Page 21 of Tart
Six
Islid out the doorof my apartment, and Haylee followed, carrying a salad and drinks for me, her, and Brady, who was manning the grill. We were cooking brats and having potato salad and cake for dinner. At this rate, all of Mom’s meat would be gone from the freezer by the time they got home. I felt terrible not inviting Bishop over for dinner, but we were talking business and nothing else. I’d save him a piece of Haylee’s famous orange creamsicle cake and wander across the driveway with it later.
Sure, you’ll just wander over there, Amber. I rolled my eyes at myself. I would probably dart over there the second Haylee and Brady left tonight. I was dying to see him again, which honestly scared the crap out of me. After what happened back in February, I should want nothing to do with another man. Why did the guys you were interested in dating always come along after a bad experience? It’s like the universe is testing you or something. Will she know a good guy when she sees one? Stay tuned to find out!
I huffed, and Haylee snickered behind me. “Maybe you should just invite him over for dinner. We can send him home when we’re ready to talk shop.”
I sat down at the table and took the drinks from her. “Invite who?” I asked innocently.
My best friend rolled her eyes at me with massive precision. “The guy you’ve been obsessing about all day.”
“You know, your neighbor,” Brady said from the grill.
“Wow, you two have so many assumptions,” I said, biting my cheek, so I didn’t smile. “Is that meat almost done? I’m starving.”
Brady swung over with the platter of brats, and we sat down to fill our buns and shovel in the food. “That was some kind of crazy today,” I said after I swallowed a bite of potato salad. “I can’t believe we didn’t lock the door until nearly five. That’s unheard of.”
Haylee pointed at me while she chewed and swallowed. “It is, but I know if we stayed open until six during the summer, we’d always have customers.”
I lowered my fork slowly and swallowed. “I’m sure we would, but I’d be dead in two weeks.”
“Which brings us to another point,” Brady said immediately, setting his brat down. “You can’t keep up this pace any longer.”
I chewed thoughtfully and forced the food down over the lump in my throat. “I’m thirty, not ninety,” I said, washing the meat down with a swallow of beer. “But if we’re thinking about having the storefront open twelve hours, even six days a week, we’re going to need more help. I can’t work four a.m. to six p.m. that many days in a row.”
“We already need more help,” Haylee agreed, stabbing a potato. “We’re barely keeping our heads above water, which is great for the business, but not so great for us. Now that Brady and I are married, we’d rather not be there twenty-four seven if possible.”
We all shoveled in more food, our thoughts on the business, and how much things were changing. At least that’s what I was thinking about, but probably not in the same way they were. They wanted more time to be together outside of work, and I got that, but I didn’t know how to make it happen without sacrificing my own free time, not to mention my leg.
Brady finished his food first and sat back with his beer, tapping it on the edge of his chair. “We could use Taylor full-time in the kitchen.”
I shrugged with frustration. “I’m sure you could, since Taylor’s great at what she does for you guys. I know she’s expressed an interest in baking, too. The problem is, I need her for the front, or I’m sunk.”
Haylee smiled and winked. “We know, which is why we haven’t said anything yet. We wanted to talk to you first. From what we can see, you need at least another full-time and half-time person in the front.”
“But we think it should be two full-time people so you can go down to half-time in the front,” Brady finished.
“Or two full-time and a half-time. Then you don’t have to be in the front at all,” Haylee said, a brow up.
“My leg isn’t that bad,” I said on an eye roll.
“Yes, it is,” they said in unison, and I grunted.
“I need to work more than part-time guys. The last time I checked, I am the co-owner of that business, not you two,” I said, standing angrily. Haylee grabbed my arm before I could leave, and Brady grabbed the potato salad from the table. “I’m going to put this in the fridge and grab the cake.” Before I could say anything, he was gone.
Haylee pointed at my chair and waited for me to sit down again. The sun was sinking in the sky, and I just wanted to finish this business meeting so I could go home and cry myself to sleep.
“We aren’t trying to take over the business, Amber.”
I sighed and let my chin drop to my chest. “I know, but it does feel like that sometimes. I’m just out of sorts if I’m honest. It used to be the two of us against the world. Now I feel like a third wheel to the dream team. I wish I hadn’t come up with that stupid saying last year.”
She snickered and shook her head at me. “I don’t exactly think you came up with it, but we have noticed you stopped using it. You aren’t a third wheel. There are still only two of us powering the bike. Brady knows and respects that. He didn’t even want to be here tonight.”
