Page 14 of Heart to Heart
“I’m sorry, Mr. Tate,” their brunette leader addressed me, “is something wrong?”
“Yeah,” I began, a little more hesitant than I thought I would be. “Avery will be a contestant on the show.” Whispers erupted through the group, more than likely questioning my ability to interrupt their sacred process. “Or I won’t be.”
CHAPTER 7
AVERY
“You looklike the rag I just used to wipe down the counter,” Kiki announced as I plopped down onto a stool at the still-damp countertop.
“I’m sure that rag looks a hell of a lot more refreshed than I do,” The residual moisture left behind on the counter slowly absorbed into the sleeve of my blouse, but I ignored it, resting my arms on the counter while also using them as a pillow for my head. “I’ll take the strongest drink you have.”
“Honey, I’m afraid we don’t have anything strong enough for you in here.” Kiki guided my head up from my arm pillow so that we were face-to-face. “But if you want to meet me out back, I can see what we can find. Lord knows I will need it to get through the rest of the night, too.” The clearing of a throat drew her attention to a man in black-rimmed glasses standing at the other end of the counter, drying a cup with a cloth. “You know I’m just kidding, Kevin. I do all my heavy drinking off the clock—usually,” she replied, muttering the last word.
“How do you still work here?”
“Beats the hell out of me.” She shrugged, turning to the espresso machine to make my usual Americano.
I resisted the urge to let exhaustion overtake me and fall asleep on the counter in the pile of muffin crumbs Kiki had missed while cleaning. Since discovering that my parents were in a financial crisis, I’d been putting in extra hours at the firm and volunteering at the bakery when I could make it to South Haven, often padding the cash drawer with the extra funds I was bringing in. I’d been operating on autopilot, and I had no idea what I was going to do when I started classes again in the fall, or when I finally crash-landed into the ground.
“Here you go.” Kiki set a mug in front of me. “Extra sugar, hardly any coffee. Just the way you like it.” She made a face, looking over her shoulder to call out to her boss in the hipster glasses who’d moved on to sweeping the back room, “I’m taking a break now, Kevin.”
“Can’t take a break from a job you’re not doing,” he answered without missing a beat.
Rolling her eyes, Kiki removed her apron and walked around the counter to take a seat on the stool next to me. “You can’t keep up the pace you’ve been running at.” She placed her hand on my forearm, and for the first time in maybe ever, I saw concern in her eyes.
“The way I see it, I have no choice. Short of selling drugs, all I can do is work overtime and hope the exhaustion doesn’t wear me down. Besides, where does one even find drugs, anyway?”
“Why are you looking at me?” Kiki rested her hand on mine. “You know this isn’t what your parents would want, right?”
“I know, but I have to try.” The sudden chiming of bells rang out from somewhere inside the depths of my purse I’d placed on the counter. Annoyed, I dug through its contents, pulling my phone out and ignoring the call before setting it back down.
Kiki glanced at it, raising an eyebrow. “Not taking calls today?”
“Spam calls have been insane. That number probably called at least five times today while I was at the office. I have no clue who it is or what they want.”
“You know how you can find out? Answer it. Better yet, there’s this thing called voicemail. I hear it’s catching on…”
The bells chimed once more, signaling an incoming call from the same number. Kiki and I stole a glance at each other before she snatched the phone from the counter and answered it.
“Sorry, but Avery cancelled her subscription to the Sex Toy of the Month Club and isn’t interested in renewing at this time.” A giant smile stretched across her face as my eyes shot daggers at her, obviously missing their target. “I’m sorry, what?” Her mouth dropped open and her almond eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and excitement. “You’re who? From where?” There was a quiver in her voice when she spoke, the reverberations of which unnerved me.
I reached for the phone, feeling a tightness in my chest. “Who is it? What’s going on?”
Shock had caused an almost deathlike pallor to spread over her face as she handed the phone to me. “It’s Simon Winters’s office.”
“Who?” I asked, confused, as she all but dropped the phone in my hand.
“Simon Winters.”
I shrugged, the importance of that name failing to register in my brain.
“The producer ofHeart to Heart. Jesus, woman, did you learn nothing from my PowerPoint?”
“You’re shitting me,” I whisper-yelled, slowly bringing the phone to my ear, hesitating before speaking. “This is Avery,” I answered. “I apologize for my friend. I’ve never had a subscription like that…ever. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with sex toys. They come in handy sometimes…I just…”Shut up,Avery.“I mean, I don’t have a giant collection of them. One will do, really.”Oh. My. God.
Kiki stared at me, blinking, a smirk returning to her face. Behind her, Kevin stood echoing her stare, his mouth agape, arms frozen in mid-sweep.
“Let me start over again.”
