Page 3 of Allured By Her

“I didn’t forget the lavender,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Oh, I think you did,” Tenley said.

“You know we have a rewards program where you get free refills,” Liam said, but we both ignored him. Tenley knew this. I’d tried to get her to sign up at least a thousand times before, but she always refused. I didn’t get it. She was in here nearly every day, all day. I should just sign her up against her will.

“Fine,” I said, because I didn’t have the energy to fight with her today.

“Thank you,” Tenley sang.

I growled in annoyance and Liam heard me.

“I know we’re nice to her, but if she ever becomes a problem, just let me know. I can step in if I have to.”

“Thanks,” I said. Liam nodded and went to take care of the next customer.

As far as bosses went, Liam was one of the best. Not only wasn’t he a massive asshole, he didn’t think any job was beneath him. He let people change their schedules if they had to and didn’t hassle anyone for taking a break. Sure, he was beholden to the corporate overlords, but he did what he could to defend his employees and we all appreciated it.

When I’d graduated from college two years ago, I’d had no idea what the fuck to do with my psychology degree since I was so completely burned out on school, so I moved back to Arrowbridge and took the first job that offered me a position and here I was, seven-time employee of the month at Common Grounds Coffee.

Every now and then I glanced up to where Tenley was furiously typing away on her laptop, her fingers flying faster than I knew was possible. She frowned as she stared at the screen during a pause in the action and then muttered softly to herself. Whatever she was doing required a lot of focus. One afternoon, someone had had a seizure at the bank across the parking lot and there had been complete chaos with sirens and lights and everyone trying to figure out what was going on. The entire time, Tenley had been staring at her computer and typing and in her own world. I’d never seen anything like it before.

Tenley nodded to herself and then started typing again as Lark returned from her break.

“Your turn,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said, heading to the little employee room where we stored our stuff and had a small fridge for our lunch and snacks to grab my water.

The sun was out, so I sat my ass directly under it on the top of the picnic table and just let my brain think about absolutely nothing for a few minutes.

An incoming message on my phone disturbed me a few moments later. I sighed before I checked to find a message from my sister, Ingrid, asking me if I could pick up my niece, Athena, from daycare.

No problem, I’ll grab her I responded.

Thank you, I just can’t get out of this meeting she sent. Ing worked as a high school guidance counselor, so some sort of crisis was always coming up. Since she was a single parent, I often picked up the slack with Athena. It didn’t hurt that Athena was three and probably my favorite person on the planet. When she was born, I’d bought a car seat for my car, which had been a wise purchase.

I set my phone down and tried to soak up my last few minutes of sun before heading back into the coffee shop to go back to the grind.

* * *

“And what did we learn today, Miss Athena, my warrior queen?” I asked Athena after I’d strapped her in and we were heading to Ingrid’s house.

“I found a bug!” she yelled, raising both her arms as I checked her in the rearview mirror.

“Whoa, that’s so cool. What kind of bug?” I asked, almost dreading the answer. Athena was super into insects right now, much to my, and her mother’s, bemused horror. You’ve never lived until you’ve been dozing on your sister’s couch and your niece shoves a live spider right in your face, asking you to name it.

“A pider,” Athena said. “Piderman.” Ah yes, Peter Parker, her other greatest love.

“Was it a real bug, or was it Spiderman?” I asked.

“Real pider,” she said, chattering away. This kid was headed for a career in entomology or comic books and I was 50/50 on which one she’d pick.

Athena helped me carry her backpack into my sister’s house and immediately asked for a snack.

“Athena, my love, you know that we’re not going to have a snack because we’re going to have dinner in a few minutes. Are you really hungry?” I asked, looking down at her.

“I’m hungry now,” she said, stomping her little foot and knocking herself off-balance. I pressed my lips together so I didn’t laugh.

“Okay, let’s have a small snack while I make dinner. Does that work for you?” I asked.

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