Page 2 of Needing Shianne

"Naw. Helissa made me a big breakfast this morning."

Shianne giggled. "Lucky you. She's a great cook."

"She is for sure."

He stared at Shianne, maybe a bit more than he should. She was always a bright ray of sunshine. She was eternally chipper and hot to boot.

Shianne's eyes darted to Lara's then back to him. "I was just telling Lara one of my social media videos is going wild. I've got ten thousand views on it in only four hours."

"Video for what?"

"Oh, I started carrying a new dress line and I uploaded a video for it. The first video, the one going crazy, doesn't even have the dresses in it. Just me talking about how great they are. I'm doing a series of videos, each one progressing from the last."

He nodded. "Make sure you don't put too much information out there, Shianne. When you're on the internet, it's far-reaching. You don't know what nut-heads are out there."

"It's how I'm making a living, Myles. I've sold more clothing on the internet just this year than I have in the three past years."

"I get it. Just be careful."

She shrugged. "I will. I only give out my store address, phone number, and website. I can't wait to see how much I'm able to sell with these videos. They call them reels and they're quite popular."

"Well, reels or whatever, in the line of work we're in, we always caution everyone. Am I right Lara?"

Lara laughed. "Oh, you certainly are. It's why Tate won't let me do the videos or reels. I have to find hungry people right here in Glen Hollow to sell my cookies to."

Shianne giggled. "You've found every one of them, too!"

"I do alright I guess."

The sound of a baby crying came from the monitor Lara had on the counter next to her. "I'll be right back. Barrett just woke up from his nap."

Lara left the room and he stood motionless. He felt like he shouldn't leave her alone in the room, that was rude, right? Shianne turned to face him. "Are you going to the New Year's Eve Ball?"

His brows flew up as his mind raced around the abrupt change in subject. He shrugged. "I suppose. I think we'll all be there. Goodwill to the town and all. And Maya and Jasiah are bringing some of the Hickory Hills folks down. So, it should be fun."

"I suppose." She shrugged her shoulders, and his eyes followed the line of her dark hair. A small curl rested just over her right shoulder and moved when she did. She wore a white turtleneck sweater with sparkles on it which glimmered in the lights. She was quite frankly, sparkly and happy looking. She always wore a smile on her face and reminded him of the little girl from theGrinchmovie, the happy one from the little village below. Cindy Lou or something.

"You don't sound convinced."

"I guess I've not had a lot of contact with the folks up in Hickory Hills. It'll take a while for us to forget the bad things some of them did. But I know Lara and Kent are in contact, and she feels good about getting to know him better, being her brother and all. And, of course, now Maya is married to one of them."

"Jasiah. Jasiah Weston. The president up there."

Her eyes rounded. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I meant, Jasiah. And that's a good thing right?"

"He's good to her. He loves her and she him. And, they're going to have a baby. My niece or nephew, so yeah, it's a good thing."

Shianne nodded and Barrett ran ahead of Lara into the room.

Lara caught up to him and lifted him into his booster seat at the counter. "He's growing so fast it makes my head spin. I can't believe he just turned two."

Myles chuckled and crossed his arms on the counter staring at Barrett. Barrett laughed. "Unca."

"You got it little dude. Uncle Myles is here."

He moved swiftly to the sink, squirted soap in his hands, and pushed the faucet on. He heard Shianne talking to Barrett behind him. He concentrated on the bubbles forming in his hands, and the fragrance of the lemon soap wafting up to him. He shouldn't let himself get involved with Shianne. First of all, she annoyed Maya sometimes. Most of the time, to be honest. And, if something did happen between them and then didn't work out, it would be awful. She was still Lara's best friend and as long as he lived at the HOG, she'd be here to visit Lara often.

After rinsing and drying his hands, he turned to face both women and Barrett. He stared at Shianne briefly, then decided to make a break for it. She sent off signals at times that she was interested, but when he got close to asking her out, she shied away as if she knew he was interested too. It was weird. "I'll see you all later. I've got some calls to make." He stopped in front of Barrett. "You be good to your mama. I've seen you getting into things you shouldn't be. Cut her some slack little dude."

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