Page 130 of Not That Ridiculous

Adam grunted and took a sip of coffee. “Morning. Good sleep?”

“I think I blacked out,” I said, and headed over to the Nespresso machine. I sighed down at it.

“Help yourself.” Adam waved vaguely at the cabinet beside my head. “Cups.”

“Thanks. And I’m sorry for last night. I should have been taking care of Phil, not dumping him on you.”

Adam set his cup down and yawned, then lifted his arms up and overhead for a long, languorous stretch, twisting at the waist. “Don’t worry about it.” He dropped his arms and shook himself. “He had Ray and Jasper squabbling over who got to take care of him. Jasper tried to take him home. I thought they were going to get in a slap fight for a while there.”

I smiled and switched on the machine. “Obviously, Ray won.”

“Yeah. He had the edge. He works from home. He’s going to keep Phil with him for the next few days, by the way. That’s already sorted. No need to bother with any arguments.”

I selected a Nespresso pod from a small basket beside the machine, and frowned at it before dropping it and poking through for another.

Adam came up beside me, and snagged one. “Strongest of the lot,” he said, handing it to me.

“Thanks.” I poked it into the machine, helped myself to a cup from the overhead cabinet, and got it going.

Adam and Ray’s kitchen was warm and welcoming. It was cosy, yet beautifully designed. It should be. Ray was a graphic designer and Adam was an architect. They’d remodelled the place a couple of years back.

Although our houses were both old Victorians, built at the same time and in a similar style, compared to this house, mine looked like a hovel. No wonder Kevin always—nope. I took a sip of steaming coffee to distract myself. None of that. No thinking about Kevin.

Not yet.

Adam got a carton of eggs out of the fridge. “Scrambled on toast do for you?” he said.

What was this, my birthday? Normally I snagged one of yesterday’s bagels at the coffee sh?—

I looked up at the clock on the wall with panic. For fuck’s sake. The shop!

I put my cup down hard, sloshing hot liquid over the rim, and lunged for the door.

Adam stepped in my way, hands up. “That’s already sorted too. The shop’s open, everything is fine, everything is under control.”

“What—who—” I grabbed his arms and shook him.

Adam had the nerve to look amused. “You’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said soothingly. “Jasper is on the job.”

I choked on air. “Youdidn’tlet him—” I glared at his smirk. No. He didn’t. Jasper would have wanted to, but Adam knew as well as I did that sometimes Jasper’s enthusiasm got in the way of Jasper’s common sense. “Pippa?” I guessed.

“Yep. She called your phone last night when you didn’t go back?—”

I gripped my hair. “I forgot to close up! Holy shit! I just…Iforgot. I never forget. Ican’t! Adam!”

“Uh-huh.” He took hold of my shoulders, turned me around, and sat me down in one of the kitchen chairs. “I think it’s best if you assume that everything is fine. Trust me. I’ve got it all under control.”

“I can’t believe I forgot,” I said, staring up at him. “I don’t forget things. I don’tgetto forget things. I’ve never not closed up. Not since Amalie left.” Amalie. Fuck. “How many times has she called?” She might be off doing cool-girl stuff in cool-girl places, but she had plenty of Instagram followers in Chipping Fairford. It was too much to hope that she hadn’t seen at least one post about it.

Adam shook his head. “Probably hasn’t heard yet.”

Then again, she’d have to look at other people’s posts rather than her own to hear the gossip.

“Where evenismy phone?” I said.

Adam gestured at the counter over by the fridge. “Charging.”

“Wow. You really have got everything under control. You’re like the world’s best personal assistant. It’s always been a head-scratcher, but I finally understand what Ray sees in you.”

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