Page 22 of Dark Endures

Time to pry Mindy away from her work. She doesn’t have any cages open now, which gives me the perfect opportunity.

By the time I get there, she’s in one of the four freezers that we keep the snakes’ food in. With clipboard in hand, the picture in front of me is all business.

Don’t notice how well her overalls fit. “Evening.”

Mindy jumps and spins around. “Oh. Hello.”

“How’s everything going tonight?” Smooth. Really smooth.

“Good. Though Peaches might be sick. This is the second feed she’s refused.”

That’s not good. “I’ll arrange a vet visit for her in the morning. Are there any other problems?”

“No. Nope, everything here is just fine.” She shakes her head, which releases a few tendrils of hair that fall over her face.

A beautiful face… but tired. The dark rings around her eyes are even more pronounced in person than they were on the camera. “Have you taken your dinner break yet?”

“Dinner break?”

“Well, we could call it a lunch break, if you prefer.”

She tips her head to the side. “I just got here. I don’t get a dinner break.”

“You work full-time for me. Of course, you get a dinner break as well as breaks through the night as you need them.” And it’s the perfect excuse for me to get to know her more.

“But—”

“There are no buts. That’s a basic entitlement of all employees. Since it seems like you haven’t prepared for that. Would you care to join me? I have way too much for one person and would hate for the food to go to waste.” That excuse soundslegit, though it wouldn’t hold up to questioning. Thankfully or not, she seems too tired to push it.

“I could eat something. Let me just wash up.” She nods towards her overalls.

“Sure. We can meet in my office whenever you’re ready.” I walk off to give her the space she needs, leaving the secondary door open as well as my office door open.

Ace provided dinnerware, as always. I grab a bottle of my favorite local beer after setting up one of the tables.

It doesn’t take her long to emerge at the back of my office with Cow wrapped around her neck. “It smells great in here.”

That’s an interesting choice. “The local restaurant delivered.” I nod towards the table. “What would you like to drink?”

“You have beer from 4 Streets.” She knows her beer bottles.

“Sure do.” It’s brewed by four boys that grew up here. We gave them the seed money to start their microbrewery, and they made it into a regional brand.

“I’d love one of those.”

“Any specific one? There’s Snake Bite, which is a smokey IPA with notes of peaches and peppers—” named after the snakes in this room “—Cherry Bomb, and Purple Madness.”

“Cherry Bomb, please. It’s delicious, but I can’t wait for them to bring back the seasonal Mango Mania.” She doesn’t just know them. Mindy has a favorite seasonal brew.

“How did you find out about them?” I hand her an ice-cold bottle and carry my Snake Bite over to the table.

“Their brewery is located in West Springs, which is a town an hour outside of Urbium. A couple of times a year, my friends meet up there. The four guys that own the brewery are so nice.” She takes a long pull from her beer. There are no girly pretenses. Mindy likes her beer.

“We should eat before it gets cold.” I lift the lids off the platters.

“Mmmm. That looks as good as it smells.” She joins me at the table.

Ace made some good choices. The ribeye steak would be my first pick, but the stuffed pork chop would be a delicious second, and there’s enough chicken pasta to feed an army.

---