Page 13 of The Hampton Beach Café 3
"Perfect, there's no conflict of interest so you don't have to consider it," Frances said. "Now, would you like a milkshake?"
"I don't want your alcoholic abomination of dairy."
"They aren't alcoholic, Kennedy," Frances said. "They're just milkshakes––there's beer and wine available, but the milkshakes are just milkshakes."
A tinge of red came to her cheeks. "Oh."
"Oh, come on," Clarkson said playfully, "Let's turn your lips red."
He took Kennedy's hand and led her to the bar they had set up for milkshakes. As they walked away, he looked over his shoulder and winked at Frances. Her stomach turned, and she felt like she should feel something...positive. Instead, she felt like she was on the nasty side of a prank.
SEVEN
"Hey, you," Lucinda said as she poked her head around the door of the storeroom.
"Hi," Frances replied sharply.
"Uh...you ok?" Lucinda asked.
Regretting her tone instantly, Frances flashed a smile over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I just wish I'd gotten on this earlier. I let the Fourth of July party get the better of me, I think…" she said, "…and now it's been nearly a week, and I'm still not caught up. Can you count these for me? I feel like I'm landing on a different number every time."
She handed over a box of filters for the pour-over filter coffee that had become so popular in the last week or so.
"Have we figured out why these are the new hot item?" Lucinda asked as she opened the box and started counting them in pairs.
Frances snorted with a little more derision than she really meant to.
"One of Clarkson's influencer herd posted the video they took here back at the opening," Frances said. "Three million views in two days."
Lucinda was muttering under her breath, and Frances really didn't want to know what she was saying. If she was totally honest, she just wanted to be left alone with her stock take.
"Sixty three left in this one," Lucinda said. "And those two boxes are a hundred each, so even if this rate of virality keeps up, we should be good for a few months."
The stab of annoyance was disconcerting. Why was she so snarky today?
Yikes. I need to get out of my own head,she realized.
"Can you cover for me tonight?" she asked. "I really want to go out for a run."
"A run? Girl, are you feeling alright?" Lucinda asked jokingly, but her face fell when she realized Frances was serious. "Wait? For real?"
A second prickle of irritation––oh, she needed to go badly.
"Yep," she said. "I think I just need to go and really exhaust myself."
The silent moment stretched out, and Frances wondered if her tone had come across even sharper than it had before. She was just about to turn and say something when Lucinda spoke in a quiet, arresting voice.
"Sure, but...Vin isn't going to be here this evening either..."
Turning to face her friend, Frances saw Lucinda almost hunched over the boxes of paper filter. She looked like she was trying to curl into herself.
"Isn't he? Alright," Frances said. "No problem, I'll go in the morning or tomorrow afternoon."
"I don't want you to not go. I just...I don't know, I'm sorry," Lucinda said, running her long nail along the crease in the cardboard box. "I don't know why evenings are the worst. Even when it's fairly busy, all I can think about is what I shouldn’t be doing."
"Have you done what that guy at the Gamblers Anon meeting suggested, the bank account block?" Frances asked, crossing to stand next to her friend.
