Page 133 of Not That Ridiculous

She held my upper arms and set me away from her to give me a thorough scan from head to toe. “All right,” she said. “What do you need?”

“Right now? A good cup of coffee. Adam and Ray have a Nespresso machine. It’s not as bad as Starbucks, granted, but Idohave standards.”

“Double-shot black Americano, coming up,” she said with a brisk nod. “And darling, I want you to come and stay with me. I told Adam to bring you over last night and he insisted you were already sleeping and he wasn’t about to wake you up and shuffle you out. He was a bit high-handed about it, to be honest. But you can grab your stuff and come over after work, yes?”

“Oh.” I gazed into her earnest little face. “Thank you, Pippa, but…I’ll stick with Adam and Ray since we’re already there.”

She pouted. “Are you sure? I almost never get to show off my guest room.”

“I’m sure. I appreciate the offer, though. Seriously.”

“Well, I suppose it makes sense. As you’re already there. And of course, you and Ray can commiserate.”

“Yep.”

“Compare notes about your matching murder houses.”

“Sounds fun.”

“And if you want to talk about it, darling, I’m here.”

“Thanks.”

She rubbed my arms briskly and stepped back. “Are you sure you don’t want to take the day off? We’re managing just fine. I have a lunch date today that’s too late to cancel, but I’ve gone ahead and cleared my calendar for the week.”

“I haven’t had a day off in years. I’m not about to start now, just because I found a dead body in my house.”

Pippa looked disapproving, but she didn’t try to argue with me.

Another place to stayandan offer to unburden myself.

Again, I was truly touched.

And again, I was left thinking, Where the hell is Kevin?

Pippa busied herself loading up the dishwasher and I went out into the shop to help Milly behind the counter with the Sunday morning rush.

It wasn’t Milly.

Jasper was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a black Chipped Cup polo shirt that was begging for mercy, straining over his big chest and biceps. His cheeks were flushed, his dark hair was as limp as hair that short could get, and he was happily steaming a metal jug of milk. He glanced up when I strode over, and smiled. “Hi!” he said. “I’m your new—ow,fuck. That’s hot.”

He bobbled the milk jug like a hot potato, somehow managed not to spill it all over himself, and dropped it onto the counter with a loud clang. It wobbled but didn’t tip over. “Okay, I was doing great until you and your judgy face showed up. I am helping you, Charlie. Don’t even start. Pippa has trained me. I candothis.”

I stared at him.

He stared back mulishly.

I reached out and clasped his shoulder. “Thank you,” I said.

Third time today I’d had occasion to say that. I was a lucky man.

Jasper’s face brightened. “You’re really going to let me be your new barista?”

“Yep. You can keep the shirt and everything.”

“Awesome. I always wanted to give it a go. Fair warning, I’ve got to run in half an hour because I’ve got myBooty Pump!class and I couldn’t get anyone to take it for me, but I’ll be back straight after.”

“You don’t have to. I’m fine to work now. Helping out this morning was more than enough.”

---