Addicted After All(185)

“Good to know,” I say, watching her scan the empty store, as though it’s her first time in here. Maybe as a future employee, it is. “If you don’t want a job—”

“No, I do,” she tells me quickly. “I really do. I’m just taking it all in.” She pushes up her glasses. “It’s my first time on my own…”

“Lo mentioned that to me.” I’ve never been on my own. I’ve always had him, and I can’t imagine being seventeen and deciding to journey off to another state in pursuit of happiness. It’s something Daisy would’ve done, if she grew the courage.

Willow says she’s not adventurous like my little sister, but this seems like a pretty big adventure to me.

“Your mom said that you can always go home. She left that door open for you, right…?” I trail off, distracted by a Celebrity Crush tabloid on the counter. An employee must’ve left it behind. Normally, I’d itch to read a couple headlines and flip through.

I pick up the magazine and go to trash it, doing the sensible thing. I think Ryke would be the proudest of all.

“Yeah,” Willow nods. “It’s always open.”

“That’s good,” I say, a little absentminded as I toss the magazine in the trash. Ha! Take that Wendy Collins, staff writer and my arch nemesis. Before I close the lid, I do accidentally catch a peek of one headline: Lily Calloway & Loren Hale Wedding Rumors!

Nope. I refuse to believe they’ve leaked. We’re keeping everything private and under wraps. This one peaceful day can’t be ruined. I shut the trash lid and raise my chin like Rose would. I feel confident, but I’m sure I look silly.

Near me, Maya slips behind the register, counting the cash. “Roomie, come. Let me teach you, young wise one.”

Willow smiles a little more as she follows Maya, her new roommate. Lo offered our house to his half-sister. We have plenty of extra rooms, but she didn’t want to intrude. I think it’s overwhelming. There’s so many of us, and she’s still trying to get used to a new place.

Maya is only twenty, and her old roommate just left for California, so it just all worked out. Now Willow will finish her senior year here and I suppose contemplate college. Normal stuff. Life doesn’t stop when you take a new road. It always finds a way to go on.

A loud knock on the glass door jolts me awake. Especially as Garth emerges from the break room at the sound. My big-boned bodyguard hovers close to my side. I squint, distinguishing the face behind the glass door, the closed sign dangling near him.

My throat tightens.

It’s the hoodie guy, the one that Lo said was named Garrison. I bite my nail, hesitating to let him in. He knocks harder, and his narrowed eyes meet mine. They’re not full of terror and rage. He apprehensively shifts his body weight from one foot to the other.

I look up at Garth. “Maybe I should just hear him out?”

Garth, a very diplomatic man, nods and says, “Whatever you want.”

Okay. I trudge forward and tentatively unlock the door. When I peek my head out, Garrison draws his hoodie back, revealing his brown hair and boyish face.

He hesitantly glances over my shoulder. “Is Loren here?”

“No.” I don’t add that he’s at our house, preparing for the final Hale Co. meeting this afternoon. Where the board chooses the new CEO.

Garrison notices my bodyguard and he lets out a short, pained laugh. “Forget it. This was a mistake.” He’s about to turn around and leave.

“Wait,” I say quickly.

He freezes by the door, halfway turned.

“What do you want?”

He grinds his teeth like he has trouble producing the words. “Your boyfriend…he offered me and my friends a job.” Garrison rolls his eyes. “It’s f*cking stupid anyway. Everything is.”

“Lo told me about that,” I say, swinging the door wider open. “Do you want to come in?” My stomach does this nervous flip thing, but it stops the minute his reddened, surprised eyes lock on mine.

“What?” he says in disbelief.

“If you want a job, you have to come into the store,” I tell him. “Although…” A light bulb flickers in my brain. “It’d be kinda cool if we had a superhero mascot out front. Do you want to be a mascot?”

“No,” he shakes his head like I’m half crazy and half a godsend. No one has really ever looked at me like that—the godsend half. I’ve been plenty crazy before.