pins her gaze on one of the front tables—the same one where Liam toldme I was smart and beautiful. “Well, I don’t know about you, but that chair right there is calling my ass’s name.”
“Oh, I butt-dial people all the time too,” Ann says as she adjusts her hearing aid. “My son-in-law says it’s because I have a big posterior, so I told him I’d rather have a big posterior any day than a skinny white butt like he has.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Constance rolls her eyes as the two of them make their way to the table in question. “If you’re gonna put that ugly thing in your ear, you might as well get some use out of it.”
“Heisugly, bless his heart,” Ann says, stuck on her son-in-law tangent. “Ugly as sin, if you ask me, but my daughter insists he has what it takes where it counts, and they’ve been married long enough that I have to assume she means it.”
Dottie smiles and takes my hand, making no immediate move to join them. “You look radiant,” she repeats. “Did something happen?”
For a second, I consider letting the truth spill out.
But I just shake my head. “No. I’m excited to get started. Otis and the new hires he found should be arriving any minute.”
“Wonderful,” she says with a beatific smile. “You know, I’ve been trying to convince Ann to try that online dating we were talking about the other day. What was it? Flint? Candle?”
“I think you mean Tinder.”
She smiles. “Yes, that’s the one. Have you given any further thought to dating again?”
“Oh no,” I say, thinking of Liam’s lips on my neck, my breasts, my face. I swallow against my suddenly dry mouth. “No, I’m still very much off it.”
But I feel myself flushing.
Dottie gives me a knowing look and then surprises me by reaching out to touch my rose quartz necklace. Sophie, Hannah, and I all have them—Dottie supplied the rose quartz, which wassupposed to help us be open to loving again, and I made the pendants.
Those three pieces are the last jewelry I made. I cried the entire time I worked on them, even before Karma scattered the jewelry wire all over floor.
