Page 8 of These Fractured Bonds

“Right.”

August avoided her eyes, pretending to stretch. He cleared his throat. “Erick, this is my friend Yareli.”

“Oh, she’sthatYareli?”

Yareli’s ears perked up; he had talked about her to Erick?

“Wait, you talk about me?”

Erick laughed. “When doesn’t he? That’s the actual question.”

“I do not,” August said, rolling his eyes. “I only mentioned you a few times while trying a new tea of theirs.”

She bit down her smile. “I see. And do you actually sleep here often?”

“Only on occasion.”

Donna’s head popped up by the doorway. “Oh, August is here. I wondered what the commotion was about.”

August greeted her. “Hey, sorry about the tables.”

Yareli’s eyes narrowed. “You did that? I thought you were sleeping.”

“N-no. I mean, I feel bad about them falling over.”

“Yareli, come help me with the front. Let Erick finish the sweeping,” Donna interjected.

Torn, Yareli had no choice but to listen to her manager’s order.

“Coming,” she said, but she gave August another good look. He gave her a sheepish smile, waving goodbye.

As she walked down the stairs, Erick’s laughter trickled in. August had said he was a regular, but he seemed to be more than that. Her gut clenched; something was amiss at Enchanted Brew. Only, she didn’t know what yet.

Chapter 4

Askingquestionswasforthose who could afford to. At the end of her two-week provisional period, a direct deposit had hit her bank account, and her eyes had almost fallen out of their sockets. It was more than she had expected; she had enough to pay for her portion of the rent, send some home, and still have some left over for her savings. Thus, when Donna called her to offer her the position full-time, she had accepted despite her gut warning her that something was off at Enchanted Brew. However, as long as the money streamed in, she could swallow her suspicions.

What she couldn’t ignore was that someone had avoided her since their encounter, and she wanted answers. She opened their text messages and, after hesitating, she called. It took a moment for the call to connect; it rang a few times before he picked up.

“Yareli?”

His voice was muffled, like he was in a tunnel.

“August, tell me what you were doing at Enchanted Brew. You told me you were napping, but my sixth sense says something is off.”

The line crackled. “… was sleeping.”

She grimaced, holding the phone away from her ear. “Where are you? It sounds awful.”

The call popped and clicked, then dropped.

Yareli frowned at her screen. That was odd. She tried calling again, but it went straight to voicemail. Her frown deepened. He had told her he would be working on an essay this week, but where had he gone to work on it? Antarctica?It can’t be helped.She had already accepted the job, and money was money.She readied herself for work, ignoring her mom’s text once again. She kept asking her to visit, but Yareli didn’t want to. The past two weeks had been hectic enough attempting to impress her new workplace and keep up with her coursework. Family obligations would wait. It had to wait, because if she were honest, she was exhausted. All she wanted was to settle into her new routine. Maybe fall in love, keep sending money home, and get her shit together. She couldn’t risk falling apart due to family.

Workwasunusuallybusythat night. It was as though all their customers had received the same memo:The new employee is on her own. Flood the cafe!

Don gestured at her from across the room. “Yareli, could you grab more lychee cake from the back?”

She hurried to the kitchen, slowing down as she approached the fridge; lychee cake was August’s favorite. Their call worried her. Where was he? However, as it was with customer-facing roles, she soon forgot her worries as she served the next patron, and the one after that, and so on until it was time for Don to clock out for the evening.