Counterfeit Cupid (Mt. Olympus Employment Agency: Cupid #2)(9)

I pulled myself together, straightened, and wiped the tears from my cheeks. That was it. My sister was going to have to figure her problems out for herself today.

I needed to get some sleep.

*

As much as I wanted to sleep all day and into the next, I had to be at work for my regular shift that evening. I managed about six hours of dreamless bliss before I had to get up and do it all over again.

Normally, after a double shift, someone would cover my shift the next day. But we were seriously understaffed at the moment. Best-case scenario was my only having to work one shift today and someone else would cover Chet’s shift. If all went well, I’d go to work for eight hours, then come right back to bed for the night.

Fingers crossed.

I’d showered earlier, so I slept as late as I could, climbed out of bed, pulled myself together, and grabbed a sandwich on my way out the door. Bed to car in under a half hour.

Stuart was in a good mood when I arrived, having spent the previous evening sampling cheese. Most people liked cheese. I, myself, liked cheese. Stuart was obsessed with it. I’d learned over the years to manage my conversations with him. If I didn’t, he’d take over and I’d end up listening to a tutorial on how to make something he called Basement Gouda. One day I came in with a nasty head cold and lost control so much, he was able to give me a three-hour lecture on how to properly milk a goat.

I didn’t let Stuart get the upper hand ever again after that.

I stashed my stuff in the back and returned up front for the update. “What do we have today?”

Stuart cleared his throat and grabbed his clipboard from under the counter. “Most of the check-ins are already here. I still have three more listed, but one already called to say they won’t be here until the wee hours, so Chet will handle that.”

“Chet’s coming in tonight?” I frowned. It seemed a shame he had to come back so soon.

Stuart nodded. “False alarm. The hospital sent them home. They were only there for about an hour.”

I stood in front of him trying to get my head around what he was saying and working up a good hissy fit. Realistically, of course Chet would have wanted stay home with his wife after that. A small part of my brain completely understood this. The part of my head that needed more sleep thought he could have at least called to see how I was doing and make sure I didn’t need anything. I didn’t mind covering his shift. What kind of monster wouldn’t cover for somebody to go to the hospital for the birth of his first child? Not me. I wasn’t a monster. I was a nice person. A nice person who was constantly taken for granted. A nice person whose own sister thought nothing of waking her up and dragging her out of bed after an unplanned double shift so she could have a witness to her irrational outbursts with her husband.

I was tired. I was irritated. And I was angry with myself for wanting to be more like my sister and cause a ridiculous scene.

I took a deep breath, held it, counted to ten, and exhaled. “Stuart, I’m sorry. I left something in my car. Can you hold down the fort while I run back out and get it? Five minutes.”

“Oh, sure. I was heading over to Caffrey’s for dinner anyway. I can wait a bit. They don’t start charging dinner rates for another hour.”

I was still angry, but I wanted to hug Stuart. He was so odd. “Thank you.” I went in the back and grabbed my keys to make it look as if I really was going to my car, then bolted out the front door to get some air.

Once I was outside, I followed the sidewalk around back to the parking lot we shared with the office building next door. My car was parked far in the back, since the hotel liked to keep the small amount of designated parking for our guests. During convention season, all the hotels in the area filled up, and parking was a nightmare. I’d have to park several blocks away, then get someone to cover for me so I could move it to our lot later once the office people went home for the night.

Dallas was a nice city, but I wasn’t walking six blocks to my car by myself when my shifted ended at 11:00 PM.

I didn’t actually need anything from my car, but I did need to burn off a little steam, so I made the trek to the back of the lot, touched my car as if it were home base, then turned and kept walking, circling the lot.

I figured three circuits around the lot should be enough to cool me down, then I’d head back inside, my regular, calm self. Halfway through my second round, a red convertible pulled up to curb near the front of the lot. Jill, the woman I’d helped with her lipstick the night before hopped out, smoothing the same skirt she’d left in. She blew a kiss to the driver, shut the door, and sashayed confidently into the hotel. The driver tooted his horn twice and drove away.

Watching Jill lifted my spirits and made me realize how ridiculous I was being. I wasn’t mad at Chet. Of course he didn’t come in for the rest of his shift. I’d have sent him home if he’d tried. And I wasn’t angry with my sister, either. She was feeling neglected for some reason, and her husband needed to know it. Sure, she had taken things to the extreme, and Richard wasn’t neglecting her or having an affair as far as I could see. But that didn’t mean her feelings weren’t valid. Something was triggering her. Something else.

No. If I was angry with anybody, it was myself. I took far better care of the folks around me than I took care of me.

I stopped in my tracks and squinted at the sun’s reflection on the side mirror or a small, gray car that wanted to be a Mini but wasn’t. I made a face. “Not the same car, Annie. Don’t be ridiculous. The other car wasn’t real.”