Page 8 of Striker's Yield

Lila’s sweet and funny. She’s good at talking with customers and even helping in the back. This works for me greatly.

“Oh, hush it,” Tiffany huffs, rolling her eyes. “You’ve been out there. you know how cold it is.”

“You know, going into spring, the weather changes constantly once you hit March. It’s constantly up and down. It’s also when we get flooded with the rain.” I remind her. She’s not originally from the area.

Neither am I, though I’ve lived in Virginia all my life. But I’m from the Warrenton area. It’s about two or three hours, and depending on traffic, it could be longer, but that’s on a bad day. I also learned the different routes to be able to get there and back without hitting the major traffic areas.

“I get it, but it’s annoying.” Tiffany moves through the café, rounds the counter and goes to the back to where she’ll store her stuff.

Coming in early, as I have been for months on end, everything is already prepped and ready to roll. She’ll just be working on getting the minimal things and making the biscuits if someone orders. Otherwise, her focus is on manning the kitchen through lunch.

“Can’t help what Mother Nature decides,” Athena says, shrugging and taking a sip of the coffee Lila had made.

We’d been training her on the coffee/espresso machine, and she’s really good at it. Lila took to it easily, which is a blessing. Making the coffees, though not hard, can be a pain in the ass if not done properly. No one wants a horrible-tasting coffee. Even black done wrong could be gross.

“Mother Nature always goes through PMS, and it’s like this time of year is her favorite time to do it,” Lila adds.

“I think it depends on the region,” I say, deciding to put my two cents in. “If you think about it, some states are looking at this time of year as tornado season coming up. Others are gearing up for a drought, while we deal with the up and down weather that brings out the pollen that makes our allergies go haywire.”

“Ugh, don’t get me started,” Tiffany groans, coming back out front. “The twins are suffering from major allergy issues. Dan is complaining about his. And they all refuse to listen to me when I say take a dose of the local honey I buy. It works. I swear it does. Your body gets immune to the pollens because of it or something like that. I’m not sure. I just know it’s something I’ve always heard. The first thing I did when we moved here was go to a local farmers market and buy honey.”

“I’ve heard people do it. They also use cayenne as well,” Athena states.

“Wouldn’t that just burn your sinuses?” Lila quips.

“Don’t know, but I’m not trying it either.”

We all laugh as Athena shrugs, grinning.

The bell over the door rings, and my laughter ceases at the sight of the man coming inside.

“Hey, jerkface,” Lila greets him, skipping around the counter, straight to him, and throwing herself in his arms to hug him.

“What’s with calling me jerkface?” Striker asks, though his arms go around his sister in a tight hug.

I nearly swallow my tongue when his gaze comes up to meet mine. I quickly drop my gaze and look to Athena. “I’ve got to do some work in my office. You guys going to be okay out here?”

Athena slowly drags her gaze from Striker to me. “Yeah, we’ve got it,” she says, nodding.

“Great.” Without making it a big deal, I quickly get out of Dodge.

“Hold up a second.” Striker’s deep voice calls out, coming from behind me. Right behind me.

Oh boy.

He came around the corner and was now right there.

I twist around to face him, only to find him directly in my space. “Um, you’re not supposed to be back here,” I try to keep my voice calm. To keep from showing his effect on me.

“If you hadn’t run off, I would have said what I had to say out there,” he states. His brows creased in the middle, and he looked annoyed.

“Oh, well, I thought you’d come to see your sister, not me.” God, kill me now. “I mean, she is your sister, and it would only be right if you came to see her where she works. She’s doing a great job so far so you don’t have to worry about her working he . . .”

“I didn’t want to talk to you about my sister,” he says, interrupting me, the corner of his lip twitching slightly. “Came in ‘cause I wanted to talk to you.”

I blink, completely startled by his comment. “Me? Why?”

“There has to be a why?” he asks.

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